Exchange 5.5 to 2003

[jfesler]

Looking for some general advice on upgrading Exchange 5.5 on a BDC running NT 4.0 to Exchange 2003 on a 2003 Server. I have new equipment for the 2003. I have a 4.0 PDC that was upgraded to 2000 Server last year.

Any experiences or documentation would be appreciated.

[Budster64]

Looking for some general advice on upgrading Exchange 5.5 on a BDC running NT 4.0 to Exchange 2003 on a 2003 Server. I have new equipment for the 2003. I have a 4.0 PDC that was upgraded to 2000 Server last year.

Any experiences or documentation would be appreciated.

I just did that very thing recently, as a matter of fact I am still moving mailboxes. The installation went fairly well but we did have a few snags that we fixed.
Just follow the migration tools instructions located on the Exchange 2003 CD.
Something it won't tell you though is that you need to change the LDAP port on the 5.5 server (Using the Exchange 5.5 Manager) to something other than the default 389 ( I used 390) otherwise your 2003 will have trouble connecting to your 5.5.
Make sure you run Forestprep/Domainprep and ADC from the Exchange 2003 CD prior to installing Exchange 2003 and that the server you are installing it to has WWW, SMTP, NNTP installed and running.
If you run into specific problems let us know or you can email me.

[jfesler]

I just did that very thing recently, as a matter of fact I am still moving mailboxes. The installation went fairly well but we did have a few snags that we fixed.
Just follow the migration tools instructions located on the Exchange 2003 CD.
Something it won't tell you though is that you need to change the LDAP port on the 5.5 server (Using the Exchange 5.5 Manager) to something other than the default 389 ( I used 390) otherwise your 2003 will have trouble connecting to your 5.5.
Make sure you run Forestprep/Domainprep and ADC from the Exchange 2003 CD prior to installing Exchange 2003 and that the server you are installing it to has WWW, SMTP, NNTP installed and running.
If you run into specific problems let us know or you can email me.

Thanks for the info, I will definitely keep your post handy if I have questions. I am probably a couple weeks out from starting the process. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on.... I know reading what it is suppose to be like is nothing like doing it. I appreciate the willingness to help out!

[jfesler]

I do have a question for you.

Use to be when you were replacing an exchange server (Hardware) You would load the server with one name and then change the name to the "actual" exchange server name after the data was moved and you were done with the existing server... Can you still do that with 2003 or do the clients need to be reconfigured to look at a new server name?

Thanx

[Budster64]

I do have a question for you.

Use to be when you were replacing an exchange server (Hardware) You would load the server with one name and then change the name to the "actual" exchange server name after the data was moved and you were done with the existing server... Can you still do that with 2003 or do the clients need to be reconfigured to look at a new server name?

Thanx

Once you move the client mailboxes over to the new server (leave the old exchange 5.5 server up and running for awhile...at the very least for a week or two, this way if you do have any problems you can always move the mailboxes back to the old server and maintain email capabilities) you won't have to do anything at the client side if that's what you're asking. The clients will be redirected to the new exchange 2003 the next time they start outlook. That's the way it's been working here. Of course be sure to have a few test mailboxes before moving any "real" clients. Even if you have to create a few mailboxes on the 5.5 just for move tests.
So far it's been pretty transparent for the users.
Oh one more thing, make sure the clients have .net framework 1.1 installed on their machines otherwise it won't connect properly...and by that I mean at all.

[jfesler]

Once again, thanks for the info. I will repost if I have problems!