Exchange 2007 service pack upgrade from SP1 to SP3

i think there are some prereqs for installing - windows installer i think needs to be upgraded

there are some schema changes that will need to be done you use the prepareAD switch to do those

what/how many servers do you have? you will need to make sure you upgrade them in the correct order
1.  CAS
2.  HT
3.  MBX

if you are running any failover then you will need to make sure they are done in tandem

it will take a while to do it give yourself plenty of time and don't worry when it just sits there

its a single exchange server, not in cluster, its running on virtual machine.

the domain controller is windows 2003 R2
ADC is windows 2008 server

in that case it should be reasonably smooth, but time consuming. Depending on the speed and size of your system close to an 1hour

Thx, do simply run the exe file after taking  VM snapshot
Is there need to update the AD / Schema

yes you will need to run the prepare AD switch to do the schema prep first

I would take a back up of the exchange databases as VM snapshots are not guaranteed to be crash consistent

just double checking you will also need to run preparedomain (or prepare alldomains if you have a multi domain environment)

1) If you have any Exchange related AV, disable it. In my case it is Forefront.

Disable the Forefront by using below command (It might ask you to stop few Exchange services)

fscutility /disable

2) Stop the OS Antivirus services and Monitoring Agent Service for Microsoft Exchange Server.

3) Verify that Backups are completed before you start the upgrade.

4) Run the SP3 files using GUI, If you are getting IIS component error goto run setup /mode:upgrade /installwindowscomponents

Note: If you are getting this error "A Restart from a Previous Installation is Pending"

Open regdit and delete the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations key and Rerun Setup.

Ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164360(v=exchg.80).aspx

5) Reboot the server

6) After reboot verify below logs for any error:
     
Event Logs
 
Setup Logs (C:\ExchangeSetupLogs)
 
Services - All Exchange related services are running.
     
Check IIS Settings are not changed.
     
Check Authentication settings from EMC for OWA/OMA/ESW. If you find any change revert back to old.

7) Enable Forefront Protection for Exchange. Command fscutility /enable (It might ask you to stop few Exchange services)

8) Start OS Antivirus and Exchange Monitoring Agent Services

Thanks all.
Pls share how to  "run prepare AD switch to do the schema prep"
what is the procedure.
We r using Windows 2003 R2 DC server (running schema master) and windows 2008 ADC
Thx

setup.exe /preparead
setup.exe /preparedomain

from what i remember you need to do this on a 64Bit DC

Hi
My Domain controller are windows 2003R2 32 bit (Schema Master)
Exchange is running on windows 2003 R2 64 bit.
How shall we upgate the schema on 32 bit DC
Thx

We have single domain

there should be a 32bit download for it to run the update

these should be applicable steps and screenshot

http://exchangeserverpro.com/apply-the-exchange-server-2007-schema-extension-using-a-32-bit-schema-master

i need to do the same, do i download this:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=24111