Removing Exchange Servers from the Exchange Organization

Over time, you might find any number of reasons to remove an active Exchange server from your organization. Server consolidation, maintenance, or replacement are all typical situations that might require you to remove an Exchange server from the organization. Although the high-level process to remove an Exchange server from the organization is relatively simple, it might take you some time to perform depending on the number of mailboxes located on the server.

The high-level steps to remove an Exchange server from the organization are as follows:

1. Synchronize any public folders to another Exchange server that will remain in the Exchange organization by creating a replica.
   
   
2. Move all mailboxes to a mailbox store on an Exchange server that will remain in the Exchange organization by using the Exchange Task Wizard. You can access the Exchange Task Wizard from within Active Directory Users and Computers by right-clicking on a specific user. You can access the Exchange Task Wizard from within the Exchange System Manager by right-clicking on a specific mailbox.
   
   
3. Ensure that any connection agreements, virtual servers, or routing protocols exist on another Exchange server that will remain in the Exchange organization to prevent any disruption in service.
   
   
4. Uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from the computer.
   
   
5. Remove the server from Active Directory.