Microsoft made available for download Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2007, which includes new auditing, backup and directory tools.
The release comes on the heels of the final beta for the Exchange server's successor, Exchange 2010, which is slated to ship by year-end.
The release of Exchange Server 2007 SP2 is as much a setup to help ease migrations to Exchange 2010 as it is a platform to introduce a few new features.
Last week, Michael Atalla, group product manager for Exchange, announced that Exchange 2007 SP2 would be required in order for the server to coexist with the forthcoming Exchange 2010.
Exchange users can download SP2 from the Microsoft Web site.
The service pack adds enhanced auditing, which gives users a cleaner auditing process and aggregates data in a single location. A snapshot backup functionality comes as a plug-in that hooks backup duties to the Windows Server 2008 Backup tool.
Microsoft outlined the backup feature in a blog post Tuesday. Microsoft also posted a general FAQ on the Exchange Team Blog.
Microsoft also has added a dynamic Active Directory schema update and validation tool; improvements for managing quotas via PowerShell; centralized management of organization settings; and the ability to configure and manage diagnostic logging from within the Exchange Management Console.
