Chapter 5: Upgrading to Exchange Server 2007


Overview

With Exchange being the number one messaging system on the market, it's quite a solid bet that there will be a lot of existing Exchange customers who will be looking at upgrading. If you're reading this chapter, whether you turned to it directly or come here by way of the previous chapter, we're guessing that you're one of those people. Before we go on, though, let's take a moment to clear up a matter of terminology and distinguish between upgrading and migrating.

Many people have different expectations about what an upgrade consists of. We're used to in-place upgrades where we have an existing version of the software on the computer, run the installer, and end up with the new version of the software. Previous versions of Exchange have supported an in-place upgrade process for at least one previous version back, but the Exchange 2007 upgrade process doesn't. As explained in previous chapters, the lack of support for 64-bit Windows in Exchange 2003 and the lack of support for 32-bit Windows in Exchange 2007 combine to make the upgrade process a bit more complicated. Life is not all gloom and doom, however, and this seeming complication will have its compensation in the end.

The Exchange 2007 upgrade process is what many people consider to be a migration -a change from one messaging system to another. That's certainly how Microsoft uses the term; although some early Exchange documentation referred to the transition from Windows NT domains and Exchange 5.5 to Active Directory and Exchange 2000 as a migration, Microsoft has settled on a more consistent usage in recent years. No Microsoft documentation will ever state it this simply, but the difference between upgrades and migration boils down to a very simple rule: if you're moving from a previous supported version of Microsoft software, it's an upgrade no matter what process you take to get there, whereas if you've moving from some other product, it's a migration.

Tip 

To fully understand the difference between upgrades and migration, you must pay attention to the words supported version. Microsoft supports upgrades to Exchange 2007 from Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003. If you're coming from Exchange 5.5, then you're migrating even though you're coming from a previous version of Exchange because upgrades from Exchange 5.5 aren't supported by Microsoft. You either get to upgrade to Exchange 2003 as an interim step or use third-party migration tools to move your mailboxes and data into what will effectively be a new Exchange 2007 organization.

Just to make things less straightforward, the Exchange 2007 documentation gives you two upgrade strategies: upgrade your existing organization, which Microsoft calls a transition, or create a new organization and move your messaging data over. Unfortunately, Microsoft has chosen to call this migration as well. However, be aware that this use of migration refers only to the act of moving your data between the two organizations!

To be consistent with Microsoft usage and minimize confusion, we'll use the term upgrade to refer to the process of moving from an existing Exchange 2000/2003 organization to Exchange 2007, no matter the strategy you use to get there. Actual migrations from different messaging systems (or from Exchange 5.5) are outside the scope of this book. When we do need to refer to moving data between organizations, we'll explicitly say migration strategy. This helps us be clear and stay consistent with the excellent documentation provided for Exchange 2007.

Note 

We'll use the phrase legacy Exchange servers in this chapter to refer to the existing Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003 machines in your organization. This might cause a slight bit of cognitive dissonance for those of you used to thinking of Exchange 5.5 servers as legacy servers.

Topics in this chapter include the following:

  • What factors you need to consider before doing your upgrade

  • The two Exchange 2007 upgrade strategies and how to tell where each is appropriate

  • Coexisting with legacy Exchange servers




Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1
ISBN: 0470417331
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 198
Authors: Jim McBee

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