How to Setup Hosted Exchange 2013 (Multi-Tenancy)

Need some guidance to setup Hosted Exchange 2013? I’ll share my thoughts

Please note that the following information is only guidance and will help you installing a non-productive environment for testing purposes. There might other or different steps be necessary for you to successfully install a productive hosted Exchange environment. This guide should provide help to build the Structures to “isolate” different Tenants on Exchange 2013

Here are some useful resources:

Exchange 2013 Pre-Requisites
Multi-Tenancy in Exchange 2013
Multi-Tenancy and Hosting Guidance for Exchange Server 2013http://itswapshop.com/tutorial/creating-tenants-exchange-2010-sp2-multi-tenant

In my setup I used two virtual Servers running Windows 2012 Standard. One Server will act as Domaincontroller with all necessary roles while the second server will hold Exchange itself.

Domain Controller Requirements

• Install the latest Windows Updates
• Make sure server has a static IP address configured
• Install Active Directory Roles
• Promote Server to Domain Controller

In my example the Server is called DC2012 and the Active Directory Domain is called hosted.exchange.

Exchange Server Requirements

• Install Windows Updates
• Make sure the server has a static IP address
• Join the newly created domain

Exchange Installation

Before we can start installing Exchange we have to install some Pre-Requisites as describedhere.

Then we just start the Exchange Setup and make sure we install both, the Mailbox Server Role as well as the Client Access Server Role.
Choose a name for your Exchange Organization. I simply named it “Hosted Exchange”

Let the installation process finish. The rest we can do from the Domaincontroller.

As the Multi-Tenancy and Hosting Guide for Exchange Server 2013 states, the only way to get a supported environment is using cmd-lets to automate your tasks. Any manual modification in Active Directory and/or Exchange Objects is unsupported. So let’s do all the necessary steps from the Windows Power Shell.

Creating Active Directory Structure for Tenants

We’re make it simple and Create a OU called Tenants right in the root of the Active Directory Structure

New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name Tenants

This is a one time step. If you want you can provide more information to this OU using the according parameteres. You can always use Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) to verify if your commands have beend completed successfully. You should now see the OU Tenants in ADUC.

Creating first Tenant

# 1. create a OU for the first Tenant “Tenant A”

New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name TenantA -Path “OU=Tenants,DC=hosted,DC=exchange”

# 2.  register the new UPN Suffix

Set-ADForest -Identity hosted.exchange -UPNSuffixes @{add=”tenanta.com”}

This is what need’s to be done in Active Directory. Now let’s continue using the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). We can “load” the EMS directly from this shell (assuming that you’re working with the Domain Administrator now)

# 3. connect to EMS

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri http://ex2013.hosted.exchange/PowerShell/ -Authentication Kerberos
Import-PSSession $Session

make sure you adjust the path according to your setup. PowerShell is now loading the Exchange cmd-lets

# 4. Add a new accepted Domain for the new Tenant

New-AcceptedDomain -Name “TenantA” -DomainName tenanta.com -DomainType:Authoritative

# 5. Create Global Address List for Tenant A

New-GlobalAddressList -Name “TenantA – GAL” -ConditionalCustomAttribute1 “TenantA” -IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA”

# 6. Create All Rooms Address List

New-AddressList -Name “TenantA – All Rooms” -RecipientFilter “(CustomAttribute1 -eq ‘TenantA’) -and (RecipientDisplayType -eq ‘ConferenceRoomMailbox’)” -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA”

# 7. Create All Users Address List

New-AddressList -Name “TenantA – All Users” -RecipientFilter “(CustomAttribute1 -eq ‘TenantA’) -and (ObjectClass -eq ‘User’)” -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA”

# 8. Create All Contacts Address List

New-AddressList -Name “TenantA – All Contacts” -RecipientFilter “(CustomAttribute1 -eq ‘TenantA’) -and (ObjectClass -eq ‘Contact’)” -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA”

# 9. Create All Groups Address List

New-AddressList -Name “TenantA – All Groups” -RecipientFilter “(CustomAttribute1 -eq ‘TenantA’) -and (ObjectClass -eq ‘Group’)” -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA”

# 10. Create Offline Address Book

New-OfflineAddressBook -Name “TenantA” -AddressLists “TenantA – GAL”

# 11. Create Email Address Policy

New-EmailAddressPolicy -Name “TenantA – EAP” -RecipientContainer “hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA” -IncludedRecipients “AllRecipients” -ConditionalCustomAttribute1 “TenantA” -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates “SMTP:%m@tenanta.com”,”smtp:%g.%s@tenanta.com”

You may want to play around with the parameter: -EnabledPrimarySMTPAddressTemplate “SMTP:%g.%s@tenanta.com” that will set Firstname.Lastname@domain.tld for the default Email Address Policy (EAP)

# 12. Create Address Book Policy

New-AddressBookPolicy -Name “TenantA” -AddressLists “TenantA – All Users”, “TenantA – All Contacts”, “TenantA – All Groups” -GlobalAddressList “TenantA – GAL” -OfflineAddressBook “TenantA” -RoomList “TenantA – All Rooms”

# 13. Create a Room Mailbox (optional)

New-Mailbox -Name ‘Tenant A Conference Room 1′ -Alias ‘TenantA_ConfRoom1′ -OrganizationalUnit ‘hosted.exchange/Tenants/TenantA’ -UserPrincipalName ‘confroom1@tenanta.com’ -SamAccountName ‘TenantA_ConfRoom1′ -FirstName ‘Conference’ -Initials ” -LastName ‘Room 1′ -AddressBookPolicy ‘TenantA’ -Room
Set-Mailbox TenantA_ConfRoom1 -CustomAttribute1 ‘TenantA’

It is important that Tenant-wide Objects do have the CustomAttribute1 Set to the according Tenant.

Now that we have all the address books and policies configured we can start with the first user mailbox. The new user will have the same password as the account you enter after the first command. You can adjust the New-Mailbox command to your needs.

$c = Get-Credential

New-Mailbox -Name ‘Tenant User 1′ -Alias ‘TenantA_user1′ -OrganizationalUnit ‘hosted.exchange/Tenants/Tenant A’ -UserPrincipalName ‘User1@tenanta.com’ -SamAccountName ‘tenanta_user1′ -FirstName ‘Tenant’ -Initials ’1′ -LastName ‘User’ -Password $c.password -ResetPasswordOnNextLogon $false -AddressBookPolicy ‘TenantA’

Set-Mailbox user1@tenanta.com -CustomAttribute1 “TenantA”

After you’re done, you want to close the Session to the EMS

Remove-PSSession $Session

You can now log on to owa with the user you just created and check the configuration. You will find all the Tenant related Address Lists. You can create another user for this Tenant and find him in your address book. They can share calendars and book conference rooms.

You can repeat the steps above to create another Tenant, with its own accepted domainname, address lists and policies.

to be continued