Exchange Server and Windows Server 2008 – Part II

Windows Server 2008 Improvements that Benefit Exchange

Windows Server 2008 includes a number of improvements and enhancements that can directly benefit servers running Exchange 2007 SP1. There are many benefits to running Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. Just to name a few:

Support for multi-subnet failover clusters When running in a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster, Exchange 2007 SP1 includes support for geographically dispersed clusters for failover across two subnets. This support includes both Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) environments and Single Copy Clusters (SCC).

Faster log file shipping Cluster Continuous Replication and Standby Continuous Replication are two forms of log shipping that use the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol to copy log files from a source storage group to a passive or target storage group. Windows Server 2008 includes SMB version 2, which provides a significant increase (around 30-40%) in SMB-based file copying throughput and performance.
Reduced downtime for hardware maintenance Windows Server 2008 enables a variety of core hardware components to be added, removed or replaced without requiring system downtime. These processes are often referred to as "hot add", "hot remove", "hot replace" because the system remains active and continues providing service and data access while the hardware maintenance is occurring. Dynamic hardware partitioning in Windows Server 2008 includes support for hot add and replacement of processors and memory, as well as hot pluggable PCI Express cards. Of course, support for this is available only with the appropriate hardware. If you're not sure if your hardware is capable of running Windows Server 2008, you can download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool to securely inventory your existing servers and generate a migration report for Windows Server 2008.
Near-zero downtime when fixing NTFS corruption In Windows Server 2003 and earlier, fixing NTFS corruption required taking the server offline to run the Chkdsk utility. The downtime associated with this process can be significant, particularly when the volume being checked is quite large. Windows Server 2008 includes a feature called self-healing NTFS, which attempts to correct corruptions of an NTFS file system while the system is online, and without requiring Chkdsk to be run. With self-healing NTFS, the file system is always available, NTFS corrects all detected problems while the system is running, and Chkdsk does not have to run in its exclusive mode except in extreme conditions.
Greater scalability for Client Access servers that provide Outlook Anywhere services Windows Server 2008 includes a Next Generation TCP/IP stack that removes the RPC Proxy Service TCP connection limits imposed by Windows Server 2003 and earlier versions of Windows. Specifically, the RPC Proxy Service, the Windows component that enables RPC over HTTP, now supports per-IP address connection-limits. Whereas the RPC Proxy Service in Windows Server 2003 supports a maximum of 65,535 connections, regardless of the number of IP addresses assigned to the server, the RPC Proxy Service in Windows Server 2008 supports a maximum of 65,535 connections per IP address.
Easier deployment Windows Server 2008 includes Exchange 2007 installation dependencies, such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0, Windows PowerShell, and .NET Framework 2.0. As a result, you don't need to separately download these prerequisites in order to deploy Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. Instead, you can quickly install them from the new Server Manager MMC console in Windows Server 2008, or install them from the command-line version of Server Manager.
Support for IPv6 Windows Server 2008 includes support for IPv6, and Exchange 2007 SP1 supports IPv6 on Windows Server 2008 when used in tandem with IPv4. For more information, see IPv6 Support in Exchange 2007 SP1.