The Unified Messaging Server Role
The Exchange 2007 UM Role combines e-mail, fax and voice messaging into one inbox for each user supported in the Exchange 2007 organization. This allows the user to access all communication from one inbox. The user can access the items via a computer browser, an Outlook client on a computer, or a telephone – mobile or land-line.
This new role is installed on a 64-bit Microsoft Server 2003 server, and into an Exchange 2007 organization. This role is new to Exchange – previous versions of Exchange had no ability to natively combine all voice, fax and e-mail/calendaring messaging into one inbox. This new role will bring enhanced functionality to users as they access one inbox for all communication, but it will also challenge existing IT departments’ knowledge of Exchange – as they know it now – as well as likely require new hardware purchases to support the telephony features of UM.
Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging provides a single point of message administration for Exchange administrators in an organization. The features within Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging enable an Exchange administrator to:
- Manage the voice mail, e-mail, and fax systems from a single platform.
- Manage Unified Messaging using scriptable commands.
- Build highly available and reliable Unified Messaging infrastructures.
The Unified Messaging server role in Exchange 2007 lets users access voice mail, e-mail, fax messages, and calendar information that is located in their Exchange 2007 mailbox from an e-mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Web Access, from a mobile device that has Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync enabled, such as a Windows Mobile powered Smartphone or a personal digital assistant (PDA), or from a telephone.
Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007 gives users’ features such as:
- Call Answering Call answering includes answering an incoming call on behalf of a user, playing their personal greeting, recording a message, and submitting it for delivery to their inbox as an e-mail message.
- Fax Receiving Fax receiving is the process of submitting a fax message for delivery to the Inbox. The fax receiving feature lets users receive fax messages in their Inbox.
- Subscriber Access The subscriber access feature enables dial-in access for company users. Company users or subscribers who are dialing into the Unified Messaging system can access their mailbox using Outlook Voice Access. Subscribers who use Outlook Voice Access can access the Unified Messaging system by using the telephone keypad or voice inputs. By using a telephone, a subscriber or user can:
- Access voice mail over a telephone.
- Listen, forward, or reply to e-mail messages over a telephone.
- Listen to calendar information over a telephone.
- Access or dial contacts stored in the global address list or a personal contact list over a telephone.
- Accept or cancel meeting requests over a telephone.
- Set a voice mail Out-of-Office message.
- Set user security preferences and personal options.
- Auto Attendant An auto attendant is a set of voice prompts that gives external users access to the Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging system. An auto attendant lets the user use either the telephone keypad or speech inputs to navigate the menu structure, place a call to a user, or locate a user and then place a call to that user. An auto attendant gives the administrator the ability to:
- Create a customizable set of menus for external users.
- Define informational greetings, business hours greetings, and non-business hour’s greetings.
- Define holiday schedules.
- Describe how to search the organization’s directory.
- Describe how to connect to a user’s extension so external callers can call a user by specifying their extension.
- Describe how to search the organization’s directory so external callers can search the organization’s directory and call a specific user.
- Enable external users to call the operator.
Installing and running the Unified Messaging server role in a virtualized environment is not supported.
Planning for Unified Messaging
Keep the UM design approach as simple as possible. Start with the fewest number of physical hardware changes and also keep the logical Active Directory design changes to a few as possible. Depending on the size of the organization will dictate the degree of complexity required to implement the UM infrastructure. But even very large companies can start small and expand as their confidence grows.
Proper project planning is critical to the success of this endeavor. Areas to evaluate could include the following:
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The organizations current…and future needs of: |
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· Knowledge of UM technologies |
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· Business needs for UM |
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· Storage allocation for users |
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· The number of users at each location or site |
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· Your current network and telephony infrastructure |
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· The current Active Directory site, site link, and OU design |
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· The number of Exchange 2007 servers fitting the various roles supported in E2k7 |
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· The new security configurations likely needed, such as new firewall policies to accommodate UM-friendly ports, proper security of Edge Servers and of the UM Servers |
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· The current Voice system in-place (if any), and any other voice system hardware |
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· Current personnel with knowledgeable skill-sets of telephony technologies |
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It would be very valuable to determine the exact status of each of the above-listed areas and evaluate the answers. This would give direction into the areas that are weak or lacking and the project plan would have to account for these areas of deficiency.
The best overview of deployment planning would include a phase in which information collection would occur. The table of areas of evaluation listed above is a good start. Once general information is gathered, then you can narrow down the information gathering process to specific areas affecting the network infrastructure.
You must document how your network is designed and managed. Areas of interest are:
Active Directory Design – one forest or multi-forest, single or multi-domain, Native or Mixed mode domains, empty root or functional root, OU design and Group Policy design
Active Directory Site Topology – logical site topology and how it maps to physical topology, KCC-initiated Site Links or manually-created Site Links, default Site Link Bridge existence or manually created Site-Link Bridges, Inter- and Intra-Site configurations, DC-less site existence, proper subnet configuration of all physical subnets
Other Active Directory aware software – such as SharePoint Systems Management Server (SMS)
Current Exchange Design – current number of Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003 servers, front-end and back-end server design, Public folder design, Routing Group design with connector configurations, forwarding configuration documentation, protocol configuration such as SMTP or RPC over HTTP
Exchange Migration Plan – depending on the current messaging platform version will determine whether a New Exchange 2007 is deployed, or a Transition to Exchange 2007 is planned or a Migration from a different messaging platform such as Lotus Notes is planned. Each option listed here – New, Transition or Migration – involves different techniques and plans to fully implement Exchange 2007 with little or no disruption to the existing messaging infrastructure.
Client Configuration – mobile clients supported, protocols supported, accessibility design such as direct via RPC over HTTP or VPN, client variety type and possible plans to upgrade existing legacy clients
DNS Configuration – Active Directory Integrated Zones, Primary and Secondary zones (file based rather than AD Integrated), Secure Dynamic Update configuration (including any Hub and Branch Mnemonics configuration), DNS and WINS integration
WINS Resolution – Push/Pull partner relationships
DHCP Configuration – Distributed DHCP servers or centralized DHCP with BootP forwarding, Scope and DHCP server configurations, VoIP-settings assigned via DHCP if any, fault-tolerance measures
Physical Configuration – LAN and WAN link configuration of bandwidth and type of connection, fully-routed or non-fully routed, dial-on-demand vs. dedicated links, DMZ or screened subnet configuration, firewall configurations
Management Style – Centralized or Decentralized management – or a hybrid of both
Political Factors – areas of business with certain special needs or attention, unique hardware or software needs
Disaster Recovery Accommodations – dedicated site DR areas
These areas require careful documentation and analysis to determine areas needing modification. Some analysis outcomes may reveal mis-configured areas of technology – such as poorly configured AD Site design.
Once all areas of concern have been documented and analyzed, a plan can be formalized to accommodate areas lacking in structure or mis-configured services. This is the start of re-design of the network infrastructure. Once decisions have been made, final approval of the revised design plans need to be made.
Unified Messaging Next Steps
If this little blog article has you interested in learning more about Unified Messaging, please consult the following URL references.
Microsoft Exchange 2007 Home Page
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/default.mspx
Microsoft’s Unified Messaging White Paper
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/unifiedmessaging/umwhitepaper.mspx
TechNet WebCast: Mail That Speaks To You: Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2007
The Microsoft Exchange Team Blog: David Howell on Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/06/23/428107.aspx
