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AD/Exchange server migration question

T

thirdlegstump

Banned
I've got 5 servers running 2003 Std, Terminal and Exchange 2003. Single forest, single domain. We'll call it domainx.com.

Box1, Box2 and Box3 are local.
Box4 and 5 are remote on a vpn with the local site and are both DCs.

Box1 is a DC but with Exchange running on it which is not preferred so I want to demote DC from Box1 and promote DC to Box2, which is running Terminal. Box 3 is also a DC but I don't want to touch it.

Box1 should result as a member server running Exchange while Box2 should become the PDC.

Box4 should also become a member server while Box5 remains a DC.


What's the best way to go about this migration and what tools are best used? I want it as clean as possible....
 
You can, but it isn't recommended because you have to reduce security on the DC.

Demoting a DC running Exchange 2003 is not supported and you are almost guaranteed to break Exchange. Same goes for promoting an Exchange member server to a DC.

You'll need to bring up another member server, install Exchange on it, move the mailboxes and then uninstall Exchange from the DC.
 
Originally posted by: stash
You can, but it isn't recommended because you have to reduce security on the DC.

Demoting a DC running Exchange 2003 is not supported and you are almost guaranteed to break Exchange. Same goes for promoting an Exchange member server to a DC.

You'll need to bring up another member server, install Exchange on it, move the mailboxes and then uninstall Exchange from the DC.
Click to expand...

Question: What do you mean by having to reduce security by having TS on a DC? Could you be more specific?

I understand that Exchange would break by demoting the same box. My plan is to PST all the clients, transfer the FSMO to another DC and then demoting that box and uninstall, reinstalling Exchange.
 
Question: What do you mean by having to reduce security by having TS on a DC? Could you be more specific?
Click to expand...
You have to give users the log on locally right, which is not set by default on a DC. You don't generally want to give normal users the ability to login to a DC.

My plan is to PST all the clients, transfer the FSMO to another DC and then demoting that box and uninstall, reinstalling Exchange.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure that's such a good plan. If you demote first, you might not be able to uninstall Exchange fully.
 
Originally posted by: stash
My plan is to PST all the clients, transfer the FSMO to another DC and then demoting that box and uninstall, reinstalling Exchange.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure that's such a good plan. If you demote first, you might not be able to uninstall Exchange fully.
Click to expand...
I agree with Stash.

If it were me I would:
1. Setup a temporary Exchange server (even a virtual server would work fine)
2. Move mailboxes, public folders, etc. over to the temporary Exchange server.
3. Remove Exchange from the DC
4. Demote the server so it is no longer a DC
5. Rebuild it (dont use the old OS)
6. Install Exchange
7. Move your mailboxes, public folders, etc to the "new" Exchange server.

This will give you a nice clean platform to work on.

Before removing an Exchange server be sure to go over the items in this article so you dont miss anything:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822931

Good Luck,
Erik
 
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?

I'm not being argumentative, just curious.

Obviously, there are a zillion Exchange 2000 and 2003 Servers on SBS Servers. And ALL SBS Servers are Domain Controllers. In fact, I've read (but don't recall where), that there are more Exchange Servers on SBS boxes than there are in the whole rest of the Windows Server world (since Exchange is on EVERY SBS box).

And, yeah, spyordie007 and stash's suggestions are good ones.

Thanks!
 
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?
Click to expand...

I've run Exchange on a DC and the only problem I have run into is that the AD services start a lot slower than the Exchange services. So, Exchange chokes when it can't find a DC right away.
 
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?
Click to expand...
It's supported but not best practice. The biggest issues are scalability, performance, redundancy and disaster recovery.

In small SBS implimentations these generally arent an issue, but for even a medium sized org they can quickly become an issue.

Some information here:
http://blogs.brnets.com/michael/archive/2005/01/24/319.aspx

And of course there are more SBS installs of Exchange out there; in the medium to large sized organization you see hundreds to thousands of users on a single Exchange server so the user to server ratio is high. In SBS installs you always see less than 75 😉
 
Originally posted by: EatSpam
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?
Click to expand...

I've run Exchange on a DC and the only problem I have run into is that the AD services start a lot slower than the Exchange services. So, Exchange chokes when it can't find a DC right away.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah forgot to mention this annoying service interdependancy issue. More information here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829361

I *think* they've altered the dependancy in SBS so it is less of an issue there.
 
Originally posted by: spyordie007
Originally posted by: EatSpam
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?
Click to expand...

I've run Exchange on a DC and the only problem I have run into is that the AD services start a lot slower than the Exchange services. So, Exchange chokes when it can't find a DC right away.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah forgot to mention this annoying service interdependancy issue. More information here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829361

I *think* they've altered the dependancy in SBS so it is less of an issue there.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they did. On my Exchange w/DC system, Exchange will fail to load 100% of the time if the other DC isn't already fully up.
 
Originally posted by: spyordie007
What's the issue with Exchange 2003 on a DC?
Click to expand...
Some information here:
http://blogs.brnets.com/michael/archive/2005/01/24/319.aspx)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info and the link. I've read some of these details before, but I forget....

I don't see much really earth-shattering there. Even in SBS, you get Exchange startup errors because some stuff isn't working right when you first boot. Ive read about the trick of stopping Exchange Services before shutdown to make reboots faster and cleaner.
 
I run a single DC with Exchange and don't have any startup problems, except for the IIS site for Webmail which just requires an IIS reset.

I do have a batch file that shuts down exchange services first then the rest of the server.
 
Ran into a few hiccups with Exchange database migrations and Outlook not being able to see certain folders but eventually was able to recover everything from the .edb files and using soft recovery. Sweet. Thanks for all the tips guys.
 
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