Exchange Server 2013 includes several types of tools for administration. You’ll use the graphical tools most frequently. They include Exchange Admin Center, Office Admin Center, and Exchange Toolbox.
Exchange Admin Center, shown in Figure 1-1, replaces Exchange Management Console. Although previous Exchange management tools were implemented using Microsoft Management Console (MMC), Exchange Admin Center is web based and works similar to Exchange Control Panel (ECP). However, Exchange Admin Center is much more advanced, and you’ll use this console for managing on-premises, online, and hybrid deployments of Exchange 2013.
FIGURE 1-1 Exchange Admin Center.
Exchange Admin Center is a web application running on a Client Access server providing services for the Exchange organization. This application is installed auto- matically when you install a Client Access server. To manage Exchange installations from just about anywhere, you simply need to enter the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) path for the application in your browser’s Address field. You can then access Exchange Admin Center. For on-premises installations, the default internal URL for Exchange Admin Center is https://ClientAccessServerName/ecp and the external URL is https://yourserver.yourdomain.com/ecp. For example, if your Client Access server
is named CASserver12, you’d enter https://casserver12/ecp as the URL for internal access.
When you are accessing an on-premises installation from within your organiza- tion (and behind your organization’s firewall), you use the internal URL. When you are accessing an on-premises installation outside your organization, you use the external URL. As discussed in Chapter 3, there are many ways to configure access to this app. You can change the default URL, restrict access to the internal URL only, and more.
REAL WORLD If you deploy Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2010 in the same organi- zation and your personal mailbox is on an Exchange 2010 Mailbox server, you’ll see the Exchange 2010 Exchange Control Panel by default. To access Exchange Admin Center, you must add the Exchange version to the URL.
You do this by appending ?ExchClientVer=15 to the internal or external URL. For ex- ample, if your external URL is https://mail.pocket-consultant.com, you’d enter https:// mail.pocket-consultant.com/ecp?ExchClientVer=15 as the URL.
If your personal mailbox is on Exchange 2013 and you want to access the Exchange 2010 Exchange Control Panel, you can do this as well. In this case, you enter the client version as 14 rather than 15, as shown in this example: https://mail.pocket-consultant.com /ecp?ExchClientVer=14.
You manage Exchange Online using the cross-premises management options in Exchange Admin Center. With an online or hybrid installation, you’ll also be provid- ed an access URL for Office Admin Center, such as https://portal.microsoftonline.com
/admin/default.aspx. After you log in, you’ll see the Office Admin Center dashboard,
shown in Figure 1-2.
From the Office Admin Center dashboard, you have full access to Exchange Online and Office 365 and can manage the related service-level settings. You’ll have options for configuring the Office tenant domain, managing subscriptions and licensing, viewing service health, getting Exchange usage reports, and more.
On any computer where you’ve installed the Exchange management tools, you’ll be able to access the Exchange Toolbox from Start. With Windows Server 2008 R2, select Start, choose All Programs, and then use the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 menu. With Windows Server 2012 RTM or R2, you’ll find an Exchange Toolbox tile on the Start screen. Whether you are working with the Start menu or the Start screen, you can pin the Exchange Toolbox to the desktop taskbar by pressing and holding or right-clicking the related icon and then selecting Pin To Taskbar.
As Figure 1-3 shows, Exchange Toolbox has been streamlined considerably for Exchange 2013. The Toolbox provides access to a suite of related tools, including the following:
■ Details Templates Editor Helps administrators customize client-side GUI presentation of object properties accessed through address lists. You can use this tool to customize the presentation of contacts, users, groups, public folders, and more in the client interface.
■ Remote Connectivity Analyzer Allows administrators to perform connec- tivity tests for inbound email, ActiveSync, Exchange Web Services, Outlook Anywhere, and Outlook RPC over HTTP.
■ Queue Viewer Allows administrators to track message queues and mail flow. Also allows administrators to manage message queuing and remove messages.
FIGURE 1-3 Exchange Toolbox.
Other administration tools that you might want to use with Exchange Server are summarized in Table 1-2.
You access most of the tools listed in Table 1-2 from the Tools menu in Server Manager. Server Manager can be started by tapping or clicking the Server Manager icon in the taskbar. With Windows Server 2012 RTM or R2, you also can start Server Manager by typing Server Manager in the Apps Search box.
TABLE 1-2 Quick Reference Administration Tools to Use with Exchange Server 2013
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOL PURPOSE
DNS Manages the DNS service.
Event Viewer Manages events and logs.
Failover Cluster
Management The Failover Cluster Management tools and the related command-line interface must be installed on your Exchange 2013 servers. This allows you to use scripts for managing availability groups.
IIS Manager Manages Web servers used by Exchange as well as the
management service configuration.
Server Manager Provides setup and configuration options for the local server as well as options for managing roles, features, and related settings on remote servers.