Technical Interview Questions Exchange Server

2007/2010

What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles?

What are the benefits of using roles, vs. the way Exchange 2000/2003 worked?
What are the Exchange 2003 equivalents of the various Exchange 2007/2010 roles?
Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007/2010 in your existing
Active Directory forest.
You have an Exchange 5.5 organization and finally decided to move forward and

upgrade to Exchange 2007/2010. Whats your next obvious step?

Youre looking to install Exchange 2007/2010 and Outlook on the same machine.
Should you do that? Why?
Where does Exchange store its configuration settings?
How do you prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010? Name 2 methods.
What permissions do you need to prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010?
How would you verify that the schema was in fact updated?
In the installation folder root you see setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you use

and when?
How would you easily install all the Windows Server 2008/R2 roles and features

required for Exchange 2007/2010?

How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if theyre right?
..
What is the latest Exchange 2007 Service Pack? Name a few changes in functionality in
that SP.
Looking to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. What SP version do you
need? And for R2?
Whats a Rollup Update? Whats the latest RU for Exchange 2007/2010?
How can you easily integrate a RU in the Exchange 2007/2010 installation media?
Name a few reasons for using 64-bit hardware and OS version for Exchange
2007/2010.
Exchange 2007 came in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Name a couple of reasons for
ever needing the 32-bit version.
.
Wanting to manage Exchange 2007/2010 from a remote computer, name a few of your
management options.

Name a few changes that were made in Exchange 2003 Management Console (EMC)
when compared to Exchange 2003 System Manager (ESM).
Whats PowerShell and why do we care?
Name one major benefit of PowerShell v2 over V1.
What are the different Exchange Recipient types?
What are resource mailboxes? When would you use them?
What are Dynamic Distribution groups?
What type of groups would you use when configuring distribution groups in a multiple
domain forest?

How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes in your
organization?

How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes on a specific
Exchange server?
Describe the differences in the permission model between Exchange 2003 and
Exchange 2010.
.
What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2007 stores work?
Whats the difference between the Enterprise and Standard editions of Exchange in
relation with the number and size of the stores on the server?

What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the
changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.
Whats the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2007?
Whats the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2010?
What is the GAL?
When would you decide to create more than one GAL?
How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists?
What is the OAB? When is it used?
What are the OAB distribution options?
You are at a clients location, and you see no Public Folders on any of the Mailbox
servers. How can that be?
You dont have any Public Folder, but now youve got a bunch of laptop users that use
Outlook 2003. What issues would you see? How would you fix these issues?
..
In Exchange 2007, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high
availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?

In Exchange 2010, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high
availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?
Describe the concept behind Log Shipping.
Whats the difference between LCR, CCR and SCR?
Whats SCC?
Youve installed Exchange 2007 RTM and are looking to enable SCR but cannot find
the option to do so in the EMC or in PS. Why?
Describe DAG in Exchange 2010.
Considering DAGs in Exchange 2010, why does Microsoft claim that you can run

Raidless?
Would you run Raidless even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?

Would you run Backup-less even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?
How do you enable LCR?
Why does Microsoft suggest using NTFS mount points when using LCR?
What Exchange edition version do you need for LCR? What Windows edition version do
you need for LCR?
How do you recover from a store corruption when using LCR? Name the procedures
you would use.
.
What are streaming backups?
What are VSS backups?
How would you backup Exchange 2007/2010 on a Windows Server 2008/R2 machine
without using 3rd-party tools?
Whats a Brick-Level backup?
What backup solutions are you familiar with in Exchange 2007/2010?
Whats a Recovery Storage Group? How do you work with one?
Can you use Exmerge in Exchange 2007/2010? Why?
How do you export a mailbox content in Exchange 2007/2010?
Whats a Dial Tone recovery?
What built-in tool do you have to allow you to manage Exchange store recoveries?
Whats the difference between online and offline defrag?
In Exchange 2010, is there any change in the way online and offline defrags are used
(or should be used)?
What is Eseutil?
What is Isinteg?
Name a few scenarios for using both tools?

