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Planning for Unified Messaging Servers

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging server role enables Unified Messaging for an Exchange 2007 organization. Unified Messaging lets users access their Exchange 2007 mailbox over any telephone for e-mail, voice mail, fax messages, and calendaring and contact information.

Migrating to Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging from your current voice mail solution or implementing a new voice mail system by using Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging can be a complex process. Planning and deployment requires the coordination of telephony, IT, and Exchange administrators. This topic discusses how to develop a plan to deploy Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging for your organization.

Important

We recommend that all customers who plan to deploy Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging obtain the help of a Unified Messaging specialist. This will help ensure a smooth transition from a legacy voice mail system. Rolling out a new UM deployment or performing an upgrade of an existing legacy voice mail system requires significant knowledge of PBXs and Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging. For more information about who to contact, see the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging (UM) Specialists Web site.

Who Should Read These Topics?

Information technology and telephony professionals who are responsible for planning and designing Exchange messaging systems that include Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging for their companies should read these topics. Such professionals may be in the following roles:

  • System architects   Responsible for designing the overall server infrastructure, developing server deployment strategies and policies, and contributing to networking connectivity design.

  • Information technology managers   Technical decision makers, who also manage the Information Technology staff responsible for the infrastructure, the desktop and server deployment, and server administration and operations across sites.

  • Systems administrators   Responsible for planning and deploying technology across Microsoft Windows servers and evaluating and recommending new technology solutions.

  • Messaging administrators   Responsible for implementing and managing organizational messaging.

  • Telephony administrators and consultants   Responsible for implementing and managing an organizations telephony infrastructure.

For more information, including a technical overview of Unified Messaging, see Unified Messaging Concepts and Planning.

Planning Unified Messaging

When you plan your Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging deployment, you must consider design and other issues that may affect your ability to reach your organizational goals when you deploy Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging.

Generally, the simpler the Unified Messaging topology, the easier Unified Messaging is to deploy and maintain. Install as few Unified Messaging servers and create as few Unified Messaging objects in the Active Directory directory service as you need to support your business and organizational goals. Large enterprises with complex network and telephony environments, multiple business units, or other complexities will require more planning than smaller organizations with relatively straightforward Unified Messaging needs.

There are many areas that you must consider or evaluate to be able to successfully deploy Unified Messaging. You must understand the different aspects of Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging and each component and feature so that you can plan your Unified Messaging infrastructure and deployment appropriately.

Allocating time to plan and work through these issues will help prevent problems when you deploy Unified Messaging in your organization.

The following are some of the areas that you should consider and evaluate when planning for Exchange 2007 in your organization:

  • Your business needs for Unified Messaging

  • Your telephony network and your current voice mail system

  • Your current data network design

  • Your current Active Directory environment

  • The number of users that you will have to support

  • The number of Unified Messaging servers you will need

  • The storage requirements for users

  • The placement of IP gateways, telephony equipment, and Unified Messaging servers

For more information about support for IP gateways, IP PBXs, and PBXs, see the following topics:

New in Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

SP1 for Exchange 2007 added many new features that require you to integrate Exchange Unified Messaging and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. There are planning issues that you must consider to successfully integrate Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Unified Messaging. For more information about how to deploy Unified Messaging and Communications Server 2007, see Planning an Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging and Office Communications 2007 Server Deployment.

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