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It's rare for an Exchange Server administrator to have never opened a case with Microsoft’s Support group. To save time during these encounters, it helps to be in a supported state before you pick up the phone. But how do you know if your systems are in a supported state?

 

Searching Exchange Server Product Lifecycle Search, we can see the current lifecycle for existing products. (If you’re still running 2010, you are running out of time to upgrade!)

Product  Mainstream Support End Date  Extended Support End Date 
Exchange Server 2010  January 13, 2015  October 10, 2020 
Exchange Server 2013  April 10, 2018  April 11, 2023 
Exchange Server 2016  October 13, 2020  October 14, 2025 
Exchange Server 2019  January 9, 2024  October 14, 2025 

 

Exchange Server Versions and Pathssource: Microsoft Forums


Starting at 
Hybrid deployment prerequisites: Microsoft states that

Hybrid deployments require the latest Cumulative Update (CU) or Update Rollup (RU) that's available for your version of Exchange. If you can't install the latest update, the immediately previous release is also supported.”  

 

Current Versions of Exchange

Visit Exchange Server build numbers and release dates to see what the current release of each product is. At the time this was written, here are the currently supported releases: 

Product name  Release date  Build (short format)  Build (long format) 
Exchange Server 2019 CU5  March 17, 2020  15.2.595.3  15.02.0595.003 
Exchange Server 2019 CU4  December 17, 2019  15.2.529.5  15.02.0529.005 

 

Product name  Release date  Build (short format)  Build (long format) 
Exchange Server 2016 CU16  March 17, 2020  15.1.1979.3  15.01.1979.003 
Exchange Server 2016 CU15  December 17, 2019  15.1.1913.5  15.01.1913.005 

 

Product name  Release date  Build (short format)  Build (long format) 
Exchange Server 2013 CU23  June 18, 2019  15.0.1497.2  15.00.1497.002 
Exchange Server 2013 CU22  February 12, 2019  15.0.1473.3  15.00.1473.003 

 

Product name  Release date  Build (short format)  Build (long format)
Update Rollup 30 for Exchange Server 2010 SP3  February 11, 2020  14.3.496.0  14.03.0496.000 
Update Rollup 29 for Exchange Server 2010 SP3  July 9, 2019  14.3.468.0  14.03.0468.000 

 

 

Dependencies

Exchange Server is built on Windows Server; it requires .NET Framework, and it depends on Entra IDA (formerly known as Active Directory). Before deploying or installing any new Cumulative Updates (CU), review the Exchange Server supportability matrix. This is to ensure that your new software is deployable and supported.  

It's especially relevant when deploying a much newer CU than is currently deployed. In one case, we had a customer with an RTM version deployed. They wanted to bring it up to a supported CU, but the newer CU required them to raise their Entra ID functional level. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do it because their domain controllers weren’t at the required level. 

Now that we know where we need to be, let’s find out exactly where we are now. Let’s verify the currently deployed versions.

 

Verify Exchange Server Version

To check your version of Exchange Server, open Exchange Management Shell and run:

GCM exsetup |%{$_.Fileversioninfo}

You can reference the product version against the list of builds located here: Exchange Server build numbers and release dates

 

Verify .NET Framework Version

To check the version of .NET, open PowerShell (or stay in your already-opened Exchange Management Shell) and run:

(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Release

Check the result against the list of .NET framework versions here: Detect .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions

 

Verify Windows Server Version

To check your Windows Server version, open PowerShell (or stay in your already-opened Exchange Management Shell) and run:

systeminfo /fo csv | ConvertFrom-Csv | select OS*

 

Verify Entra ID Forest and Domain Functional Levels

To check your Entra ID functional levels, open PowerShell (or stay in your already-opened Exchange Management Shell) and run:

(Get-ADForest).ForestMode

(Get-ADDomain).DomainMode

Do you still have questions? Check out more of our IT Tips, or let us know by reaching out to talk to an expert. We are here to help!

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