This chapter describes the tasks you need to complete before you install Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server, as well as the tasks you need to complete after the installation.
Before you install Exchange Conferencing Server, you need to plan your deployment and verify that your system meets the requirements for installing Exchange Conferencing Server.
Before you proceed with the deployment, review Chapter 3, "Planning Your Exchange Conferencing Server Installation," and Chapter 4, "Component Planning." Use the information in these chapters to plan the structure of your conferencing site. Also, consider the following questions to help you design your implementation:
Before you install Exchange Conferencing Server, verify that you meet the following system, hardware, and user account for installation requirements. For additional information, see "System and Software Requirements" and "Hardware Requirements" in Chapter 3.
System Requirements
You must install Exchange Conferencing Server on a server running Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server or Windows 2000 Advanced Server. In addition, the following applications and services must be available in the locations noted:
The following application and services are optional, depending on the features of Exchange Conferencing Server that you implement:
Note If you plan to have secure data conferences, Certificate Services is one application you can use for granting certificates and authenticating users.
For an initial implementation, you can install all these components on a single server. At a later time, you can deploy Exchange Conferencing Server to the rest of your organization.
Also, Exchange System Manager must be installed on the same server as Conferencing Manager. Exchange System Manager is required to create any mailboxes, including the conference calendar mailbox, and conference resources.
Hardware Requirements
The following are the minimum required and minimum recommended hardware requirements for servers running Exchange Conferencing Server.
Minimum required:
Minimum recommended:
User Account Requirements
To install Exchange Conferencing Server, your user account must meet the following requirement for the local computer:
In addition, the account must meet one of the following requirements:
Creating a Conferencing Administrator
You can create a Conferencing Administrator user or group for people to use to install, configure and administer Exchange Conferencing Server. You can use this account as an alternative for users whose accounts are not members of Enterprise Admins or Domain Admins.
To create a Conferencing Administrator user or group
Delegating Administrative Permissions
Exchange Administration Delegation Wizard is a tool that simplifies delegating permissions to administrators. If the account that installs Exchange Conferencing Server is not a member of the Enterprise Admins or Domain Admins security group, you need to delegate the administrative permissions for the Exchange Full Administrator role to the account at the organization level. For information on using the Exchange Administration Delegation Wizard, see your Exchange online documentation.
If you use Exchange Administration Delegation Wizard to delegate permissions to an administrator, there can be a replication delay before you see these changes on the account. You can replicate directory information without waiting for the next scheduled replication cycle to occur by initiating an unscheduled replication. For more information on initiating an unscheduled replication, see your Exchange online documentation.
Enabling Computer and User Accounts to Configure Trust for Delegation
As part of the installation process, Exchange Conferencing Server checks the rights on the account that is installing Exchange Conferencing Server. If the account has sufficient rights, Exchange Conferencing Server sets the trust for delegation on the server. The trust for delegation setting allows any process or service running on the local server to request additional services on behalf of a remote client. For example, with the trust for delegation enabled, you can use Exchange Conferencing Server to conduct secure conferences, and conference organizers can control conferences (by extending the conference or modifying conference resources) when conference access pages and the active Conference Management Service are on different servers. Administrators for servers running Exchange Conferencing Server should be careful when they install other services or applications on the server. Ensure that these services or applications do not misuse the trust for delegation.
Use the following procedure to enable Exchange Conferencing Server to set the trust for delegation on the server.
To Set the Enable Computers and User Accounts to be Trusted for Delegation policy
This section provides information about Exchange Conferencing Server components and the procedures required for an initial installation and subsequent installations. With an initial installation, you might install all components. With subsequent installations, you might select individual components to install on additional servers, such as the T.120 MCU/H.323 conference bridge.
The following table describes the components listed on the Custom Setup screen in Exchange Conferencing Server Setup.
Component | Function |
Conference Management Service | Accepts reservations for online conferences, maintains conference schedules, and controls conference technology providers. When you install this component, Exchange Conferencing Server installs Data Conferencing Provider and Video Conferencing Provider. |
T.120 MCU/H.323 Conference Bridge | Provides an MCU for T.120 data conferencing clients and a bridge that allows H.323 clients to participate in audio and video conferences. |
Conference Access Web Pages | A set of Web application pages hosted by IIS. Conference participants use these pages to participate in online conferences. |
Conferencing Manager | A Microsoft Management Console tool for managing and configuring conferencing services. |
Use the following procedures to install a complete version of Exchange Conferencing Server or to install only components that you select.
The following procedures assume that you have completed these steps:
To install a complete version of Exchange Conferencing Server:
Note For requirements for the user account that you use to install Exchange Conferencing Server, see "User Account Requirements" earlier in this chapter.
-Or-
Select another administrative group from the list, and then click Next.
Note The administrative group is selected for you if Conference Management Service is already installed on the site or if there is only one administrative group in your Exchange organization. Once Conference Management Service is installed in an administrative group, subsequent instances of Conference Management Service are installed in the same administrative group.
To install a custom version of Exchange Conferencing Server:
Note For requirements for the user account being used to install Exchange Conferencing Server, see "User Account Requirements" earlier in this chapter.
Note For information about available drives and their corresponding disk space, click Space.
-Or-
Select another administrative group from the list, and then click Next.
Note The administrative group is selected for you if Conference Management Service is already installed on the site or if there is only one administrative group in your Exchange organization. Once Conference Management Service is installed in an administrative group, subsequent instances of Conference Management Service are installed in the same administrative group.
After the initial installation of Exchange Conferencing Server, you can install additional copies of Exchange Conferencing Server components on other servers in your organization. For example, you can install additional copies of Conference Management Service, Conferencing Manager, and create additional MCU servers. The procedure is the same as for a custom installation.
Also, you can install MCUs on a Windows 2000 site without Exchange Conferencing Server installed. When you install an MCU on a site without Exchange Conferencing Server installed, you must select another site with an active Conference Management Service to act as the conferencing host server for the MCU.
To install an MCU on a site without Exchange Conferencing Server
-Or-
Select another administrative group from the list, and then click Next.
-Or-
Select a different site from the list, and then click Next.
After you install Exchange Conferencing Server, you must perform certain tasks on the server and on the client computers. This section outlines these tasks.
After you install Exchange Conferencing Server, perform the following tasks to prepare your conferencing site for online conferences.
Mailboxes
Create the following mailboxes for your conferencing site:
For detailed procedures, see the Exchange Conferencing Server online documentation.
Exchange Conference Resource Mailboxes and User Mailboxes on Different Servers
Exchange Conferencing Server uses free/busy information for scheduling conference resources. If the conference resource mailboxes and mailboxes for users who schedule and participate in conferences are on different servers, there are additional steps to ensure that free/busy information is available to all mailboxes. You can do one of the following:
For more information on these procedures, see your Exchange 2000 online documentation.
Exchange Conferencing Server with Participants from Earlier Versions of Exchange
If you expect users on servers running Exchange Server version 5.5 to schedule online conferences, you need a two-way Active Directory Connector (ADC) connection agreement to replicate conference resources from Active Directory to the Exchange Server 5.5 directory. For detailed procedures on creating a connection agreement, see your Exchange 2000 online documentation.
After you install Exchange Conferencing Server, perform the following tasks to prepare your users to participate in online conferences. For detailed procedures, see the Exchange Conferencing Server online documentation.