Exchange Configuration and Management: Administrator Guides

Exchange is Microsoft’s flagship email and collaboration product (shared calendars, contacts, meetings, scheduling). With Exchange, you can implement business-class email solution to your organization. Thanks to its flexibility and scalability, Exchange can be used by small businesses as well as global corporations with tens of thousands of employees around the world.

There are currently two platforms under the same name, Exchange:

  • Exchange Server (2019,2016,2013,2010) – on-premises product for deploying an email system on your own servers (physical or virtual). Users’ mailboxes are stored locally on the servers within the organization. Allows enterprise administrators to have full control over their email infrastructure. Administrators are responsible for the configuration, updates, security, backup, and recovery of the email system. Exchange comes in two editions, Standard and Enterprise (the differences and how they are licensed are described in the article);
  • Exchange Online (EOL) – cloud Exchange tenant hosted on Microsoft servers (part of Microsoft 365). With the entire email infrastructure in the cloud, enterprise administrators no longer need to install and maintain Exchange servers (Microsoft manages all underlying server, network, and storage infrastructure). Exchange Online licenses are provided on a per-user subscription model (on a monthly or annual basis).

Our website contains detailed technical guides for system administrators on how to install, configure, administer, and troubleshoot Exchange Server and Exchange Online.

Exchange Admin Center

Common operational tasks for an Exchange administrator

Using PowerShell in Exchange administration and management tasks

Although both Exchange Server and Exchange Online provide a Web-based graphical administration interface (Exchange Admin Center, or EAC), most server and mailbox management operations are much faster and easier to perform using PowerShell commands.

In order to connect to Exchange Online, you will need to install the EXO module. EXO PowerShell V3 is now available. To install the EXO module from the PowerShell Gallery, run the command

Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement

In the on-premises Exchange Server, management cmdlets are included in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) module that can be installed from the Exchange distribution media. Or, you can connect to the Exchange Server remotely from any computer and import the PowerShell cmdlets for Exchange into your session.

Accessing Exchange mailbox from Outlook

Users can access their mailboxes through the OWA web application (Outlook Web App, Outlook on the Web) or using the Outlook desktop application, which is part of Microsoft Office. Users can get the most out of their Exchange mailbox with the Outlook desktop app.

Manage user mailboxes in Exchange

Here are links to typical Exchange user mailbox management tasks for sysadmins.

Troubleshooting Exchange problems and analyzing logs