Introduction to Exchange Server 2019
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 is an on-premises release of Exchange that supports hybrid deployments with Microsoft 365 Exchange Online. A major feature is the ability to operate with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Core, which reduces the target size exposed to a malware exploit and dispenses with unneeded services that waste network resources. Improvements over Exchange Server 2016 include better security, higher performance and capacity, and a variety of useful email client benefits.
The Mailbox and Edge Transport services plus admin utilities for Exchange Server 2019 need Microsoft Windows Server 2019. Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 no longer includes the Unified Messaging role, and therefore does not provide voicemail or auto attendant support. If your organization are moving from Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and have deployed Unified Messaging (UM) services, Microsoft advises that you subscribe to the Cloud Voicemail Service available in Microsoft 365. Skype for Business 2019 and Microsoft Teams use this voice messaging service for Microsoft Exchange 2019 mailboxes. Generally, moving to Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 can call for an all-out modernization project.
Progent's Microsoft Gold-certified consultants can help your business with any facet of your migration to Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 from Exchange Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange 2013, or from legacy versions of Microsoft Exchange Server. Progent can provide online and on-premises expertise for system planning; implementing hybrid architectures; building pilot systems; installing high availability techniques such as hardware load balancing and database availability groups (DAGs); reviewing licensing compliance; setting up host servers based on Microsoft Windows Server 2019; configuring Windows Hyper-V virtual machines; upgrading your voicemail system; and calculating storage needs for virtual machines, critical databases and logs. Progent's Microsoft Exchange Server consultants are available to deliver as-needed support to help your business take care of an occasional technical bottleneck or Progent can deliver comprehensive project management or co-management expertise to ensure your Exchange Server 2019 migration is carried out on schedule and within budget.
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Architecture
Exchange Server 2019 is engineered on the efficient model introduced by Microsoft Exchange Server 2016. This design combines transport services, mailbox databases, and user access services in the Mailbox server. This significantly simplifies upgrades, configuration, scale, management, and troubleshooting compared to legacy versions of Exchange Server. The optional Edge Transport Server role comes with filtering agents that allow your perimeter network to manage Internet-facing mail traffic and protect against information leakage, spam and viruses.
Microsoft Exchange 2019 Mailbox and Edge Transport servers and management tools need Standard or Datacenter editions of Microsoft Windows Server 2019. To administer these servers from a Windows client requires a current 64-bit release of Windows 10. (Exchange 2016 can be hosted by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and managed using Windows 8.1 or higher.) Progent offers remote or onsite Microsoft Windows Server 2019 planning and integration guidance, Windows 11 planning and migration consulting, and Windows 10 configuration consulting to help your organization update your Exchange environment.
Security and Performance Improvements in Exchange Server 2019
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 is optimized for being hosted on Windows Server 2019 Core, which offers the safest environment for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019. You can also implement Exchange Server 2019 on Microsoft Windows Server 2019 with Desktop Experience, although this option exposes a larger attack service for malware exploits. By default, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 uses TLS 1.2 transport protocol and replaces outdated ciphers. Several standards bodies call for the use of TLS 1.2. Another security enhancement is the ability in Exchange Server 2019 to block external users from accessing the Exchange admin center (EAC) and the Exchange Management Shell command-line interface. This allows you to require that the administration of Exchange Server 2019 may be performed exclusively from within the security boundaries of your network.
For higher throughput and scale, Exchange Server 2019 can use up to 48 processor cores (as opposed to 24 for Exchange 2016) and 256GB of RAM memory (vs. 192GB for Exchange 2016). Suggested minimum in-box memory has been increased to 128GB. The well-tested cloud search technology incorporated in Microsoft Exchange Online has been brought to Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 for enhanced search response and faster database failovers, support bigger files for indexing, and simplify management. Exchange Server 2019 also allows larger disk drives. To offset the longer latency characteristic of high-capacity rotating disks, the new MetaCacheDatabase (MCDB) technology of Exchange Server 2019 allows you to set up solid state disk (SSD) caching when you implement Database Availability Groups (DAGs). Based on technology originally developed for Microsoft Exchange Online, MCDB can dramatically improve the responsiveness of the user environment. Throughput is also enhanced by changes in Exchange Server 2019 algorithms that make more RAM available for caching active database copies. These enhancements in Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 make it possible to configure each server to handle more users, integrate bigger disk drives, and increase the performance of many end-user operations.
Enhancements for Exchange Server 2019 Clients
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 supports Outlook 2013, 2016 and 2019. Enhancements to the client experience include the Do-Not-Forward function that enables only a meeting's organizer to invite additional guests. Out-of-Office options have also been expanded. Also, a Remove-CalendarEvents cmdlet enables admins to remove events organized by a worker who no longer works for the company.
