Who has deployed Windows Server 2008 in an Exchange 2003 environment

The deployment of WIndows Server 2008 Domain Controllers or Member Servers in an Exchange environment is fully supported, assuming Exchange is still going to be installed to existing Server 2003 machines. Exchange 2003 can use and fully communicate with Server 2008 domain controllers for all its Domain Communications.

You will need to ensure you have the correct hardware to install Windows Server 2008 to. The minimum and recommended system requirements are available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/system-requirements.aspx. Everything today is moving towards the 64-bit arena, so if you are investing in new servers now, you would probably be best going for 64-bit OS and hardware.

You must also remember that while Exchange 2003 can communicate with Server 2008 Domain Controllers and Member Servers, it CANNOT be installed to a 2008 machine. The ONLY version of Exchange which can be installed on a 2008 server is Exchange Server 2007 SP1. (Not even the RTM edition of Exchange 2007 can be installed). Remember Exchange 2007 does require 64-bit hardware and OS to function, too.

So, to clarify, there aren't any issues in putting Server 2008 servers into an Exchange 2003 environment - provided you don't actually try to put Exchange 2003 on the new machines.

I've posted below the procedure to follow to get your first Server 2008 DC into the domain.

Install Windows Server 2008 onto the new server which is intended to be promoted as a Domain Controller. Ensure the new server is assigned a routable static IP address on your IP subnet. Ensure the IP address is not included in any of your existing DHCP scopes. The only DNS server entry at this stage should be the IP address of one of the Domain Controllers which is running the DNS server service on your network.

After installation, join the new machine to the existing domain as a member server. This procedure is exactly the same as joining a workstation to the domain.

Since you are upgrading the Operating System on the new Domain Controller, you will need to add some values to the existing Active Directory schema, in order for the new server to become a Domain Controller. Windows Server 2008 supports more functionality than before, so a schema upgrade for the domain and forest is required to facilitate this and make this new feature set fully functional on the domain. To make the necessary changes, you must be logged on as the built-in Administrator user account, or a user with Domain, Schema and Enterprise Admin privileges.

Insert the Windows Server 2008 media into your current server which is holding the Schema Master Operations Role (FSMO role). Open a command prompt and browse to sources\adprep folder within the Windows Server 2008 DVD media. Execute the command adprep /forestprep. Once complete, you must wait for the changes to be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain and forest before you can continue.

Next, execute adprep /domainprep . You must be logged on as a Domain Admin user for these steps to work correctly. Once these commands have run and replication has taken place your Active Directory schema will have been extended to support Windows Server 2008 as a Domain Controller.

The next step is to promote the new server as a Domain Controller for the domain. Enter dcpromo at a command prompt and follow the wizard. When prompted, select the option for an additional domain controller in an existing domain. After the wizard completes, the new server will be acting as a Domain Controller for your domain. It is necessary at this point to restart the server for these changes to be applied.

In a single-domain Active Directory forest, all servers should also be Global Catalog servers. The Global Catalog is a required component of Active Directory which is used during logins to establish universal group membership for a user account. To promote the new server as a Global Catalog, open Active Directory Sites and Services from the Administrative Tools container within Control Panel or on the Start Menu. Double-click Sites, then Servers, followed by the name of the new server. Next, right-click "NTDS Settings" and select Properties. On the General tab, check the Global Catalog checkbox. Restart the new Domain Controller for changes to take effect.

If you wish the new server to become the holder of one or more Operations (FSMO) roles, you will need to transfer these roles to the new server. In a single-domain environment, you gain no benefits from spreading FSMO roles between Domain Controllers

The current FSMO role configuration for your network can be found by running the command "netdom query fsmo" at a command prompt on a Domain Controller.

To transfer one or more of these FSMO roles to the new domain controller, follow the information detailed in the following Microsoft Support article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324801. Please ensure any other information you follow is information regarding the TRANSFER of FSMO roles. Seizing FSMO roles is an emergency operation which should not be performed during this procedure.

DNS is a critical component of your Active Directory network. The easiest way to install the DNS role onto the new server is to follow the instructions outlined at http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2008/en/library/3cf4d1b1-7a6e-4438-bf4f-22d9468c17321033.mspx You should be already using Active Directory-integrated DNS zones, which is the easiest method of allowing DNS replication to occur - DNS information is stored in Active Directory and replicates with Domain Controller replication traffic. To check if your DNS zones are AD-integrated (and convert them if not), please follow http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227844.

You probably want to enable DNS forwarding in the DNS console on the server, too. This forwards lookups for external domains to a DNS server at your ISP, which allows the server to effectively resolve DNS for external domains. More information on forwarders can be found at http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/Library/ee992253-235e-4fd4-b4da-7e57e70ad3821033.mspx.

-tigermatt