Choosing the Right Time to Migrate to Exchange 2003

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With the release of Exchange Server 2003, many organizations wonder when is the right time to migrate to the new messaging system. As with any technology, the decision typically starts with identifying the value of migrating versus the cost and effort to migrate.

This chapter introduces the many features and functions in Exchange Server 2003 that have helped other organizations plan a migration. Improvements in security, performance, and manageability provide benefits to organizations looking to minimize administration costs while providing more functionality to users.

The cost and effort to migrate to Exchange Server 2003 varies based on the current state of an organization's messaging environment and the features and functions of Exchange Server 2003 to be implemented. Some of the common states and needed functions are adding Exchange Server 2003 into an existing Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 organization, doing a migration from Exchange 2000 to Exchange Server 2003, and migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003.

Adding an Exchange 2003 Server to an Existing Exchange Organization

Many organizations want to add a specific Exchange Server 2003 function, such as Outlook Web Access 2003, Outlook over HTTP, or mobile phone access. Functions such as these can be added on an Exchange Server 2003 server in an existing Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 organization. This enables an organization to get Exchange Server 2003 application functionality fairly quickly and easily without having to do a full migration to Exchange Server 2003. In many cases, an Exchange Server 2003 server simply can be added to an existing network without impact. This provides extremely low messaging system impact, but provides an organization the ability to prototype and test the new technology, pilot it for a handful of users, and slowly roll out the technology to its client base as part of a regular system replacement or upgrade process.

Migrating from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003

For organizations that have already migrated to an Exchange 2000 and Active Directory environment, migrating to Exchange Server 2003 can provide access to several additional capabilities built on top of Windows 2003, such as mailbox recovery.

Fortunately, organizations that have already implemented Exchange 2000 or have already migrated from Windows NT4 to Windows 2000, have completed the hard part of their migration process. Effectively, Exchange Server 2003 uses the same Active Directory organizational structure that was created with Windows 2000, so forests, domain trees, domains, organizational users, sites, groups, and users all transfer directly into an Exchange Server 2003 organizational structure. If the organizational structure in Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000 meets the needs of the organization, the migration to Exchange Server 2003 is predominantly the moving of mailboxes from the old Exchange server to a new Exchange server.

Migrating from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003 requires a handful of preparatory steps. More details on the migration process from Exchange 2000 is covered in Chapter 16, "Migrating from Exchange 2000 to Exchange Server 2003."

Migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003

Organizations that still have Exchange 5.5 as their messaging environment, need to decide whether to migrate from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000, or to migrate directly from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003. Deciding factors include what features and functions in Exchange Server 2003 the organization wants and the cost and effort to migrate. Organizations do not have to migrate completely to Exchange Server 2003 to get Exchange Server 2003 functionality. An organization can choose to migrate just a couple of servers from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003 without having to migrate the whole organization. This can be a first step for an organization to get Exchange Server 2003 functionality into its network.

If an organization has already begun its migration to Exchange 2000, it may choose to complete its Exchange 2000 migration and then implement Exchange Server 2003 in an in-place migration process later. As noted in the last section, "Migrating from Exchange 2000 to Exchange Server 2003," even if an organization has Exchange 2000 in its environment, it can migrate some of the Exchange 2000 servers to Exchange Server 2003 as an interim process. Of course, an organization can choose to migrate completely from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003, and since the forest, domain, site, and other structural functions of Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 are identical, typically any planning done for a migration to Exchange 2000 can be applied to an organization's decision to migrate directly from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003.

The planning, design, prototype, and migration steps to assist an organization in its migration from Exchange 5.5 to an Exchange Server 2003 environment is covered in Chapter 15, "Migrating from Exchange v5.5 to Exchange Server 2003."

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Unleashed
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Unleashed (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672328070
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 393
Authors: Rand Morimoto

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