Decommissioning and Removing the Last Exchange 5.5 Server and Site

After all the information has been migrated to Exchange 2003, you need to decommission the Exchange 5.5 servers before switching to native mode in Exchange Server 2003. Do not skip this part of the process, or the configuration information in Exchange 2003 will always refer to Exchange 5.5 servers that no longer exist.

To remove the last Exchange 5.5 server in a site and to remove the last Exchange 5.5 site in the organization, stop the Exchange 5.5 Exchange services and disable the System Attendant on each Exchange 5.5 server. Then, from the Exchange 2003 server, use the Exchange 5.5 Admin Program to connect to the Exchange Server 2003 server. (This might seem a bit counterintuitive.)

Delete the Exchange 5.5 server from the site and then force replication on the Connection Agreement for that site. Wait for the Exchange 5.5 server to disappear. After you have done this for all the Exchange 5.5 Servers, use the ESM to delete the SRS. Then delete the recipient and public folder Connection Agreements in the ADC snap-in. After doing this, remove the ADC in Add/ Remove Programs.

Points to Remember

Here are some points to note:

• You can’t use the ESM to remove Exchange 5.5 servers from an Admin Group; you must use the Exchange 5.5 Admin program.

• You must log on with an account that has Full Exchange Administrator permissions in Exchange 2003 and Service Account Admin permissions on the Exchange 5.5 site. You might want to create a special account for this purpose.

• You can’t delete an Exchange 5.5 server that you’re connected to using the Admin program.

After all the Exchange 5.5 Servers are removed, you can switch to native mode in Exchange Server 2003. Until then, you must remain in mixed mode to safely remove all the Exchange 5.5 servers.