This is just an informational post, you're welcome to comment on it but I'm not really asking any questions. Just thought folks out there getting ready to upgrade might want to hear the story. I just spent the night upgrading (or trying to upgrade) my exchange 5.5 server.
We have a very simple network. 1 domain. 200 users. 1 exchange server. 2 domain controllers (not the exchange server). Started about 2 weeks ago prepping for upgrade. Armed with: White Paper "in-place upgrade from msoft exchange 5.5 to msoft exchange 2000" Q316886 "How To: Migrate from exchange server 5.5 to exchange 2000 server Q282309 "upgrading exchange server 5.5 service pack 4 to exchange 2000 server" Q295922 "considerations when you upgrade to exchange 2000 server" Q296260 "how to configure a two-way recipient connection agreement for exchange server 5.5 users" Q253829 "description of the active directory connector deletion mechanism" And, of course, monitored this list (and the sun-exchange) one for upgrade ideas! Now some of the documents have conflicting information. If you weed thru the dates and such you can usually figure out what is really true. For example, the white paper states you MUST have at least one domain running in native mode, but the HOW TO describes a scenario where all domains are in mixed mode. With the domain controllers upgraded to win2k active directory (mixed mode) last month I tackled the exchange upgrade this month. Went thru the white paper and how to, updating the schema (forestprep and domainprep) and ran all the tests listed in those docs to verify it was working. Got exactly the results they told me! First time I ran the actual upgrade got my first rude surprise. My vendor had shipped me the Exchange 2000 standard edition media (which doesn't really say standard on it, just Exchange 2000) and the upgrade process stopped immediately with "You can't go from enterprise to standard you idiot" Two days later I have the correct media. Take the server off the network and run an online backup (Veritas backup exec with exchange option). Verify the backup worked. With exchange services down get back on the network and run domain tests again. Everything ok! Run the upgrade! The upgrade goes thru several processes but hangs at "Setup failed while installing sub-component "Site Replication Service with error code 0xC007041D" -- retry or cancel" search MS knowledge base and looks like a permissions issue (Q278254 and Q273730). Hmm, make sure the exchange service account has all the permissions and click retry. Still no work. Rats. Getting late so time to make the $250 call to PSS! PSS steps me thru lots of stuff, nothing works. They have me change the service account user permissions at the ORG container from CUSTOM to SERVICE ACCOUNT (i'm probably not saying this exactly correct). Still no joy. Try to cancel out of that error message. Nada. Have to task manager/shut down process. They then refer me to the ultimate nightmare: Q264309 - How to Roll Back A failed Upgraded from Exchange Server 5.5. to Exchange 2000. Yuck. Go into registry and delete the stuff, rename the exchsrvr folders, uninstall IIS, restart server, install IIS, re-apply all service packs and hotfixes (that really sucks), delete the renamed exchsrvr folders, setup /r exchange 5.5, restore directory and info store. Restoring directory service doesn't work. Call PSS back. Directory service was trying to start and got hung, can't restore to hung service. Change to manual start and reboot. Directory restores!!! Restore info store. (8 gigs). 2 hours later ready to go! (almost) Now the internet mail connector isn't working. Dawn is breaking and panic begins to creep in. Users will be screaming in about 2 hours. Call PSS again. End up deleting the IMC and creating a new one. They very patiently step me through lots of good stuff, including making sure I'm not an internet relay and that I'm not doing circular logs. They even stand by while I reinstall my Anti-virus for exchange. Everything is working. It's now 7am and I'm back to my original pre-upgrade status from 7pm the night before. Problem summary: PSS thinks that the problem was caused by the mail service account user not having complete permissions at the org container. By the time this was corrected by PSS (and me) the upgrade was stuck. They are "pretty sure" and "reasonably confident" the upgrade will work next time. Moral: MAKE BACKUPS. PLAN FOR EXTRA TIME. PSS is your friend (I was on the phone with them for about 4 hours) This was so much fun we're planning another attempt. This will be on a Saturday morning so I'll have lots of time to recover (or celebrate). Tom Gray, Network Engineer All Kinds of Minds & The Center for Development and Learning University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AT&T Net: (919)960-8888 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
