MS Exchange 2010 Architecture

The figure below shows the Exchange Hosted Services solution architecture that ESDS has proposed to meet the identified technical requirements related to inbound messaging protection with double spam filtering. For most Exchange Hosted Services features, ESDS uses the default settings.

Customizations & adjustments primarily apply to IP allow list entries, blocked sender & recipient filtering rules & a limited number of spam filter & policy rules that apply to the entire organization, including all e-mail domains. For example, one can use global allow lists to accept all incoming messages from trusted senders, such as business partners, but blocks list servers & similar sources that are not relevant for business. You can also block incoming messages addressed to aliases commonly used by spammers & specific valid recipients, such as unmonitored mailboxes & global distribution groups.

In the spam filter configuration, specifying that empty messages & messages with invalid or missing sender information should be marked as spam.

Overview of the Edge Transport Server Role

Microsoft Exchange Server comes loaded with Edge Transport server which is deployed in your organization’s network. The Edge Transport server handles all Internet-facing mail flow, which provides SMTP relay & smart host services for the Exchange organization.

Extra protection and security are ensured by programmes on the Edge Transport Server. These programmes support anti virus features and protect against spam. Installing more than one Edge Transport server provides redundancy and failover capabilities. Consistency in configuration between multiple Edge Transport servers can be achieved by using cloned configuration scripts.

Overview of the Client Access Role

The Client Access server role looks after mailbox access for all client connections and also enables access to data by using the Availability service where some of the clients can also download configuration settings.

RPC Client Access Service

To improve consistency of user experience and to significantly reduce the bottlenecks when a failover occurs, Exchange Server shifts client processing to a single path provided by Client Access Server. Through this single path, users can access Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange client applications, Address book, Autodiscover and many more.

Outlook Web App (OWA)

This application supports all major browsers. The feature of conversation view enables the users to follow all the messages that are included in a thread, including the message that may not be in the current folder. It also provides users with the additional functionality of being able to share their calendars with users outside their own organization.

Outlook Anywhere

This feature enables clients to easily connect, using the Internet, to their Exchange servers. It can be quickly configured and is ready to use in no time.

Overview of the Hub Transport Server Role

This server can also be termed as a routing server as it routes emails. It also manages email flow within the organization and intelligently and automatically applies rules and policies before delivering the message to the recipient it is meant for.

The Hub transport server and the Edge Transport Server work in tandem to make sure all the emails are delivered efficiently. The Edge Transport Server, on receiving messages from the internet, processes them and sends them to the Hub Transport Server which protects against spam and virus infected emails. The Hub Transport server can be installed on either the same hardware or on a dedicated server. Setting up multiple Hub Transport servers on one site leads to redundancy and disturbs connections.

Overview of the Mailbox Server Role

The Mailbox server role that comes with the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is one of the most common server roles and forms the nucleus of an Exchange organization. It can be installed and configured on a server running Windows Server 2008. It performs the following functions:

• Host mailbox databases
• Provide e-mail storage
• Host public folder databases
• Calculate e-mail address policies
• Generate address lists & offline address books (OABs)
• Conduct Multi-Mailbox Searches
• Provide high availability & site resiliency
• Provide content indexing
• Provide messaging records management (MRM) & retention policies