What are the major considerations for using these tools?

Where does Exchange 2007/2010 get its routing topology from?

What protocol is used for the Mailbox to HT transport?
How would you achieve incoming mail redundancy?
Name all the client connection options in Exchange 2007/2010.
What happened to OMA?
Name some of the major changes in OWA in relation to Exchange 2007 and Exchange
2003? And in relation to Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007?
Whats the ECP in Exchange 2010 OWA?
A user opens an OWA session from an external computer. Which role does that user
connect to?
What are the major changes in Outlook 2010 in relation to Exchange 2010, when
compared to Outlook 2007/Exchange 2007?
Whats a mailbox move request in Exchange 2010?
What is Online Mailbox Move in Exchange 2010?
Describe the issues youre facing when attempting to obtain a digital certificate for
Exchange 2007.
Whats one of the changes that was made to the digital certificate request process in
Exchange 2010 in relation to Exchange 2007?
What are SAN certificates?
Name a few commercial CAs you could use to obtain digital certificates.
What is Cached Mode in Outlook 2007/2010?
What are the benefits and issues when using cached mode? How would you tackle
those issues?
What is S/MIME? What are the usage scenarios for S/MIME?
What is Outlook Anywhere?
Describe the method for enabling Outlook Anywhere.
Youve just bought a new Internet domain name, and are looking to set up an Exchange
organization to receive e-mail for that domain. Name ALL the steps you would need to
take in order to successfully be able to work with that domain name.
Youve installed Exchange 2007/2010 and now you need to be able to send e-mail
externally (to the Internet). What do you need to do?
Whats Accepted Domains?
Where in EMC would you look to configure Send Connectors?
What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options.

Whats a Smart Host? When would you use it?

Wanting to configure a Send Connector to the world, what address would you use?
What are Receive Connectors?
In Exchange 2007/2010, whats the major issue blocking you from receiving e-mail from
the world, considering youve enabled the right port(s) on the firewall, and properly
configured MX records for your domain(s)?
Whats the difference between the Client and the Default Receive Connectors?
Youre looking to troubleshoot e-mail delivery issues. Name 4 options/tools/logs that are
built into Exchange 2007/2010 that can help you in your task.

Youre looking to enable Anti-Spam features on Exchange. Which role would you use to
do so?
Lets say youre wanting to use Anti-Spam features on the HT role. Youre looking to
enable these features but cannot find them. What do you need to do?
Where does Edge role store its settings?
You have a need to enable high-availability and load balancing on your Edge role. How
do you achieve that?
Whats Edge synchronization?
Whats Edge subscription?
How do you enable Edge subscription?
Whats the default replication interval for Edge sync?
What ports do you need to open between the DMZ holding the Edge role and your
internal network?

Microsoft Exchange Server Interview Questions 2007/2010

What's the difference between online and offline defrag?
Online:
Exchange database online defragmentation occurs automatically as part of the database maintenance
process. Online defragmentation detects and removes database objects that are no longer being used
Offline:
you must defragment the Exchange database offline to reduce the physical size of the Exchange
database.
eseutil /d Database_Name [options]
What are resource mailboxes? When would you use them?
SCR:
SCR enables a separation of high availability (comprised of service and data availability) and site
resilience.

What is CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication)?

It is a high availability feature of Exchange 2007. It keeps a copy of storage group on
another server and sinking the log files both. Also, it removes the need of SAN and low cost.
No single point of failure
What is LCR (Local Continuous Replication)?
The LCR feature makes it possible to create and maintain an exact copy (replica) of databases in a
storage group on an Exchange 2007 Server to a second set of disks in the server or to a NAS/SAN
What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles?
Edge Transport , Hub Transport, Client access, Mailbox, unified messaging
What's a Recovery Storage Group?
RSGs enable you to recover data from a backup or copy of a database without disturbing
user access to current data.
How do you use Exmerge in Exchange 2007/2010?
Using ExMerge we can import or export PST files.
You can recover single mailbox

What's a Dial Tone recovery?

