How to Determine Your Exchange 2003 Version – Enterprise or Standard
Exchange 2000
If you are running Exchange 2000, there is a very quick way. Simply open Exchange System Manager, and drill down to your actual server object. Right-click the server, choose Properties, and on the General tab, see if you have a tick box titled ‘This is a front-end server’. This option is only available in the Enterprise Edition of Exchange 2000.
Exchange 2003
Since Exchange 2003 Standard Edition can now be a front-end server, that’s not a reliable method if you are running Exchange 2003. Also, the above method won’t apply to Exchange 5.5. There’s another fool-proof method that works for all versions of Exchange.
When the Information Store service starts up, one of two possible event IDs will be logged to the Application Log.
1216 is logged if the server is running the Standard Edition.
1217 is logged if the server is running the Enterprise Edition.