If you find yourself with the responsibility of managing an Exchange Server 2010 environment, then you will be all too familiar with using the Exchange Management Console. This utility is installed as a part of your Exchange server setup, and provides a graphical interface for managing your entire Exchange environment. By default, this management utility is only accessible from within your Exchange server itself. Fortunately, it is fairly simple to install both the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell (for PowerShell) on your own workstation. Prior to this, however, there are a few prerequisites that will need to be taken care of.
Microsoft's Exchange Management Console is used to manage your entire Exchange environment.
The first requirement is to download and install the Remote Server Administration Tools, provided by Microsoft. This should be a straightforward installation, but may require a reboot. This particular toolkit is very useful for any Windows server administrator, which will be discussed further in a future post. For now, it is necessary for the task of installing the Exchange management tools.
Once Microsoft's Remote Server Administration Tools has been installed, and your workstation rebooted, you will need to install some IIS components. In order to install these components, you will need to launch Control Panel and select Programs. From here, select Turn Windows features on or off, located under the Programs and Features heading. Within this screen, select IIS 6 Management Console, which should automatically select IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility as well. The following screenshot shows these two components that are required to be installed.
Now you will need to download Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3. Since this is a large installation file, it will likely take some time to download. Once it is completely downloaded, however, you can move forward with running the setup file. This should begin the extraction process of the installation files for Exchange Server 2010 SP3, and will prompt you for a location to extract the files to. These installation files can be extracted to any location of your choosing.
After the file extraction is complete, you can navigate to the specified directory and run the Exchange Setup file located there. On the initial splash screen for the Exchange installation, you will see prerequisites listed under the Install heading. If you are running a newer Operating System like Windows 10, then you should have both .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and PowerShell v2 already installed on your workstation. If not, then you will need to do so now.
To begin the installation, click on Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange.
On the Introduction screen, you can click Next to move on to the License Agreement. From here, select that you accept the agreement and click Next to continue. You will now have the option to opt-in to Exchange Error Reporting, which will automatically send error reports to Microsoft. This is entirely up to you whether you would like to participate or not, but once you have made your decision click Next.
You should now be on the installation screen which allows you to specify whether you will be doing a Typical install or Custom. This is the most important step when installing only the Exchange Server 2010 Management Console on your workstation. In order to do so, select Custom Exchange Server Installation and click Next. I would also recommend that you do not select to automatically install Windows Server roles and features.
You will now be able to select which Exchange server roles that you wish to install. In our case, you will only want to select Management Tools. Click Next once you have made your selection.
Setup should now go through its Readiness Checks. In the event that you have a missing requirement, you will be notified within this screen. If there are any issues, you will need to correct them before retrying. If everything goes well, however, then you should see the following.
You can now click Install to begin the actual installation of the Exchange Management Tools. This might take a few minutes to complete, but you will be given a summary of the progress of the installation. Once everything is completely installed, you can click Finish to launch the Exchange Management Console.
If you have installed this tool on a domain computer, it should automatically connect to your Exchange server. You will be able to verify this by expanding out the menu tree items on the left. In the event that the version of your Exchange Management Console does not match that of your Exchange Server, you will need to download and install the necessary Service Packs on your workstation. At this point, you should have both the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell installed on your workstation. You will no longer need to remotely access your Exchange server in order to manage your Exchange environment.
The first requirement is to download and install the Remote Server Administration Tools, provided by Microsoft. This should be a straightforward installation, but may require a reboot. This particular toolkit is very useful for any Windows server administrator, which will be discussed further in a future post. For now, it is necessary for the task of installing the Exchange management tools.
Once Microsoft's Remote Server Administration Tools has been installed, and your workstation rebooted, you will need to install some IIS components. In order to install these components, you will need to launch Control Panel and select Programs. From here, select Turn Windows features on or off, located under the Programs and Features heading. Within this screen, select IIS 6 Management Console, which should automatically select IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility as well. The following screenshot shows these two components that are required to be installed.
Now you will need to download Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3. Since this is a large installation file, it will likely take some time to download. Once it is completely downloaded, however, you can move forward with running the setup file. This should begin the extraction process of the installation files for Exchange Server 2010 SP3, and will prompt you for a location to extract the files to. These installation files can be extracted to any location of your choosing.
After the file extraction is complete, you can navigate to the specified directory and run the Exchange Setup file located there. On the initial splash screen for the Exchange installation, you will see prerequisites listed under the Install heading. If you are running a newer Operating System like Windows 10, then you should have both .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and PowerShell v2 already installed on your workstation. If not, then you will need to do so now.
To begin the installation, click on Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange.
On the Introduction screen, you can click Next to move on to the License Agreement. From here, select that you accept the agreement and click Next to continue. You will now have the option to opt-in to Exchange Error Reporting, which will automatically send error reports to Microsoft. This is entirely up to you whether you would like to participate or not, but once you have made your decision click Next.
You should now be on the installation screen which allows you to specify whether you will be doing a Typical install or Custom. This is the most important step when installing only the Exchange Server 2010 Management Console on your workstation. In order to do so, select Custom Exchange Server Installation and click Next. I would also recommend that you do not select to automatically install Windows Server roles and features.
You will now be able to select which Exchange server roles that you wish to install. In our case, you will only want to select Management Tools. Click Next once you have made your selection.
Setup should now go through its Readiness Checks. In the event that you have a missing requirement, you will be notified within this screen. If there are any issues, you will need to correct them before retrying. If everything goes well, however, then you should see the following.
You can now click Install to begin the actual installation of the Exchange Management Tools. This might take a few minutes to complete, but you will be given a summary of the progress of the installation. Once everything is completely installed, you can click Finish to launch the Exchange Management Console.
If you have installed this tool on a domain computer, it should automatically connect to your Exchange server. You will be able to verify this by expanding out the menu tree items on the left. In the event that the version of your Exchange Management Console does not match that of your Exchange Server, you will need to download and install the necessary Service Packs on your workstation. At this point, you should have both the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell installed on your workstation. You will no longer need to remotely access your Exchange server in order to manage your Exchange environment.
