Notes from the Lab

Exchange 2007 and the Old Routing Group Question

June 14th, 2006

In Exchange 2007, Microsoft (finally!) is getting rid of Routing Groups. Now it’s official. Exchange 2007 doesn’t have its own topology anymore. It fully relies on AD topology. I repeat, it doesn’t just use AD to store its topology, but actually uses AD topology.

So far I heard two kinds of comments about this particular aspect of Exchange 2007. The first kind: “Now we need to make sure our AD sites are configured correctly”. Duh! Newsflash: Exchange is not the only reason your AD topology must be configured correctly.

The second comment is actually more interesting: “Microsoft is finally backtracking out of something they shouldn’t have done in the first place. And they are making a big deal out of it”. While I agree that Routing Groups are a nuisance, I still think we needed them. As far as I know, Microsoft’s standard reasoning is: “We needed Routing Groups to maintain backward compatibility with Exchange 5.5 Sites”. I agree with that. But I think even Microsoft minds don’t always realize how deep that statement really is. I’m pretty sure they are talking about technical compatibility. But there is one more aspect: human resources. I don’t know how many of you remember 1999, but I do remember it pretty well. At that time, I was a Windows NT/Exchange Consultant. For those of you who remember 1999, that last sentence sounded pretty weird. And that’s kind of my point. How many of “Exchange Engineers/Administrators” new Windows NT well in 1999? And what about knowing Windows NT domains, security etc? “Exchange Administrator” and “Windows Administrator” used to be two clearly distinct professions and two distinctly different team in any large company. The line is much blurrier nowadays. Exchange people new almost nothing about Windows NT domains, security etc. If Microsoft had thrown them into AD without their own directory, that would’ve been an HR disaster of global proportions. The level of Exchange 2000 integration with AD created enough problems for Exchange Engineers. They had to learn Windows domains (and by proxy Windows) and DNS and they had to do it fast. And they had to learn to interact with Windows support teams much closer. But Exchange still had its own mailflow topology.

I think you got my point by now. Microsoft was not the only one that needed Routing Groups. Exchange professionals needed them too. Routing Groups allowed Exchange professionals time to be somewhat gradually introduced into Windows directory. And yes, I know that “gradually” in the previous sentence is a huge overstatement of the “graduality” of that whole process.

Entry Filed under: Exchange