Exchange Server 2013 includes several types of tools for
administration. You’ll use the graphical tools most frequently. They
include Exchange Admin Center, Office Admin Center, and Exchange
Toolbox.
Exchange Admin Center, shown in Figure 1,
replaces Exchange Management Console. Although previous Exchange
management tools were implemented using Microsoft Management Console
(MMC), Exchange Admin Center is web based and works similar to Exchange
Control Panel (ECP). However, Exchange Admin Center is much more
advanced, and you’ll use this console for managing on-premises, online,
and hybrid deployments of Exchange 2013.
Exchange Admin Center is a web application running on a Client
Access server providing services for the Exchange organization. This
application is installed automatically when you install a Client Access
server. To manage Exchange installations from just about anywhere, you
simply need to enter the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) path for the
application in your browser’s Address field. You can then access
Exchange Admin Center. For on-premises installations, the default
internal URL for Exchange Admin Center is https://ClientAccessServerName/ecp and the external URL is https://yourserver.yourdomain.com/ecp. For example, if your Client Access server is named CASserver12, you’d enter https://casserver12/ecp as the URL for internal access.
When you are accessing an on-premises installation from within your
organization (and behind your organization’s firewall), you use the
internal URL. When you are accessing an on-premises installation
outside your organization, you use the external URL. There are many ways to configure access to this app. You can change the
default URL, restrict access to the internal URL only, and more.
Real World
If you deploy Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2010 in the same
organization and your personal mailbox is on an Exchange 2010 Mailbox
server, you’ll see the Exchange 2010 Exchange Control Panel by default.
To access Exchange Admin Center, you must add the Exchange version to
the URL.
You do this by appending ?ExchClientVer=15 to the internal or external URL. For example, if your external URL is https://mail.pocket-consultant.com, you’d enter https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/ecp?ExchClientVer=15 as the URL.
If your personal mailbox is on Exchange 2013 and you want to access
the Exchange 2010 Exchange Control Panel, you can do this as well. In
this case, you enter the client version as 14 rather than 15, as shown
in this example: https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/ecp?ExchClientVer=14.
You manage Exchange Online using the cross-premises management
options in Exchange Admin Center. With an online or hybrid
installation, you’ll also be provided an access URL for Office Admin
Center, such as https://portal.microsoftonline.com/admin/default.aspx. After you log in, you’ll see the Office Admin Center dashboard, shown in Figure 2.
From
the Office Admin Center dashboard, you have full access to Exchange
Online and Office 365 and can manage the related service-level
settings. You’ll have options for configuring the Office tenant domain,
managing subscriptions and licensing, viewing service health, getting
Exchange usage reports, and more.
On any computer where you’ve installed the Exchange management
tools, you’ll be able to access the Exchange Toolbox from Start. With
Windows Server 2008 R2, select Start, choose All Programs, and then use
the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 menu. With Windows Server 2012 RTM
or R2, you’ll find an Exchange Toolbox tile on the Start screen.
Whether you are working with the Start menu or the Start screen, you
can pin the Exchange Toolbox to the desktop taskbar by pressing and
holding or right-clicking the related icon and then selecting Pin To
Taskbar.
As Figure 3
shows, Exchange Toolbox has been streamlined considerably for Exchange
2013. The Toolbox provides access to a suite of related tools,
including the following:
-
Details Templates Editor
. Helps administrators customize client-side GUI
presentation of object properties accessed through address lists. You
can use this tool to customize the presentation of contacts, users,
groups, public folders, and more in the client interface.
-
Remote Connectivity Analyzer
. Allows administrators to perform connectivity tests
for inbound email, ActiveSync, Exchange Web Services, Outlook Anywhere,
and Outlook RPC over HTTP.
-
Queue Viewer
. Allows administrators to track message queues and
mail flow. Also allows administrators to manage message queuing and
remove messages.
Other administration tools that you might want to use with Exchange Server are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Quick Reference Administration Tools to Use with Exchange Server 2013
|
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOL
|
PURPOSE
|
|
DNS |
Manages the DNS service. |
|
Event Viewer |
Manages events and logs. |
|
Failover Cluster Management |
The Failover Cluster Management tools and the related command-line
interface must be installed on your Exchange 2013 servers. This allows
you to use scripts for managing availability groups. |
|
IIS Manager |
Manages Web servers used by Exchange as well as the management service configuration. |
|
Server Manager |
Provides setup and configuration options for the local server as
well as options for managing roles, features, and related settings on
remote servers. |
You access most of the tools listed in Table 1
from the Tools menu in Server Manager. Server Manager can be started by
tapping or clicking the Server Manager icon in the taskbar. With
Windows Server 2012 RTM or R2, you also can start Server Manager by
typing Server Manager in the Apps Search box.
