Exchange Server 2019 Now Available
Published Oct 22 2018 09:00 AM 252K Views

We’re pleased to announce the final build of Exchange Server 2019 is now available and can be downloaded from the Volume Licensing Service Center. Exchange Server 2019 is designed to deliver security, performance and improved administration and management capabilities; attributes our largest on-premises customers expect from Exchange. E2019 If you haven’t yet seen the session delivered at Microsoft Ignite 2018 we suggest you watch the video and download the slides here. During that session we talked for the first time about how the code paths between on-premises and online have separated, and the impact to on-premises customers – in short, less code churn and more stability.

Here is a selection of other key features in Exchange Server 2019:

Security: Exchange Server 2019 requires Windows Server 2019. In fact, we recommend installing Exchange Server 2019 onto Windows Server 2019 Server Core. Exchange Server 2019 installed on Windows Server 2019 Core provides the most secure platform for Exchange. You also have the option of installing Exchange 2019 onto Windows Server 2019 with Desktop Experience, but we have worked hard to make sure running Exchange on Server Core is the best choice for our code.

We’re aware all media for Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809 has been temporarily removed and Microsoft will provide an update when refreshed media is available. Exchange Server 2019 will be fully compatible with version 1809, and the refreshed version.

We also built Exchange Server 2019 to only use TLS 1.2 out of the box, and to remove legacy ciphers and hashing algorithms. To understand how this affects coexistence with earlier versions, please reference our previous series of posts on TLS.

Performance: We’ve done significant work to allow Exchange Server to take advantage of larger core and memory packed systems available in market today. With our improvements, Exchange Server can use up to 48 processor cores and 256GB of RAM.

We’ve re-engineered search using Bing technology to make it even faster and provide better results, and in doing so have made database failovers much faster, and administration easier. We’re adding dual storage read/write capabilities to Exchange Server 2019 using Solid State Drive (SSD) technology to provide a super-fast cache of key data for improving end user experience. We also talked about this in our Email Search in a Flash! Accelerating Exchange 2019 with SSDs session at Ignite.

We also changed the way database caching works to allocate more memory to active database copies, again improving the end user experience. You can learn more about Dynamic Database Cache from Welcome to Exchange Server 2019! video and slides. The improvements we have made to Exchange Server 2019 will enable you to scale to a larger number of users per server than ever before, use much larger disks, and see the latency of many client operations being cut in half.

End user experience: We all rely on Exchange for calendaring, and we know large enterprises are heavy calendar users. We are bringing a few key features such as restricting the forwarding of meeting requests and better control over OOF settings to Exchange Server 2019.

Administrators get some new calendaring features too, as we’re adding the ability to manage events on user’s calendars and assign delegate permissions more easily.

We are also adding support for routing mail to and from EAI/IDN recipients and hope to add additional capabilities in this area in the future. The session recording also goes into some of the other features we have plans for, so make sure you watch it to the very end.

As we mentioned in the Preview post in July, the Unified Messaging role will not be available in Exchange Server 2019. Customers who currently connect either a 3rd party PBX or Skype for Business Server to Exchange Server won’t be able to do so with Exchange Server 2019 mailboxes. Those customers considering an upgrade to Exchange Server 2019 should consider migrating to Skype for Business Server 2019 and using Cloud Voicemail, or migrating to Office 365 with Cloud Voicemail. Our official product documentation is now live, and we’ll be publishing the updated Preferred Architecture documentation soon.

We’re also pleased to also announce there are even more Office Server products releasing today! You can read more about those releases here.

We look forward to your feedback and thank you for your continued support and love of Exchange.

