access from remote domains

[terry712]

currently we have a large number of people that connect via outllok to a central 5.5 system. these people login to there own systems in their own nt domains and then outllok is configured to access the postoffices

if i place a 2003 exchange system in - can they access it the same way ?

also currently there is 3 exchange servers - i want to upgrade these to 2003 but i want to build new servers to do it - what is best way

 

[pdtit]

Terry,

Could you please give some more info regarding your question ?

a) do you mean there are 3 different NT-domains each having an EX55 server which you want to upgrade to EX2003 ?

b) are you planning on moving onto only 1 EX2003 machine in the future ?

c) are they connecting using Outlook MAPI, Outlook Express, Webmail,...

Regards,

Peter

 

[terry712]

no currently i have 150 nt domains -
they are seperate domains for reasons of shall we say politics /stupidity

at a central location there are 3 exchange servers in a seperate domain

each user logs into their noraml domain and then from within side outlook connects to their mail

they currently use various outlook flavours via mapi

basiaclly what i want to do is upgrade these to exchange 2003
the hardware that the 3 runs on just now is inadequate for this so i would use new hardware
they should all use dns alias'es for resoulution to the boxes but pretty sure a lot will be hardcoded to the box

not sure how many boxes i would migrate too - there are only about 2000 users

 

[pdtit]

Terry,

The easy answer is just go and upgrade the Exchange 55 boxes to Exchange 2003 and consider them all as separate active directory domains.

However, as this is a major upgrade, maybe you can think of merging the 3 domains into a single active directory domain, still having multiple Exchange servers for performance, diskspace, costs reasons...

Regards,

peter

 

[terry712]

how do you upgrade the boxes to 2003 - when the hardware will be replaced

if i upgrade the pdc to 2003 with AD then bring a new box with 2003 in and transfer the fsmo's - this will get it up to 2003 AD

for the echange side of things can you add a 2003 exchange to a 5.5 system or do i need to add the 2003 box in and install it as 5.5 then upgrade this to exchange 2003

 

[pdtit]

Terry,
correct about step 1 - Active Directory; just make sure you leave enough time to replicate the AD info between the servers and make sure your internal DNS settings are correct as well. (those are 2 common issues when moving from NT4 to 2003 AD)

About Exchange 2003 migration :

a) make sure AD is up and running
b) from the Ex2003 CD install and run "active directory connector" (= creates a replication link between Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory)
c) install Exchange 2003 in the same Organization as the Exchange 5.5 server (it will ask for this)
d) Once EX2003 is installed, you can migrate all mailboxes from EX55 to EX2003 from Active Directory / rightclick user / Exchange tasks / move mailbox
This copies the mailbox data from EX55 to EX2003 directly; it is also possible to select multiple users and schedule the move overnight...
e) Configure replication of Public Folders and System folders (OAB, OAB, Schedule+ Free Busy,...) This part takes really a long time, as public folder replication is run at lowest priority. For 20 folders this can take already up to 2 days before everything is fully replicated.
f) configure the SMTP Virtual server on EX2003 for sending mail; once this works, stop the Internet Mail service on EX55 (don't forget to reconfigure your firewall settings if needed)
g) FInally, you can stop all Exchange 5.5 services on the old box - if everything works fine, you can also consider removing the EX55 server using the add/remove programs; this will properly remove the server from the Exchange Organisation.
h) disable the Active Directory replicator or remove it as well

That's about it in a nutshell.

If you search the microsoft knowledgebase (support.microsoft.com) on topic "remove the last Exchange 5.5 server" it will give you a list of detailed articles explaining above steps more in detail.

I hope this helps you further in your migration; do not hesitate to come back in case you need further assistance.

Kind regards,

Peter

 

[terry712]

yep will come back later as i will need to test this somewhere

it's a one of thing this for me as my exchange knowledge is shall we say nill - hopefully i should be able to grasp it fairly quickliy as i have done a lot of groupwise stuff

i assume that i cant do no real damage until step D
all previous steps are leaving existing part in step

does exchange 2003 have the same kind of bridgehead technology or is this all gone