Recipe2.12.Upgrading from Standard Edition to Enterprise Edition

Recipe 2.12. Upgrading from Standard Edition to Enterprise Edition

Problem

You have a server running the Standard Edition of Exchange 2000 or 2003, and you want to upgrade it to the Enterprise Edition because your database has grown past the 16 GB limit of the Standard Edition.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Launch the Exchange setup utility (setup.exe) from the product CD or installation point.

2. Click Next at the initial welcome screen.

3. Accept the license agreement and click Next.

4. If prompted for your 25-character product key, fill it in, and click Next.

5. When the Component Selection page appears, set the Action for the Microsoft Exchange component to Reinstall, then click Next.

6. Click Next on the summary screen.

7. Wait for the installation to complete. The Exchange services will automatically restart.

8. Launch the Exchange System Manager (Exchange System Manager.msc).

9. In the left pane, select the Servers node beneath the AG that the target server is a member of. Check the server type shown in the righthand pane to verify that the server type no longer says Standard.

Discussion

The actual product differences between the Standard and Enterprise Editions are relatively small, as shown in Table 2-1, but they vary somewhat between Exchange 2000 and 2003. In both Exchange 2000 and Exchange Server 2003, the Standard Edition software cannot be part of a Windows cluster, and it is limited to a total of two databases per server: one public database and one mailbox database, neither of which may exceed 16 GB in size. The Enterprise Edition can be clustered, and it supports up to 20 databases per server. For Exchange 2000 only, the Enterprise Edition is required if you want the server to function as a front-end; in Exchange Server 2003, Standard servers can play this role.

Table 2-1. Comparison of Standard and Enterprise Exchange editions

Feature	Exchange 2000 Standard	Exchange 2000 Enterprise	Exchange Server 2003 Standard	Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise
Clustering	No	Yes	No	Yes
# of databases per server	2 (1 public + 1 private)	20	2 (1 public + 1 private)	20
# of storage groups per server	1	4	1	4 + recovery storage group
Max database size	16 GB each	Unlimited	16 GB each	Unlimited
Max usable RAM size	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB
Can operate as front-end server	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

See Also

Recipe 2.7 for more on installing Exchange, and MS KB 827281 (CPU and Memory Scalability for Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server)