I have two sites defined in Active Directory Sites and Services. Basically, the second site was defined to control replication. We are running a Windows Server 2003 domain. What are the Exchange 2007 requirements (i.e. which roles are required for each site)? I am under the impression that we need seperate roles for each site. We do not do this now with Exchange 2003 and for cost reasons we don't really want to purchase additional hardware to deploy Exchange 2007. Should I just collapse our infrastructure back to the Default First Site? Any help would be great. Thanks.

WellI guess it depends upon where you'd like to install Exchange. AD should be able to service Exchange from any site. I don't see why you couldn't install all of x7 into one site, especially if all Exchange serversand users are in that site. If you install into both sites, each site that has a mbx server role also requires a CA server role for protocol access.

Im curious. I just read part of an article on msexchange.org where the author stated the following: "You will need to be aware of a few things when choosing what roles to install where. If you are running a multi-site AD environment you need to install a Hub Transport and Mailbox server in each AD Site. You also must install a Client Access server in each site that contains a Mailbox server. Finally, all the roles can be installed on the same server (exceptEdge Transport) or on individual servers."I am currently working on an Exchange 2007 deployment for an organization which has four (4) active directory sites. These sites are set up based on geographical locations with either one (1) or two (2) domain controllers per site. One of the sites contains a significantly larger portion of the user base than the other three sites. According to the author in the article mentioned above I would need to place exchange server roles within each of the sites? I was hoping to be able to centrally locate all of the Exchange servers.I would be very appreciative of anyone who can point me in the right direction as far as the requirements for multi site active directory environments and Exchange 2007.Thank you VERY much! Zach Petersen

Hello, you can find some valuable information here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996299.aspx A important part for you : A Hub Transport server must be able to communicate directly with a global catalog server to perform ActiveDirectory lookups. Mailbox servers should be located in the same site as a Hub Transport server. We recommend that you deploy more than one Hub Transport server in each ActiveDirectory site to provide load balancing and fault tolerance. Unified Messaging servers submit messages to a Hub Transport server for transport to a Mailbox server. A Unified Messaging server may be located in a hub site or near the IP/voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway or IP Private Branch eXchange (IP/PBX). The Hub Transport server that has the same site membership as the Unified Messaging server will receive messages for transport and route the messages to other Hub Transport servers and Mailbox servers in the organization. Client Access servers provide a connectivity point to the Exchange organization for users who are accessing Exchange remotely. A Client Access server must be deployed in each site that contains Mailbox servers. The Client Access server lets the user connect directly to the Mailbox server to retrieve messages, but any messages that are sent from the remote client must be transported through the Hub Transport server. As a specific example, I have a customer that manage a lot of domains and sub-domains with only Exchange 2007 in the central site. (A cluster of Exchange 2007 for Mailboxes, a NLB for Hub and CAS Exchange 2007 Servers. All users in all domains have a mailbox and can use all Exchange 2007 possibilities. But, the root domain where Exchange 2007 is hosted has only one site, all other domains areon the other sites! Bye.