Applies to: Exchange Server 2013

Topic Last Modified: 2013-03-01

Before you install Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, we recommend that you review this topic to ensure that your network, hardware, software, clients, and other elements meet the requirements for Exchange 2013. In addition, make sure you understand the coexistence scenarios that are supported for Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange.

Supported coexistence scenarios

The following table lists the scenarios in which coexistence between Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange is supported.

Coexistence of Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange Server

Exchange version Exchange organization coexistence

Exchange Server 2003 and earlier versions

Not supported

Exchange 2007

Supported with the following versions of Exchange:

  • Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.

  • Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.

Exchange 2010

Supported with the following versions of Exchange:

  • Exchange 2010 SP3 on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.

  • Exchange 2013 CU1 on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.

Mixed Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 organization

Supported with the following versions of Exchange:

  • Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 SP3 on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.

  • Exchange 2010 SP3 on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.

  • Exchange 2013 CU1 on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.
Note:
Exchange 2013 CU1 will be available at a later date.

Supported hybrid deployment scenarios

Exchange 2013 supports hybrid deployments with Office 365 tenants that have been upgrade to the latest version of Office 365. For more information about specific hybrid deployments, see Hybrid Deployment Prerequisites.

Network and directory servers

The following table lists the requirements for the network and the directory servers in your Exchange 2013 organization.

Network and directory server requirements for Exchange 2013

Component Requirement

Schema master

By default, the schema master runs on the first Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 domain controller installed in a forest. The schema master must be running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Global catalog server

In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one global catalog server running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

For more information about global catalog servers, see What is the Global Catalog.

Domain controller

In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one writeable domain controller running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Active Directory forest

Active Directory must be at Windows Server 2003 forest functionality mode or higher.

DNS namespace support

Exchange 2013 supports the following domain name system (DNS) namespaces:

  • Contiguous

  • Noncontiguous

  • Single label domains

  • Disjoint

For more information about DNS namespaces supported by Exchange, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2269838, Microsoft Exchange compatibility with Single Label Domains, Disjoined Namespaces, and Discontiguous Namespaces.

IPv6 support

In Exchange 2013, IPv6 is fully supported, but only when IPv4 is also installed. You can disable IPv4 so only IPv6 is enabled, but uninstalling IPv4 isn't supported. If Exchange 2013 is deployed in this configuration, all Exchange servers can send data to and receive data from devices, servers, and clients that use IPv6 addresses. For more information, see IPv6 Support in Exchange 2013.

Directory server architecture

The use of 64-bit Active Directory domain controllers increases directory service performance for Exchange 2013.

Note:
In multi-domain environments, on Windows Server 2008 domain controllers that have the Active Directory language locale set to Japanese, your servers may not receive some attributes that are stored on an object during inbound replication. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 949189, A Windows Server 2008 domain controller that is configured with the Japanese language locale may not apply updates to attributes on an object during inbound replication.

Installing Exchange 2013 on directory servers

For security and performance reasons, we recommend that you install Exchange 2013 only on member servers and not on Active Directory directory servers. However, you can't run DCPromo on a computer running Exchange 2013. After Exchange 2013 is installed, changing its role from a member server to a directory server, or vice versa, isn't supported.

Hardware

The recommended hardware requirements for Exchange 2013 servers vary depending on a number of factors including the server roles that are installed and the anticipated load that will be placed on the servers.

Note:
For information about deploying Exchange in a virtualized environment, see Exchange 2013 Virtualization.

Hardware requirements for Exchange 2013

Component Requirement Notes

Processor
  • x64 architecture-based computer with Intel processor that supports Intel 64 architecture (formerly known as Intel EM64T)

  • AMD processor that supports the AMD64 platform

  • Intel Itanium IA64 processors not supported

See the "Operating system" section later in this topic for supported operating systems.

Memory

Varies depending on Exchange roles that are installed:

  • Mailbox   8GB minimum

  • Client Access   4GB minimum

  • Mailbox and Client Access combined   8GB minimum

None.

Paging file size

The page file size minimum and maximum must be set to physical RAM plus 10  MB

The recommended page file size also accounts for the memory that's needed to collect information if the operating system stops unexpectedly. On 64-bit operating systems, memory can be written as a dump file to the paging file. This file must reside on the boot volume of the server.

For more information about the configuration options that are available for memory dump data, see Knowledge Base article 254649, Overview of memory dump file options for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.

Disk space
  • At least 30 GB on the drive on which you install Exchange

  • An additional 500 MB of available disk space for each Unified Messaging (UM) language pack that you plan to install

  • 200 MB of available disk space on the system drive

  • A hard disk that stores the message queue database on with at least 500 MB of free space.

The minimum space requirements detailed here don't account for disk subsystem requirements for adequate performance.

Drive

DVD-ROM drive, local or network accessible

None.

Screen resolution

1024 x 768 pixels or higher

None.

File format

Disk partitions formatted as NTFS file systems, which applies to the following partitions:

  • System partition

  • Partitions that store Exchange binary files

  • Partitions containing transaction log files

  • Partitions containing database files

  • Partitions containing other Exchange files

None.

Operating system

The following table lists the supported operating systems for Exchange 2013.

Important:
We don’t support the installation of Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode. The computer must be running the full installation of Windows Server. If you want to install Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode, you must convert the server to a full installation of Windows Server by doing one of the following:
  • Windows Server 2008 R2   Reinstall Windows Server and select the Full Installation option.

  • Windows Server 2012   Convert your Windows Server Core mode server to a full installation by running the following command.

    Copy Code 
    Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra, Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Supported operating systems for Exchange 2013

Component Requirement

Mailbox and Client Access server roles

One of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

Management tools

One of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

  • 64-bit edition of Windows 8

  • 64-bit edition of Windows 7 with SP1

Supported clients

Exchange 2013 supports the following minimum versions of Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Entourage for Mac:

  • Outlook 2013

  • Outlook 2010 SP1 with November 2012 Cumulative Update

  • Outlook 2007 SP3 with November 2012 Cumulative Update

  • Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition

  • Outlook for Mac 2011

Important:
The information above provides the minimum versions required for a client to connect to Exchange. We strongly recommend that you install the latest available service packs and updates available so that your users receive the best possible experience when connecting to Exchange.

Outlook clients earlier than Outlook 2007 are not supported. Email clients on Mac operating systems that require DAV, such as Entourage 2008 for Mac RTM and Entourage 2004, are not supported.

Outlook Web App supports several browsers on a variety of operating systems and devices. For detailed information, see Supported Browsers for Outlook Web App.