Cloud Voicemail for Exchange Server 2019
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 does not provide the Unified Messaging (UM) services offered in previous versions of Microsoft Exchange. Unified Messaging services include voicemail and auto attendant. Microsoft Skype for Business 2019 relies on Microsoft Cloud Voicemail Service for voice messaging functions for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 mailboxes. (Skype for Business 2019 still supports Exchange UM services for Exchange 2013 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2016.) Microsoft suggests that customers upgrading to Exchange 2019 migrate to Skype for Business Server 2019 and use Microsoft Cloud Voicemail Service. Exchange Server 2019 and Skype for Business 2019 can be deployed in a hybrid architecture with a combination of Exchange Server 2019 and Exchange Online mailboxes so that both local Exchange 2019 clients and Exchange Online cloud clients have complete access to the latest voice messaging features.
This hybrid voice messaging environment provides voicemail answering and deposit; voice-to-text and text-to-voice services; voice mail access via Microsoft Outlook or Skype for Business; voicemail management via the M365 portal; and hybrid deployment support for Microsoft Exchange mailboxes self-hosted or in the cloud. Management is made easier because of a uniform collection of control utilities for both Exchange 2019 and Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes. Progent's consultants can assist your business to adhere to best practices to configure a hybrid network model that permits all your Exchange clients to connect to the Cloud Voicemail service.
How Progent Can Help You to Configure and Maintain Exchange 2019
Microsoft Exchange 2003 is at end of life (EOL). Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange 2010 are all unsupported legacy products. Microsoft Exchange Server 2019, Microsoft Windows 2019, Skype for Business 2019, and SharePoint 2019 have all been enhanced with Microsoft's proven cloud technology and tuned for hybrid network architectures. Under these circumstances, it is prudent to consider updating your email and collaboration infrastructure. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you to evaluate the business benefits and technical challenges related to moving to Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and related advanced platforms; decide whether an on-premises, cloud, or hybrid architecture is best suited for your organization; design and record a migration plan that makes effective use of your current resources; and perform out a migration from your current Exchange deployment to a modern email solution based on Exchange Server 2019.
Progent's Microsoft Gold-certified experts can assist businesses of all sizes to follow leading practices for designing and implementing an efficient upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 from Exchange 2016, Exchange 2013, Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007, or Exchange 2003. Progent offers a wide range of online and on-premises services including project planning assessment; network topology documentation; setting up Windows Server 2019 Core to host Exchange 2019; integrating Skype for Business 2019 and Cloud Voicemail Service; developing the schema, domain, and forest for Exchange Server 2019; defining and configuring Database Availability Groups (DAGs) and hardware load balancing (HLB) for high availability (HA) and fast recovery; deployment DirSync; updating your firewalls, generating SSL certs and troubleshooting SSL problems; configuring Internet Information Services (IIS); creating PowerShell scripts; and verifying email flow.
Progent's certified Windows Server 2019 experts, Microsoft Skype for Business specialists, Microsoft SharePoint 2019 development experts and Microsoft 365 integration consultants can assist your business to create advanced, integrated email environments based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2019. To manage mobility with Exchange 2019, Progent can provide iPhone and iPad integration expertise and Android smartphone and tablet consulting. Progent's load balancing experts are skilled at implementing and debugging affordable solutions from leading providers like Barracuda, Cisco, Citrix NetScaler, Fortinet, and NGINX.
Progent's disaster recovery/business continuity planning consultants can help you to create, implement and test a disaster recovery/business continuity strategy for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 based on multiple physical data centers or a combination of physical and cloud resources. Progent's CISSP and CISA certified cybersecurity consultants can create and configure email security policies that comply with corporate standards and government mandates. Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified infrastructure engineers can assist you to plan, install and tune an efficient, protected, and robust network architecture for your Microsoft Exchange 2019 solution. Progent has more than two decades of experience supporting Microsoft's Exchange products and can guide you how to follow leading practices as you proceed through the critical stages of Exchange migration including Exchange version coexistence, proof of concept, mailbox migration, technology retirement, troubleshooting, education, and optimization.
Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration with On-premises Exchange
Microsoft supports transparent hybrid networks that combine Microsoft 365 and on-premises Exchange. This allows you to have some mailboxes hosted at your corporate datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes hosted by Microsoft 365. Progent's certified Exchange consulting team can help you with any facet of designing, implementing and debugging your hybrid Exchange solution. Progent's Exchange consultants can deliver as-needed expertise to help you resolve challenging technical problems and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your hybrid Exchange initiative is carried out on schedule and within budget. For more information about Progent's online consulting services for integrating Microsoft 365 and on-premises Exchange systems, refer to Microsoft 365 integration with local Exchange.
Download Progent's Microsoft Exchange 2019 Migration Support Datasheet
To read or download a PDF datasheet on Progent's migration expertise for Exchange Server 2019, click:
Progent's Exchange Server 2019 Migration Expertise Datasheet. (PDF - 101 KB)
If you wish to ask Progent about professional support for Exchange Server integration, call