Hello Willo van der Merwe,
Just to clarify some parts at the beginning, i think you talk about Exchange
2007, so i will refer to it, because there is no 2008 version from it.
Running Exchange on domain controllers is not recommended, it should be always
installed on member servers:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../aa997407.aspx
You have no need to built a new domain again, everything can be done from
the existing domain.
For the upgrade to windows server 2008 AD and change to Exchange 2007 in
the same domain i suggest to do it in 2 steps, 1st AD and then going on with
Exchange 2007.
For exchange i will creaete a second posting to make it more easy to read.
For AD upgrade see this step by step:
!!!NEVER START BEFORE HAVING CREATED AND TESTED A BACKUP OF YOUR DATA/MACHINE!!!
- On the old server open DNS management console and check that you are running
Active directory integrated zone (easier for replication, if you have more
then one DNS server)
- run replmon from the run line or repadmin /showrepl(only if more then one
DC exist), dcdiag and netdiag from the command prompt on the old machine
to check for errors, if you have some post the complete output from the command
here or solve them first. For this tools you have to install the support\tools\suptools.msi
from the 2003 installation disk.
- run adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep and adprep /rodcprep from
the 2008 installation disk against the 2003 schema master(forestprep) / infrastructure
master(domainprep/rodcprep), with an account that is member of the Schema/Enterprise/Domain
admins, to upgrade the schema to the new version (44) or 2008 R2 (47)
- you can check the schema version with "schupgr" or "dsquery * cn=schema,cn=configuration,dc=domainname,dc=local
-scope base -attr objectVersion" without the quotes in a command prompt
- Install the new machine as a member server in your existing domain
- configure a fixed ip and set the preferred DNS server to the old DNS server
only, think about disabling IPv6 if you are not using it, some known problems
exist with it. Follow (
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/paulb...dows-2008.aspx)
to disable it
- run dcpromo and follow the wizard to add the 2008 server to an existing
domain, make it also Global catalog and DNS server.
- for DNS give the server time for replication, at least 15 minutes. Because
you use Active directory integrated zones it will automatically replicate
the zones to the new server. Open DNS management console to check that they
appear
- if the new machine is domain controller and DNS server run again replmon,
dcdiag and netdiag (copy the netdiag from the 2003 to 2008, will work) on
both domain controllers
- Transfer, NOT seize the 5 FSMO roles to the new Domain controller (
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324801
applies also for 2008), FSMO should always be on the newest OS DC
- you can see in the event viewer (Directory service) that the roles are
transferred, also give it some time
- reconfigure the DNS configuration on your NIC of the 2008 server, preferred
DNS itself, secondary the old one
- if you use DHCP do not forget to reconfigure the scope settings to point
to the new installed DNS server
- if needed export and import of DHCP database for 2008 choose "netshell
dhcp backup" and "netshell dhcp restore" command (
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc772372.aspx)
Demoting the old DC (keep in mind it is also best practise to have at least
2 DC/DNS/GC per domain, failover and redundancy)
- reconfigure your clients/servers that they not longer point to the old
DC/DNS server on the NIC
- to be sure that everything runs fine, disconnect the old DC from the network
and check with clients and servers the connectivity, logon and also with
one client a restart to see that everything is ok
- then run dcpromo to demote the old DC, if it works fine the machine will
move from the DC's OU to the computers container, where you can delete it
by hand. Can be that you got an error during demoting at the beginning, then
uncheck the Global catalog on that DC and try again
- check the DNS management console, that all entries from the machine are
disappeared or delete them by hand if the machine is off the network for ever
- also you have to start AD sites and services and delete the old servername
under the site, this will not be done during demotion
Best regards
Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!!
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
> Hi,
>
> We were running Windows Server 2008 64-bit with Exchange 2008. The
> hardware was unstable and eventually disaster struck and we lost the
> entire machine. we quickly commandeered a standby machine, installed
> Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) and Exchange 2003 on it, recreated the
> mailboxes, had all the desktop/laptops in the company rejoin the
> domain. It was not pretty. Mail was lost, profiles corrupted -
> generally nasty.
>
> This was 3 weeks ago.
>
> Now we have a replacement machine. The guys supplying the machine is
> now scared of Windows Server 2008, so decided to downgrade to the more
> stable (longer in the field) 2003 server - but because our backups of
> mail was in 64 bit Exchange 2008, it could not be restored without
> considerable effort on their part. Therefore they decided to go to
> Exchange 2008, 64-bit.
>
> They want to do the same as last time - recreate the mailboxes, have
> all the desktop/laptops in the company rejoin the domain.
> Understandably we are not very enamored with this idea. A bit of
> research revealed that we do not have to go this route.
>
> From my research it seems we should:
> 1. Introduce the new server, without Exchange (or Exchange disabled)
> as
> a member server.
> 2. Make it a DC.
> 3. Wait till the AD has propagated.
> 4. Demote PDC.
> 5. Promote new server.
> Now the new server should be acting as the new PDC and users should be
> authenticating from it.
> The part where I get stuck is how do I migrate the existing Exchange
> 2003 mailboxes to Exchange 2008, and still recover the mailboxes.
>
> Any suggestions welcome.
>
> Willo van der Merwe
>
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
