[itdiscuss] Exchange 2007 Upgrade

[Kevin Brunson]

There is actually no such thing as an in-place upgrade from Exchange 2003 to 2007.  2003 runs on 32-bit, 2007 runs on 64 bit.

I recommend you bring up the new server, move mailboxes and public folders, and then decommission the old server.  Going through the export, import method below seems overly complicated and time-consuming.  It also silently implies starting from scratch with AD, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

If you just let the move mailbox process run, then you don't have to mess with outlook at all.  When Outlook starts, it will see that the mailbox has been moved to a new server and automatically redirect to the new server (as long as the old server is still running at the time).  Just leave the old server running Exchange until all clients have started outlook once, and then remove Exchange once everything is happy.  I typically wait about a week before I start decommissioning the old server.

From: discuss-bounces at janoah.net [mailto:discuss-bounces at janoah.net] On Behalf Of Dayron Daugherty
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 10:04 AM
To: discuss at itdiscuss.org
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Exchange 2007 Upgrade

When you say upgrade are you talking about in in place upgrade or installing Exchange 2007 on a new(er) server then moving the mailboxes?
Have you worked with Exchange 2007 previous to this upgrade? If not then know it is a different animal than 2003.

First, BACK IT ALL UP EVERY WAY POSSIBLE (PSTs, Brick level, and DB level)!!!!! :).
If it is a small # of mailboxes I would export all Exchange 2003 mailboxes to PST using Exmerge, then install Exchange 2007 to its own server, setup all user mailboxes, configure outlook for all the clients, then import their PSTs to each client.

The few Exchange 2003 to 2007 conversions I've done have been small and this was the method I used.

The largest Exchange conversion I did was from Exchange 5.5 to 2003 with 120 clients and I used this same method, but I had 3 other people assisting me on the re-import of the PSTs so it wasn't as long as it could have been.

It's more work doing that way (if it's even plausible depending on the # of mailboxes and upgrade help you have), but I've always found it much easier working out the issues with clean installs vs. all the issues that can come up with upgrades and conversions. One upgrade I attempted years ago with Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000 left me with neither functioning.  To work out of that jam I rebuilt the Exchange 5.5 environment (good backups saved the day), then exported all mailboxes to PST using Exmerge, then installed Exchange 2000, then reconfigured all user profiles and imported all psts at the client level. I tell you that to expose the pain that led me to the method I shared above. I tear up and start shaking just talking about that incident:).



From: discuss-bounces at janoah.net [mailto:discuss-bounces at janoah.net] On Behalf Of blloyd at buskercom.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 9:53 AM
To: discuss at itdiscuss.org
Subject: [itdiscuss] Exchange 2007 Upgrade

I have an opportunity to upgrade to Exchange 2007 Enterprise from 2003 standard.  Anyone have recommendations on the process?  Anything you wish you could have done differently when you make the upgrade?  What about mobile devices as well as a BES server?  Any auto-signature software or archival software to consider?

Thanks,




Bill Lloyd
IT Manager
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2567 Athens Hwy.
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Phone: 770-417-1604 Ext.: 250
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