Albert, First thank you very much for your help. Second, your advice has scared the bejeebus out of me. I understand what you said about accretion and consolidating everything into one Exch 2003 server, but that's just way biting off way more than I could chew. Doing that would mean doing Exch 2003 + RIM BES at the same time which is something I'm not sure I can pull off.
While going through the documentation to install the first Exch 2003 server, I noticed that domainprep wants to install on basically every domain that is there. ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997526.aspx You must run DomainPrep in the following domains * The root domain. * All domains that will contain Exchange 2003 servers. * All domains that will contain Exchange Server 2003 mailbox-enabled objects (such as users and groups), even if no Exchange servers will be installed in these domains. * All domains that contain global catalog servers that Exchange directory access components may potentially use. * All domains that will contain Exchange 2003 users and groups that you will use to manage your Exchange 2003 organization. ----------------------------------------------------------------- It will be very difficult to run domainprep on all 4 offices simultaneously, given that they're in London, NY, Chicago, and LA. Is it possible to: -Run domainprep, then install the first Exch 2003 server in NY and not move mailboxes onto it, and keep the existing Exch 5.5 infrastructure intact. -Then fly to LA and run domainprep there, install an Exch 2003 server, create a connection agreement, between NY - LA, not move mailboxes, keep the existing Exch 5.5 infrastructure intact. -Repeat for Chicago and London. Again, I know you said that accretion may not be possible, but there's no budget for bringing in outside help, so I have to do the best that I can with as much safety as possible. Thanks, Joon On Dec 17, 2007 11:00 PM, Albert Duro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Is it possible to just install Exch 2003 and join the current site, > > and then move mailboxes? > Certainly. That's what I did, a couple of times. It's been a while , so I > don't remember too much detail, but MS has TONS of documentation on how to > do that. 2 things you'll have to pay particular attention to are schema > updates and Connection Agreements. > > That's for the straight upgrade stuff. But you have some serious > complications with your 5.5 topology. You can't get away with that kind of > accretion in the >2K world as you could in 5.5. The way that Servers and > Clients do business is quite different -- sites are redefined, there's close > integration with AD and DNS, there's Back End and Front End servers, Cached > Mode, etc. etc. > > If I were in your shoes, from what little I know of them, I would either > consolidate all the servers into one 2k3 servers, or, if I had to keep a > herd of them, I would bring in a consultant who knows how to plan a >2k > Exchange network. > > And I would definetely take them off the edge, if that means what I think it > means. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "titanic panic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Exchange Discussions" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 4:45 PM > Subject: moving from Exch 5.5 to Exch 2003 > > > > Hello, > > > > We have Exch 5.5 SP4 servers in 4 offices and after laying down our > > Active Directory, the time has come to upgrade to Exch 2003. > > > > I looked through this KB article on the swing server method: > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821896 > > > > and thought that the upgrade process could be done through this method > > without actually using it as a swing. The hardware for the old Exch > > 5.5 servers holding mailboxes can be retired given their anemic > > spec's. > > > > Is it possible to just install Exch 2003 and join the current site, > > and then move mailboxes? > > > > We have two Exch 5.5 servers on the edge of our network, one which > > processes and routes incoming/outgoing mail, and another which handles > > blackberry users on a BES. Can these be left alone and remain > > functioning? Will the routing server on the edge, direct mail to an > > Exch 2003 server and also send mail? > > > > Thanks for any help, > > > > Joon > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > > To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > > Jupitermedia Corp. > > Attn: Discussion List Management > > 475 Park Avenue South > > New York, NY 10016 > > > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > Jupitermedia Corp. > Attn: Discussion List Management > 475 Park Avenue South > New York, NY 10016 > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. 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