A dial tone recovery involves creating an empty database on a server to replace a failed database. This
empty, or dial tone, database allows users to send and receive e-mail while the failed database is recovered.

What built-in tool do you have to allow you to manage Exchange store recoveries?
Exmerge / Recovery storage group
What is Isinteg?
The Information Store Integrity Checker (Isinteg.exe) finds and eliminates errors from the public folder
and mailbox databases at the application level. These errors can prevent the information store from
starting or prevent users from logging on and from receiving, opening, or deleting mail. Isinteg is not
intended for use as a part of routine information store maintenance. It is provided to assist in disaster
recovery situations and other referential integrity issues.
What is Online Mailbox Move in Exchange 2010?
That allows end-users to be online in their email accounts. On completing the move users just needs to
reopen their Outlook clients.
What is the GAL?
The Global Address List or GAL is a University wide directory of Exchange users available through
Outlook or OWA.
How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists?
You could do this by editing the Default Global Address List object in ADSEdit. The attribute that holds the query is
the purportedSearch attribute.

Where does Edge role store its settings?

The Edge Transport server uses Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) to store the required Active
Directory data, which is data such as Accepted Domains, Recipients, Safe Senders, Send Connectors
and a Hub Transport server list.

What's Edge synchronization?

The process that the Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync service performs to propagate data from Active
Directory to the subscribed Edge Transport server. Configuration data is synchronized one time each
hour. Recipient data is synchronized one time every four hours.
You can use the Start-EdgeSynchronization cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell to start
immediate synchronization.
How do you enable Edge subscription?
Open the Exchange Management Shell on the Edge Transport server, and enter this command:
New-EdgeSubscription file "C:\subscription.xml"
Answer Y
Transfer EdgeSubscription.xml to the Hub Transport server
Open Exchange Management Console
In the left tree choose Organization Configuration and then Hub Transport
In the Actions pane click New Edge Subscription
Choose active directory site, if you have multiple sites though, then you should make the Edge Transport
server a member of the site that has the fastest (or most reliable) network connectivity to the perimeter
network.
Use the Browse button to browse for and select the subscription.xml file.
Verify that the Automatically Create A Send Connector for this Edge Subscription checkbox is selected,
then click the New button to import the XML file and create the Edge Subscription.
What's the default replication interval for Edge sync?
By default, configuration data is synchronized to AD LDS once every hour , and recipient data is synchronized
to AD LDS once every four hours . You can change these intervals using the Set-EdgeSyncService cmdlet.

What's Edge subscription?

The Edge Subscription is the record of an Edge Transport server that has been subscribed to an Exchange
organization. The ADAM directory service on a subscribed Edge Transport server is updated with information from
Active Directory by the Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync service.

What is Eseutil?
It is a tool that you can use to verify, modify, and repair an Exchange database file. When a database is corrupt or
damaged, you can restore data from backup or repair it using Eseutil.

Where does Exchange store its configuration settings?

At configuration partition in the active directory

How would you verify that the schema is updated?

You can verify that you are ready to start installing Exchange 2007 by looking for the following.
The Microsoft Exchange Systems Objects container contains a global group called Exchange 12 Domain
Servers
The ESUG has the Exchange 12 Domain Servers global group as a member.
The ESUG will have permissions to the Manage Auditing and Security Log settings on all DCs in all
domains that the commands were run against

What are the different Exchange Recipient types?

http://www.scripts4it.com/interview-questions/exchange-2007-2010/what-are-the-different-exchangerecipient-types
How many storage groups Exchange 2007 supports?
In the standard edition of Exchange 2007, you can have up to 5 databases spread over 5 storage groups.
With enterprise edition, you can have 50 databases spread over 50 storage groups