Exchange 2013 Installation

Hi, this should get you started: http://judeperera.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/step-by-step-guide-for-installing-exchange-server-2013-preview/

Exchange 2013 is not yet supported on 2012 R2.

As far as which roles to select, that would depend on your planned topology. Technet has a good set of planning and deployment guides.

Basically its a small size firm around 30 users. I need to have exchange installed to manage users mailboxes/create new mailboxes and then the client pc will be using ms outlook 2007 - 2013

For that number of users a single server with all roles will be fine.
Windows 2012 (not R2) with at least 12gb, preferably 16gb of RAM.

Ensure that the clients are fully patched, particularly the Outlook 2007 clients.

If you cannot rebuild the machine with Windows 2012 R2 wait for the release of SP1 in the next couple of months - that will add R2 support.

Simon.

Simon/Guys - cheers for your reply...basically the company has brought the software and they have proposed:
Server 2008 r2 - Domain Controller / File Server
Server 2012 r2 with Exchange 2013 Standard
Client PC's - windows 7 / 8 - (think xp will not work??)

Aslong as above is compatible im happy

What they haven't isn't going to work at the moment as you cannot use Exchange 2013 on Windows 2012 R2.
Therefore I would swap the Windows 2008 R2 DC for the Exchange server. Use Windows 2012 R2 for DC/File server and put Exchange on to Windows 2008 R2.

Simon.

Simon,
I didn't even know that - previous I have installed this:
Server 2012 Standard - DC
Server 2012 Standard with exchange 2013

That would be fine.
It is the 2012 R2 that is the problem.

Simon.

Cheers for your help mate.
Question for you, for example if the standard version is installed:
Server 2012 Standard with exchange 2013 -  will updates be done on this eg: SP1 for exchange?

http://judeperera.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/step-by-step-guide-for-installing-exchange-server-2013-preview/

the link above was recommended - Do i have to do Setup 4 - prepare active directory & domians?


Do i run below on the DC via powershell?
Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS

ive been using this link bit different from the above:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.150).aspx#ADPrep

The link above is for the preview version - Exchange 2010 is now released.
Therefore you need to follow the guides for Exchange 2013 as released by Microsoft.

There is no Exchange 2013 SP1 yet. However all cumulative updates are the full product. Therefore download the latest one and use that for the installation. There is no need to install RTM and then update it immediately.
Exchange 2013 updates will apply to whatever OS you host Exchange on.

Simon.

Simon-do you have the correct link I need to follow plz

The link that you posted is correct.

Simon.

If you have single server then you have to fellow these step

http://foundationit.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/how-to-install-an-exchange-2013-server-on-a-single-windows-2012-standard-edition-server/

Guys,
Sorry to be a pain - too many links im getting confused.  Server 2012 Standard is not going to be the DC - it will have just Exchange 2013.....  the link above says promote server 2012 as DC which is not the case - can someone tell me the link to use please?

The TechNet article that you posted originally is all that you need.
Forget about domain controller, just ensure the domain is at the level that is required by the prerequisites. However if it isn't, the install will stop.

Simon.

Simon  - nice one for this - last thing please..

Active Directory Prep  - Do I do below on the server that has AD? im using a separate server for DC that will not have exchange on it just for AD/File server!


The computer you want to use to prepare Active Directory for Exchange 2013 has specific prerequisites that must be met.

Install the following software on the computer that will be used to prepare Active Directory:
•Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
•Windows Management Framework 3.0

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS - SERVER 2012

Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS - SERVER 2008R2

If the domain controller is in the same site then you can do the prep on Exchange - the setup wizard will actually do it for you. Therefore just install the bits it asked for - although they may already have been installed as part of the full product requirements.

Simon.

Simon - all the servers will at the same site - so hopefully like you said the wizard should do it for me

simon - Exchange logs/Database file  -  I have 700gb  - is it ok to keep both on the same drive?

Personally I wouldn't.
The best place is a separate spindles. If you cannot do that then put them in to their own partition. The idea being that if something goes wrong and the logs loop and generate a lot of traffic, they hit the buffer of the partition size.

Simon.

I have 700GB - I can split this up into 2 partitions - what size do you recommend for both -  equally split them for log and edb?

The database will always be larger than the logs. There is no fixed rule - some sites I have had the log drive as small as 20gb, others as large as 150gb. You usually need enough space to cope with a four/five day weekend plus the failure of one backup.

Simon.

shall I just split them up 350GB each? or keep database larger?