Upgrade to Windows/Exchange 2003

What you want to do is a swing migration. Very easy and frequently discussed.
My article on the process is here: http://www.amset.info/exchange/migration.asp

Take your time, as public folder replication off Exchange 2000 is very slow.
Did you actually remove Exchange 5.5, or just shutdown the server?

Simon.

I have followed the procedure from microsoft on how to remove the last exchange 5.5 server
from the site and its no longer there. What i mean is....its been succesfully removed from ESM
and have also removed the ADC. I have couple of errors in the event logs where some messages
can't be delivered to the old public store but other than that all seems ok. Maybe i need to run ds
consistancy checker to clear these up.

I have now turned off theold NT4/exch5.5 box and all has been running for a couple of days without an issue. I assume now
i can proceed as if i have just a windows 2000/exchange 2000 organisation.

One thought though?
Do i switch my domain controller windows 2000 (only 1) to native mode?
Do i switch my exchange 2000 (installed on same box) to native mode

before i proceed as my next step is to run the windows 2003 ADprep/forestprep against my windows 2000 DC
after following the artical about mangled attributes. I guess as i have exchange 2000 already installed i need to
run the fix script before running the prep programs from the windows 2003?

Once i have done that i will join the windows 2003 server to the windows 2000 domain as a member server and install
exchange 2003. I hope then i can move my public folders/mailboxes over to the new exchange. I then want to remove
my old exchange 2000 but retain the old server as the main DC only.

David

There is no reason to switch either the domain or Exchange org in to Native mode. It doesn't affect the upgrade in any way.

I don't think that you need to worry about mangled attributes as you going from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003. That doesn't cause problems. The mangled attributes comes when deploying Exchange 2000 in a Windows 2003 domain.

You don't need to Windows 2003 prep to introduce a Windows 2003 machine as a member server.

Therefore I would simply forest prep and domain prep for Exchange 2003.
If you are planning to deploy a Windows 2003 DC at some point, then I would look at doing all four preps (Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003) then moving on to the application deployment.

Once Exchange 2003 is installed, service pack it. Then configure replication of the public and system folders. Do not attempt to move any mailboxes until that is complete. It is slow, so you will need to wait at least a week before moving on to the mailbox move.

Simon.

OK..sounds great if i understand you correctly,

So your saying:
Install Windows 2003 server on the new box
Join exisiting 2000 domain
run ADprep/forest prep against this installation then
install exchange 2003....and join the existing org?

I don't have to run anything else against my existing domain controller?

Thnx for your help on this

David

You can run prep on any machine - it doesn't have to be a Windows 2003 machine. Ditto for Exchange. I usually run everything on a domain controller as that is where the content is going to end up anyway.

When you come to install Exchange, you don't get an Org choice. The Exchange installation detects the existing server and just joins it automatically.

When running the prep, give it enough time to replicate before moving on to the next one. I usually leave 30 minutes between each one.

Simon.

I'm a bit concerned in running the Adprep/forestprep command against
my windows 2000 DC, purely because i read this

Windows Server 2003 adprep/forestprep command causes mangled attributes in
windows 2000 forests that contain Exchange 2000 servers

Q314649

Is that because i won't be running this (Windows 2003 server Adprep)but the
one of the exchage 2003 cd?

David

Thank you and i will let u know how i get on....