The Exchange Team

85 Comments
Not applicable
@ExchangeTeam Would you please provide guidance on when to upgrade from Exchange 2016 CU11 to Exchange 2019 in an Office 365 hybrid environment? Thanks.
Not applicable
@Jeffry - Both Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 11 and Exchange Server 2019 are fully supported with Office 365 hybrid today. We will continue to support both Exchange versions over their respective lifecycles using latest cumulative updates. The decision to upgrade to a particular version of Exchange is based upon the needs of your organization.
Not applicable
Is any trouble with coexistence with Exchange 2013 ?
Not applicable
@Dmitry - As long as you are running the latest cumulative update for Exchange Server 2013, there are no problems co-existing with Exchange Server 2019 or Office 365 Hybrid.
Not applicable
Is there a trial version available
Not applicable
@Michael - Right now there is no trial download available. Customers who download theproduct from the Volume License Center can install the product in evaluation mode prior to licensing the server.
Not applicable
According to the documentation, the Mailbox role still doesn't support the Connection Filtering anti-spam agent. Sincerely hope this will be supported with a future update...
Not applicable
On Windows Server 2019 Core, Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Runtime fails to install. The error log says:

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.024 Log file opened.

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.024 LOGGING STARTED

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.024 Creating data folder.

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.040 64 Bit Setup is running, checking for NOX86

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.040 NOX86 length : '0'

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.040 Checking preconditions.

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.055 GetLibraryVersion for shdocvw.dll failed.

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.055 Getting ready to exit.

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:43.055 Deleting temporary setup files

0320.08A8::10/23/2018-14:43:45.014 ENDED LOGGING

This can clearly not work because shdocvw.dll is not part of the Windows Core product.

Not applicable
@euclid Are you installing UCMA 4.0 from the Exchange Server 2019 media?
Not applicable
No. I used the url from the error message during the Exchange Setup. Maybe the url/message in the prerequisite check should be corrected then.
Not applicable
@Euclid - We have this called out in our documentation at https://docs.microsoft.com/exchange/. We have heard your feedback on the URL being provided, which is accurate for Desktop Edition but not Server Core. We will look to improve the experience here.
Not applicable
I tried to install it on Win2019 preview version. It reported error:

"An unsupported operating system was detected. Exchange Server 2019 Mailbox and Edge Transport server roles support Windows Server 2019 or later."

Win2019 official version is not available yet. How can we try Ex2019? Do we have to wait for Win2019?

Not applicable
@supcxc - Yes we require the RTM version of Windows Server 2019. Windows Server 2019 availability will be announced at https://www.microsoft.com/cloud-platform/windows-server-trial.
Not applicable
When will the download be available for MSDN subscribers?
Not applicable
Arrived at MSDN. Thank you.
Not applicable
Hi great release! Is it already supported to deploy a hybrid configuration on a single Exchange 2019 Core installation?
Not applicable
@Coert - It is fully supported to establish an Office 365 hybrid relationship with machines running Windows Server Core. You will need to run the Hybrid Configuration Wizard from a Windows 10 client or server with Desktop Edition installed as the wizard requires a browser to launch.
Not applicable
Awesome! Thx!
Not applicable
Hello, somehow I'm unable to find Information in the Docs about MCDB deployment and planing. Is this already available or something that takes a while to appear? Thanks Christian
Not applicable
@Christian - Thanks for your interest in Exchange Server 2019. We are still putting the finishing touches on the cmdlet reference topics and guidance. We should have this available soon.
Not applicable
I'd recommend better timing with your software releases.

Without Windows Server 2019, whats the point of releasing Exchange 2019!

Not applicable
OK.... my apologies.

Windows Server 2019 was released on October 2, and was removed due to the 1809 update issue.

No issues with Exchange 2019 release dates, just an issue with me.

Not applicable
Wow...Exchange 2019 only supported on Windows 2019. But where is Windows 2019. Also what is point of having it downloaded only from VLSC.

Here is update on windows 2019 from Microsoft site.

We have temporarily removed all media for Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809. We have also paused the rollout of the latest feature update to Windows 10 inclusive of versions 1809, as we are investigating isolated reports of users missing some files after updating. If you have already downloaded media, please don’t install it and wait until more information is available to proceed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will provide an update when refreshed media is available. For reference, we also have a support article with additional information.

Not applicable
Bloody brilliant.

Cant wait to get my hands on some of that action.

