On SBS 2008 servers, I recommend shutting down Exchange manually before restarting the server. Why? Quite simply because it will speed up the time required to shutdown and restart the server. I do this, for example, after installing security patches or rollups onto the server.
Use Notepad to create a batch command file with the following commands.
net stop msexchangeadtopology /y
net stop msftesql-exchange /y
net stop msexchangeis /y
net stop msexchangesa /y
net stop iisadmin /y
pause
I name the file “shutdown-exchange.cmd” or “shutdown-exchange.bat”, and save it in a Scripts folder on the server. I then create a shortcut link to the batch file onto the server’s desktop.
Yes, you can remove the “pause” command. I use it to give me a visual verification that I did indeed stop the Exchange server before restarting.