What the {Censored} Do I Install for Exchange 2010??!!

This is a complaint I have heard over and over again from clients going to install Exchange 2010l and even earlier versions.  The level of profanity depends a lot on the individual, but I have heard some rather prim and proper folks resort to very short words when it comes to Exchange pre-requisites. Come to think of it, they've resorted to some long words as well, but none fit for publication in family-friendly venues.

Exchange prerequisites have typically been confusing and difficult to master.  Starting with Exchange 2000 and 2003, the pre-flight checks built into the setup protocols became intelligent enough to figure out what was missing for the most part.  However, the installer didn’t tell you what those things were unless you started playing with the install options and suddenly got a popup which detailed what wasn’t there.  Exchange 2007 and now 2010 both have extensive pre-flight checks that occur before you do any form of installation, just after you tell the installer which components you’d like to put on the box.  They check for everything from your .NET versioning to Active Directory connectivity, but once they tell you all the different things that are not present, how do you figure out what to install in order to make those things present?

Thankfully, Microsoft has had TechNet pages that detail prerequisites for Exchange installations, starting back in Exchange 2000.  Up until 2007, it was up to you to install each of the components listed, but with the advent of newer server management tools in Server 2008, the process can be automated.

For example, to pre-stage Server 2008 R2 for Exchange 2010, you can invoke a series of PowerShell commands to set up nearly all the prerequisites in one shot.  First run:

Import-Module ServerManager

inside a PowerShell window in order to load the correct command modules into the session.  Then, use the correct sequence of commands in the same PowerShell window to load the prerequisites for the roles you need to run on this particular server.  For example, if you wanted to run Hub/Transport, Client Access Services and Mailbox Services; you would execute the following block of commands:

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy –Restart

The specific commands (and the tool to call them) will change based on three things:

1. The version of Exchange (2007, 2010, etc)
2. The version of Windows (2003, 2008, 2008 R2)
3. The Roles you intend to install (Hub/Transport, Client Access, Mailbox, Unified Messaging, etc.)

Some things, like installing the 2007 Office System Converter Filter Pack; still have to be done manually, but most of the basic pre-installations can easily be automated using these combinations of command window and PowerShell scripts.

Microsoft has put up all the commands and processes for all the Server OS’s that Exchange 2010 can run on in this TechNet article.  Similar articles exist for previous versions of Exchange too, so you can get your prerequisites onto the server before you even start the Exchange 2010 installation executable.