Exchange Server 2007 / Exchange 2010

I've seen lots of chatter / hopes / wishes / failed attempts about Exchange 2010 working with BES. Keep in mind though, that once you bring in Exchange 2010 you're changing Active Directory and limiting future possibilities ... and possibly breaking things

Some things to keep in mind about Exchange 2007 from Microsoft:

• Exchange Server 2003 is not supported in Active Directory environments whose domain/forest functional levels have been raised beyond Windows Server 2003. However, Exchange Server 2003 SP2 can function against Windows Server 2008 Active Directory servers.
• Exchange Server 2007 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2. However, Exchange 2007 SP1 RU9 and SP2 are supported against Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory servers. In addition, Exchange 2007 SP1 RU9 and SP2 are supported in Active Directory environments whose domain/forest functional levels have been raised to Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Exchange 2007 SP2 is supported with PowerShell 2.0.

So ... you know your limits with Exchange 2007 and Active Directory / OS's ... but what about with BES?

Exchange 2007 SP2 hasn't been signed off as supported with BES yet; but it works.

Exchange 2010 hasn't been even remotely rumored as supported with BES ... and unfortunately I can't confirm it'll work yet.

That said, keep this in mind: Exchange 2010 completely changes how we know mailboxes / storage groups / mailbox databases. Databases are no long kept in storage groups ... storage groups don't exist anymore! You also can't communicate directly with a mailbox server ... gotta go through a Client Access Server (CAS) ... big change for 2010; but awesome for high availability support. That said, you still need global catalog functionality and MAPI isn't going away ... so a lot of the infrastructure requirements stay.

Want to connecct to an Exchange 2010 server using MAPI? Give this a read.