Chapter 15: Migrating to Exchange Server 2003

In this chapter, we guide you through a migration from Microsoft Exchange 5.5 to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. We illustrate how to move users and discuss migrating public folders to Exchange 2003. At the end of this chapter, we examine rollback scenarios and outline the decisions you’ll confront along the way. When appropriate, we provide our thoughts on the pros and cons of each decision.

A thorough book on migration would be at least as long as this entire book, so we discuss the more common tools and hope that doing so provides a sufficient roadmap for your migration journey from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003.

The Example Scenario

We describe the migration process in the context of a particular scenario, so you need to know some preliminary details. We start with a Microsoft Windows NT 4, Service Pack 6A environment. Here is the other relevant data:

• The Windows NT domain name is Trains. The Exchange 5.5 organization is named Trains.

• The PDC is named PDC1 and is running Exchange 5.5, Service Pack 4 in the Corp Site.

• A Windows NT Member Server in the Trains domain is named MNExch01. This server is running Exchange 5.5, Service Pack 4 in the Minnesota Site.

• A second Windows NT Member Server in the Trains domain is named CAExch01 in the California site. It is also running Exchange 5.5, Service Pack 4.

• A Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory forest is running and is named Trainsbydave. The Domain Name System (DNS) name is trainsbydave.com. The domain controller is named ElkRiver.

• A member server in the trainsbydave domain is named Indianapolis. It will host the Exchange Server 2003 when it is time to install Exchange 2003.

The migration process can be broken down into a few major objectives. Here is what you will accomplish in this chapter, in order:

1. Move all the mailboxes on the three Trains Exchange 5.5 servers to a single Exchange Server 2003 in the trainsbydave.com forest.

2. Move all the user accounts from Windows NT 4 to Active Directory directory service. Move all the user accounts from the Exchange 5.5 directory to Active Directory. Do both in such a way as to not create duplicate accounts.

3. Join the Exchange Server 2003 to the Exchange 5.5 organization.

4. Consolidate Exchange administration and information onto a single server.

Notice that in our scenario, the Windows Server 2003 forest already exists. This is the preferred approach to upgrading from Windows NT to Windows Server 2003—upgrading the user accounts to Windows Server 2003 before upgrading the Exchange platform is cleaner and easier. You could do the reverse, but remember that to upgrade to Exchange 2003, you must have a Windows Server 2003 forest, even if you must create one just for Exchange 2003. If you must create a Windows Server 2003 forest, it makes sense to first migrate the user accounts from Windows NT to Active Directory. In most scenarios, this approach will make the most sense.

Note

If you are running earlier versions of software such as Novell GroupWise or IBM Lotus Notes, you should consider starting fresh with Exchange 2003 and making the previous e-mail system available for a period of time after Exchange 2003 is up and running.