Exchange server is Microsoft’s email and collaboration server platform. The current version (Exchange 2007) introduced some big changes to the previous version (Exchange 2003) so I was expecting Exchange 2010 to build on Exchange 2007 and maybe not be that startling. I was wrong! Some of the biggest changes with Exchange 2010 are around storage and archiving, and with the amount of mail being sent and retained these days the changes are very timely. 

Storage

With Exchange 2010 Microsoft have completely rewritten the database that stores all the mail. In the past the database that stored mail accessed small chunks of data in a random way – this meant that the database needed to be stored on expensive, high speed disks in order to give adequate performance. Microsoft have completely rewritten the database so that it now reads data in a more linear way, so that data can be streamed in larger chunks. Microsoft are saying the that the disk performance requirements of Exchange 2010 is reduced by 50% - meaning that it can be stored on inexpensive SATA disks – the same disks that you would find in your desktop PC. This will reduce the cost of an Exchange server in the future and allow greater mailbox store sizes.

Archiving

The other exciting feature of Exchange 2010 is its archiving features. In Exchange 2010 every user can be configured with a Personal Archive store. This is like a second mailbox that each user has that can have mail moved to it either manually or automatically based on rules that you apply. The advantage of this over using a PST file (as we would currently) is that the Personal Archive is available via Outlook Web App and Windows Mobile phones.

There are “Move and Delete” policies that can be set on a per folder or per item basis to either move them to the Personal Archive when they readch a certain age, or to delete them (from either the mailbox or the Personal Archive) when they reach a certain age.

Exchange 2010 also introduces “Hold” policies that keeps copies of all edited and deleted files. They have also made changes to the “Recover Deleted Items” functionality (what they call Dumpster 2.0) that allows administrators to recover deleted and moved items – for up to 14 days by default.

Outlook Web App

Outlook Web App (the artist formally known as Outlook Web Access) has even more functionality than the previous version (as we’d expect) with all the functionality of archiving included via the web, and greater browser support – meaning Mac users, Firefox users will be able to use the web browser to get their mail. There is also the option for a cross-mailbox search via Outlook Web App. This is designed for auditing purposes and allows a user with sufficient rights to perform a query on the mail over all mailboxes.

 

So in summary the changes in Exchange 2010 storage and archiving will hopefully mean cheaper servers that allow for the continuous growth of users mailboxes.