Exchange server requirements

Updated: March 30, 2005

Actual requirements can vary based on your system configuration and the features you choose to install.

Important: If you are upgrading to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), ensure that you also upgrade your computers running Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2003 SP1 or Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). You must also follow the instructions in Article 841561:"500 - Internal server error" Error Message When a User Tries to Access a Clustered Exchange Server 2003 Back-End Server by Using Outlook Web Access in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for all your clustered Exchange Server 2003 SP1 computers. This update ensures that HTTP requests made on the clustered Exchange Server 2003 computer do not fail.

Note: If you plan to upgrade from Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, you must install Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) before installing Exchange Server 2003.

Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager for automated system monitoring
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later and Windows Server 2003 for HTTP access from Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Note: You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.
For support for eight-node clusters, you need Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.

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Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition System Requirements

Component

Requirement

Recommendation

Processor

133-MHz or higher processor

550-MHz or higher processor

Operating system¹

•	Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP3 or later
•	Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition or Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

Note: Exchange Server 2003 does not run on 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003.

Windows Server 2003

Memory

256 MB of RAM

512 MB of RAM or more

Available hard-disk space

You need:

•	500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003
•	200 MB on the system drive

You need:

•	500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003
•	200 MB on the system drive

Drive

CD drive

Display

VGA or higher resolution monitor

Input device

Microsoft Mouse or compatible input device

File format

Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the FAT file system. This requirement applies to:

•	System partition
•	Partition storing Exchange Server binaries
•	Partitions containing transaction log files
•	Partitions containing database files
•	Partitions containing other Exchange Server files

Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the FAT file system. This requirement applies to:

•	System partition
•	Partition storing Exchange Server binaries
•	Partitions containing transaction log files
•	Partitions containing database files
•	Partitions containing other Exchange Server files

1	Servers running Exchange Server that are using the /3GB feature, which maximizes the performance of computers with over 1 gigabyte (GB) of physical memory, can operate only on Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or any edition of Windows Server 2003.

Additional Software Required to Use Specific Features in Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition

Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager for automated system monitoring
Windows XP with SP2 or later and Windows Server 2003 for HTTP access from Outlook 2003
Note: You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.

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For More Information

To learn more about requirements for Exchange Server 2003, read:

Exchange server requirements

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