The Exchange Admin Center (EAC) of Exchange 2013 - It's new!

 May 12, 2014

Exchange Server 2013 has a new management console!  It's web-based and optimised for on-premises, online, and hybrid Exchange deployments. The Exchange Admin Center (EAC) replaces the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Control Panel (ECP), which were used in the previous version of Exchange. Since the EAC is web-based, you can partition Internet and intranet access from within the ECP IIS virtual directory. This means you'll decide whether or not users are allowed to have Internet access to the EAC from outside of your organisation, at the same time that you allow a user to access Outlook Web App Options. As you'll be accessing the EAC from your web browser, you’ll need to use the ECP virtual directory URL to access the console. That URL will probably look like the following:
  • Internal URL: https://<CASServerName>/ecp This is to access the EAC from within your firewall.
  • External URL: https://mail.contoso.com/ecp This is to access the EAC from outside your firewall. You may want to deny access to the EAC.
There is, of course, a cmdlet that allows you to locate the internal or external URL: Get-EcpVirtualDirectory. If you’re running both Exchange 2013 and 2010, and your mailbox is housed on the Exchange 2010 Mailbox server, the browser will default to the Exchange 2010 ECP. To access the EAC, add the Exchange version to the URL. So, if the EAC's virtual directory is hosted on the Client Access server CAS15-AU, you would use the following URL:
https://CAS15-AU/ecp?ExchClientVer=15.
On the other hand, if your mailbox is housed on an Exchange 2013 Mailbox server and you want to access the Exchange 2010 ECP, you would use the following URL:
https://CAS14-AU/ecp?ExchClientVer=14.
Along the left-hand side of the EAC, you will find the Feature pane.  This is the first area you will go to for tasks you wish to perform. It looks a lot like the Exchange Management Console from Exchange 2010, but it is organised by feature areas instead of server roles, so you will find what you need with fewer clicks. The featured features are:
  • Recipients
  • Permissions
  • Compliance Management
  • Organization
  • Protection
  • Mail Flow
  • Mobile
  • Public Folders
  • Unified Messaging
  • Servers
  • Hybrid
Most of these features will contain multiple tabs, and most of those will give you a toolbar with icons for specific actions (e.g. add, edit, delete, etc.) and a list view of objects you can affect. While the Exchange Control Panel from the previous version of Exchange only allowed you to display 500 objects, the EAC will allow you to view about 20,000 objects for an on-premises deployment, and 10,000 for Exchange Online. When you click on an object in the list view, information about it will appear in the Details pane, along with various quick management tasks. You can even bulk edit multiple objects by selecting them with the CTRL key and then using one of the options in the Details pane. The EAC also includes a notification viewer. You can use this to see the status of long-running processes and receive notifications when they have been completed.  You can also arrange to receive email notifications. The new Exchange Admin Center (EAC) is super-awesome!

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About the Author:

Kevin O'Brien  

Kevin is a highly skilled and respected IT trainer with a solid foundation in theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Prior to his career in corporate IT training, Kevin taught at university where he was able to gain valuable experience as a mentor, coach and facilitator. In his current role as a technical trainer at New Horizons, Kevin specialises in providing training in Microsoft Networking, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and SharePoint technologies. Kevin’s extensive knowledge of real-world networking challenges infuses his training with helpful practicality. He is an individual who is passionate about the learning process and strives to ensure that each student not only gains the skills they require, but also enjoys their training experience.

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