To prepare an Active Directory domain for an Exchange 2007 installation we have to perform a number of steps before we go ahead with the installation.
1) Prepare the Schema
This must be run on the Schema Master in the forest and you must also be a member of schema admins to run.
D:\>setup /prepareschema
Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup
Preparing Exchange Setup
No server roles will be installed
Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check
Organization Checks ……………………. COMPLETED
Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server
Extending Active Directory schema
Progress ……………………. COMPLETED
The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.
2) Prepare the forest root
This steps performs the following:
- Creates exchange org (if one doesn’t already exist
- Creates universal security groups
- Creates exchange container
- Assigns permissions to the configuration partition
- Creates security groups OU and assigns permissions to it
D:\>setup /preparead /organizationname:EXCHORG
Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup
Preparing Exchange Setup
No server roles will be installed
Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check
Organization Checks ……………………. COMPLETED
Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server
Organization Preparation ……………………. COMPLETED
The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.
3) Prepare the domains
The final step is to prepare all the domains which will contain Exchange 2007 servers and recipient objects.
D:\>setup /preparedomain
Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup
Preparing Exchange Setup
No server roles will be installed
Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check
Organization Checks ……………………. COMPLETED
Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server
Prepare Domain Progress ……………………. COMPLETED
The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.