Upgrading to Exchange 2003

[pantkowiak]

I hope someone can help me out with this...here's what's going on.

Currently we have a blended exchange server running ( 5.5 and 2000) on a 2000 domain and we are constantly running into problems caused by the 16 gig limitation. My thoughts we're to upgrade to 2003 but I have been seeing conflicting answers on how to get this done.

Can I install exchange 2003 server into our current environment and migrate users one by one from our old server to our new one? Is this such a good idea considering we are on a 2000 domain?

Any other better ideas?

 

[snootalope]

I'm sure you've seen this technet article already that steps out the process of 5.5 and 2000 domains to 2003.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995810.aspx

I think it's a great idea. Exchange 2003 SP2 is a great system in my mind, we're very pleased with it.

 

[pantkowiak]

Yes I read and reread it several times...I'm just worried since Microsoft best practice states that we should be on a 2003 domain. I just hope I don't run into any major issues.

 

[snootalope]

Oh! I missed that you said that!! Um, yea....you're gonna wanna be running 2003. Are you not wanting to upgrade your domain to 2003?

 

[pantkowiak]

Eventually yes I would like to migrate to 2003...at this point however that's not really an option. There are too many things running behind the scenes that may become broken when we upgrade. I'm in the process of figuring out what that is and taking the necessary steps to prepare the migration to 2003 domain. I was hoping that the exchange issue could be taken care of before the domain migration.

 

[snootalope]

Actually, I guess exchange 2003 does support running on 2000 so I'd guess you'd be fine according to MS articles. take that however you want though.

I never messed with Exchange 2003 on win2000 server though...so I guess I can't really help ya..

 

[pantkowiak]

Well thanks for your input...I appreciate it...I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to submit their opinion! I'm sure that it can run on a 2000 domain (even if microsoft strongly recommends 2003) I just want to see if anyone else was crazy enough to try it and how badly it messed them up before I give it a go!

 

[RichardHuang]

We were running Exchange 2003 on a Win2000 domain for over a year before upgrading to 2003 domain. This part shouldn't be your concern ..

 

[58sniper]

You can run Exchange on a 2000 network, but some features, like RPC over HTTPS won't work. You can somewhat get around this by just ensuring that all DCs in the same site as the Exchange server are 2003.

And - as always - NEVER put Exchange on a DC.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[pantkowiak]

Thanks for the answers guys...this is pretty much what I suspected...

I have a new server designated for this project and I'm all in favor of keeping servers and applications seperate. Currently our email server is running on our primary file server...I can't wait to move it to a seperate machine. Is there anything I should be worried about when it comes to migrating the mailboxes from the 2000 to the 2003?

 

[snootalope]

Not really, once you're on 2000 moving 2003 is real simple using the move mailbox wizard. Don't forget about your public folders, PFMIGRATE takes care of those!

 

[58sniper]

Don't need to use PFMIgrate if you follow KB article 822931 from top to bottom.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[pantkowiak]

Just to make sure...can I migrate just a few mailboxes at a time and leave both servers up until I'm sure the new one is functioning correctly? Then once I'm sure everything is up to par I can down the old one?

 

[58sniper]

You can. The caveat with it is that if you have a single server acting as a frontend/backend, and you add another server, users will not be able to get to mailboxes on the second server via OWA until you redirect that port to the second server.

I hope this makes sense.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[pantkowiak]

Sorry...I'm kinda new to this...can you be more specific?

 

[58sniper]

You probably have OWA configured so that users can access it from outside your network. If you move some mailboxes to the new server, THOSE users will not be able to use OWA from outside until you change the firewall to point to the new server.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[pantkowiak]

We don't have that option enabled at this time...currently our users have to log into our TS server. I would like to implement that feature when the 2003 server is up and running...

 

[pantkowiak]

Yet another stupid question...should I go with standard or enterprise version?

 

[58sniper]

Unless you need the clustering options, or the ability to have more Storage Groups and mailbox stores, stick with Standard.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[DCBennett]

Yet another stupid question...should I go with standard or enterprise version?"

As above reply and also Standard with SP2 has a database limit of 75GB max per store. It's set in the Registry - default is 18GB. Enterprise is unlimited.