Install Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Step by Step

Microsoft released the first Exchange version 4.0 in the year 1996. In October 1, 2015, Microsoft released Exchange Server 2016.

For all organizations looking forward to move to Office 365, Microsoft provides you Exchange 2016 license free of cost on the condition that you can use it as a Management Server and would not be hosting any production mailboxes on it. To license it, you simply need to re-run Hybrid Configuration Wizard and select your newly installed Exchange 2016 and License it.

Let’s check the Prerequisites:

  1. Coexistence: Requires Exchange 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 11 or Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 10
  2. OS: Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter (full GUI required, Core not supported).
  3. CPU: Minimum of 2 CPUs with 2 cores each; Intel and AMD are supported.
  4. Memory: For Mailbox role, 8GB memory minimum; Recommend 16GB or higher.
  5. Page file: Amount of RAM + 10MB, not to exceed 32778MB (32GB) for initial and maximum size.
  6. System (OS) partition: Must be NTFS. Recommend 120-150GB.
    Data partition(s): Can be ReFS. Total size of all legacy EDBs + optional 30-40% minimum for growth.
  7. Domain Controllers (DC): Must be Windows Server 2008 or newer.
    Active Directory Forest Functional Level (FFL): Must be Windows Server 2008 or newer.
  8. Install .NET Framework 4.8
  9. Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Runtime
  10. Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013
  11. IPv6: Do not disable.

Note: Do not install Windows Management Framework 5 i.e., Powershell 5, else Exchange Management Shell may not be able to connect.

Installation of Exchange Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016

Open Powershell in Admin mode

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS
Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation

Extract the Exchange 2016 Setup in a folder and cd to the location in CMD:

Open CMD in Admin mode:

Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup.exe /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:YourDomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms (if there is an exchange server already installed in org)

Setup.exe

Note: I highly recommend you to create a new user e.g, [email protected] with Domain Admin, Organization Management & Enterprise Admin Roles. Enable his mailbox on Exchange 2016 Database.

Enable-Mailbox -Identity [email protected] -Database DatabaseOn2016

It will help you open the Exchange Admin Center 2016 directly if you type https://localhost/ecp

Error:

A hybrid deployment with Office 365 has been detected. Please ensure that you are running setup with the /TenantOrganizationConfig switch.

Cause: If you have an existing Exchange 2010 Server and have configured Hybrid Setup with Office 365, you may find an error:

Fix:

1. Connect to Exchange Online Powershell.

2. Run the command

Get-OrganizationConfig | Export-Clixml -Path C:\MyTenantOrganizationConfig.XML
Setup.exe /PrepareAD /TenantOrganizationConfig C:\MyTenantOrganizationConfig.XML /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup.exe

Restart the machine and you will find your newly Exchange 2016 environment. Open Google Chrome and type:

https://localhost/ecp

Login with Administrator credentials. Configure it properly.

If you have Exchange 2010 and wants to decommission it, follow the steps below:

1) Export 3rd party SSL Certificate from Exchange 2010 and import it into Exchange 2016. Assign the services IIS & SMTP to imported certificate.

2) Export all the Receive connectors using the script and run the command in Exchange 2016 Management Shell:

.\Copy-ReceiveConnector.ps1 -SourceServer DC1 -ConnectorName "Specific Receive Connector" -Targ etServer DC5 -MoveToFrontend -ResetBindings -DomainController DC1.exolab.tk

3) Point all Firewalls & Load Balancers to Exchange 2016 Private Ip Address.

4) Try validating with [email protected] user from Office 365 – Outbound to On-Premises Connector in to check mail flow is working. Try sending one test email from 2016Admin user to migrated cloud user and vice versa.

5) Point all Multi-Functional Devices / Applications using SMTP Relay to the Private Ip Address of Exchange 2016 Server.

6) Migrate all three Arbitration/System Mailboxes from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016 using Migration Tab in Exchange 2016 Admin Center.

7) Shut down Exchange 2010 server and check mail flow working fine. Leave it shut down for one week to check any issues being reporting from end-user. Once everything seems working for 1-2 weeks, then think of De-Commisioning the Exchange 2010 Server.

Thanks a ton for reading my blog, don’t leave without mentioning your comments, errors and I will try to revert with a best possible resolution. Please do Subscribe our Youtube Channel for more upcoming videos like this.

Ajey Kumar Gupta
(Exchange Admin)

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