Cheers

Not applicable
Just completed a phased migration from Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008, to Exchange 2016 on Windows Server 2016. Just purchased licenses/cals in April. Any upgrade incentives? Utilities to automate the migration from Exchange 2016?
Not applicable
Just completed a phased migration from Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008, to Exchange 2016 on Windows Server 2016. Just purchased licenses/cals in April. Any upgrade incentives? Utilities to automate the migration from Exchange 2016?
Not applicable
Exchange 2019 will be available only to Volume License customers Michael. As Exchange 2016 is still fully supported for several years now is the right time starting your planning activities moving to O365.
Not applicable
Unless we have no plans to migrate to Office 365...
Not applicable
Then you can start planning your migration to a Linux mail server and Open Office for when Microsoft stops releasing Exchange and Office perpetual.
Not applicable
I’m considering moving from Exchange 2010 on premises to a Exchange 2019 hybrid model. Can you point me to documentation to implement such a configuration? Thank you.
Not applicable
@Donald - Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2019 cannot co-exist in the same Active Directory forest. Your path forward is going to be a two-step migration. The first would be to move from Exchange 2010 to 2016 and then Exchange 2016 to 2019. I would recommend completing the Exchange 2016 migration before implementing hybrid. Overlapping migrations is not a great place to be in. The following link is a good starting point for understanding hybrid deployment, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/exchange-server/exchangeserver-149/ff633682(v=exchsrvcs.149).
Not applicable
When you can install ?
Not applicable
Memory

Varies depending on Exchange roles that are installed:

• Mailbox: 128GB minimum recommended

Uhm what about this??

Not applicable
@Grimson - As we discussed at Ignite 2018, we have made many enhancements in memory allocation and usage in Exchange Server 2019. In order to realize all of those we are recommending 128GB as the minimum for the mailbox role. The product will not enable all of the new functionality if less memory is used.
Not applicable
128 GB seems quite reasonable for an Exchange server for a large organization. What makes the 128 GB minimum shocking is that the Exchange 2016 minimum recommended memory is only 8 GB.

128 GB would be way overkill for an organization with 10 mailboxes. But, I guess the official recommendation would probably be for a customer like that to use Exchange Online.

Not applicable
Hello, can you please clarify " will not enable all of the new functionality if less memory is used." ?

Is 128GB ram needed for anything else then new garbage collector?

We are planing deployment with 20GB of RAM for forty users ...Thanks

Not applicable
@UMAPLU - Below 128GB you will not get any of the benefits of garbage collection improvements. You will also likely not derive any benefits from cache improvements with such a low memory footprint.
Not applicable
When will the download be available for MAPS subscribers?
Not applicable
@Joerg - There are no plans to distribute via this channel at this time.
Not applicable
.
Not applicable
Hybrid Configuration Wizard says I have Exchange "15.2.221.12 beta"! ;)
Not applicable
@MitchMG - Thank you for the feedback. We will follow up with the HCW team.
Not applicable
I was able to upgrade my Exchange 2019 preview installation which I installed on Windows Server 2016 - so for me Exchange 2019 works on Windows Server 2016. Strange prereq...
Not applicable
Thank You for this workaround. Brilliant.
Not applicable
@EinmalIM - What you are doing is not supported. You will need to redeploy this server onto Windows Server 2019 to be in a supported state.
Not applicable
It is just a test server. Will I be able to upgrade the Windows Server 2016 to 2019 inplace?
Not applicable
@Einmallm - In place upgrade of the OS while Exchange installed is a new feature that will be supported with Windows Server 2019 to later OS'es only.
Not applicable
The admin tools for calendar management sound great!

Are there also any tools to simplify Exchange admins managing user permissions to mailbox folders?

Not applicable
@Logan - Thanks for the feedback. At this time there are no investments in this area.
Not applicable
when there will be support for Windows Server 2016?

Our investment of 100.000 bucks and more is gone now, 2016 is crap from now on?

Support lifecycle states some years left for 2016.

Ok, at least we can still install notepad++ on our expensive on premises licenses for W2016, great deal!

Version history
Last update:
‎Jul 01 2019 04:34 PM
Updated by: