exchange 5.5 should I upgrade???

[xmail]

I am moving an exchange 5.5 organization to 2003.
Should I do the upgrade feature in the install or simply start a new exchange organization and xmerge the mailboxes. I have less than 300 mailboxes.
Also, after I finish the move can i just reconfigure the new box to the old IP address so that it will receive the mail without my changing the MX records?

 

[NetworkGuy101]

I was in your situation. What I did was install and keep the new 2003 server in the same org. I moved the mailboxes over to the new server then all pub folders. Set up SMTP connector and just changed the static translation on my FW. Worked without a problem.

 

[xmail]

Thanks.
That was what i was planning to do but since the organization name needs to be changed (it has illegal characters) I thought it maigh be an issue.
I'm thinking now that i have to assign a new organization name anyway when I go through forest prep, domain prep and server(one of those) setup anyway.

 

[DrGryphon]

To answer your second question, yes you can just swap IP addresses to avoid reconfiguring firewall translations or MX records. You could do this even if you built a new org.

I usually take this approach if I can, because historical log files and new log files will show consistent IP addresses

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http://www.citrixguru.com

 

[xmail]

one more question...
When moving mailboxes to a different organization it would seem that you lose DL memberships and such.
True?