My $0.04 (usd)
1) Either can be done, but my preference is to upgrade DC's first. Why?
Just easier to troubleshoot later IMHO.
2) & 3) Upgrade to new hardware is preferrable in all cases. Why? Because
you don't bring over any legacy settings, changes, hacks, tweaks, etc that
may not be viable or a good idea for the new version. Saves troubleshooting
time later.
4) Gotchas? There is a gotcha related to SP1 firewall for Windows 2003
server and DC's, there's a also a gotcha for the Exchange schema mangling.
You'll see more about it in the KB's related to attribute mangled
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=314649
Otherwise, it can be very simple to upgrade. Like I said, I prefer to
upgrade the foundation (DC's) first, let it settle, and then upgrade the
service (exchange). That allows me to see if any issues in my environment
occur, exactly where they occured and what the action was that caused it
much more quickly. If it was Exchange, I might end up seeing a problem later
and thinking it was Exchange when it was Windows or thinking it was Windows
when it was an Exchange issue.
Al
From: Stevo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] Windows 2000 / Exchange 2000 Upgrade to 2003
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 13:56:22 -0700
Experts,
I have a small domain with 3 Windows 2000 DCs and 2 Exchange 2000 mail
servers (across 2 sites). I'm planning on upgrading both the domain and
Exchange to 2003 and would like some recommendations from people who have
actually done this (successfully would be preferred).
The questions I have include the following:
1) What is the best order to perform this upgrade? Exchange first or
Domain first?
2) Would it be better to perform an upgrade of the existing controllers, or
bring new 2003 DCs online?
3) Same for Exchange - should I upgrade the Exchange server, or should I
bring a new 2003 Exchange server online concurrently and then migrate
accounts over to the new server?
4) What are the gotchas?!!
I am planning on replacing the hardware of all DCs and Exchange servers, so
any advice around best practices would be appreciated.
Thanks
Stevo
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