crash course in Microsoft Exchange 2000 - please help

[matt_richards]

Hello there,

I have a bit of a situation. I am good with computers, but I don't have a 10 year background in NT administration. I am frequently called upon to work round systems that someone else has installed. So far I have done a good job of picking things up as I go along.

I have now found myself in a situation where I need to quickly learn enough about Microsoft Exchange server so that I can if necessary redeploy it and also troubleshoot any problems that may arise from the work I need to do.

Could anyone recommend any good guides that will teach me what I need to know? Also I am really looking to catch up on the direct experience of dealing with Exchange that I have missed - so any wizdom people can impart about quirks and pot-holes to avoid would be really, really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[monster]

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/te...umentation.asp

[mairving]

Get Barry Gerber's book called Mastering Exchange Server 2000. It is a great resource for Exchange. The main thing that you will have to learn coming from a NT background is Active Directory since everything in Exchange is tied to AD.

It is generally not too difficult to setup unless you are upgrading from Exchange 5.5.

Some good resources for Exchange 2000 are:
MR & D (Mark Minasi) forums
Tek Tips
The Microsoft site is good for troubleshooting but not all that great otherwise.

[CrazyMike]

How good are you with Windows 2000 server? Exchange and Win2000 are pretty similar when it comes to managing users.

[matt_richards]

Thanks for all the feedback guys,

Mairving: thanks mate I will check that out. For the record, I said that I don't have a background in NT, I have more experience of 2000 onwards. That's what is making this a bit tricky

Crazy: In fairness I have had to do some user configuration on win2000 server - so I am reasonably familiar with active directory.

I need to have a good look at these links, I will post back if it is still murky. In the meantime, if anyone has any others, please post them.

[mairving]

Sorry, when I read your post, I thought that it said that you had 10yrs. in NT administration. Exchange, once it is setup and running is not all that difficult to administer. Just make sure that you keep the software both Exchange and W2K patched and up to date as well as your virus scanner. A couple of good tools to get you started are:
HFNetChkPro4 which will scan your machine for missing patches and it can also push patches to the machine. They have a free version that will work for up to 10 computers. Another tool that can help is: MS Baseline Security Analyzer.

A couple of tips are never run Exchange on a domain controller and install the Exchange system manager on your workstation so you can manage it from there.

[matt_richards]

Thats great mairving,

Those utils should come in handy and I appreciate the pointers. I am just looking through the chtm files from Monster's link. They are actually very comprehensive.

Only downside is I'm going to have to spend 2 hours trudging through them

I wish I could have the knowledge injected directly into my brain like on the Matrix...