Upgrade suggestions

  • Thread starter Thread starter TJ
  • Start date Start date
T

TJ

I will soon begin working at a company where they have an
NT4 Domain (one server)and Exchange 5.5 on a Win2k box.
The goal will be to get to Exchange 2003. I'm not sure
whether they have Windows 2003 in mind, or just Windows
2000.

Obviously, Active Directory needs to be in the picture
first - whether on W2k or W2k3. Can I get the network to
active directory with a clean install, rather than
upgrading an NT4 BDC. Or, can I only do that by installing
a parallel network and adding users from scratch. Where
would that leave me with the Exchange 5.5 (W2k) box.
Installing Exchange from scratch too? If so, could I get
the mail switched over?

I'm not really even sure if I have an extra server(s) to
work with here. I'm trying to piece together different
scenarios to have the freshest install possible. I'd
appreciate thoughts from those of you who have gone down
this road. Thanks.

TJ
 
I will soon begin working at a company where they have an
NT4 Domain (one server)and Exchange 5.5 on a Win2k box.
The goal will be to get to Exchange 2003. I'm not sure
whether they have Windows 2003 in mind, or just Windows
2000.

Obviously, Active Directory needs to be in the picture
first - whether on W2k or W2k3. Can I get the network to
active directory with a clean install, rather than
upgrading an NT4 BDC. Or, can I only do that by installing
a parallel network and adding users from scratch. Where
would that leave me with the Exchange 5.5 (W2k) box.
Installing Exchange from scratch too? If so, could I get
the mail switched over?

I'm not really even sure if I have an extra server(s) to
work with here. I'm trying to piece together different
scenarios to have the freshest install possible. I'd
appreciate thoughts from those of you who have gone down
this road. Thanks.

TJ
Click to expand...

I can give you a couple of suggestions and maybe someone else can answer
some more.

First let me say that Exchange 2003 will only run on Windows 2003 it
will not run on Windows 2000. You can have a Windows 2003 server on a
Windows 2000 network just fine.

I don't know how many users you have but if you have more than a few
users you really really really should have an NT4 BDC before you upgrade
the PDC. That is because NT4 to 2000 is a fairly difficult upgrade. You
would sync the BDC with the PDC and then disconnect the BDC from the
network while upgrading the BDC. After the upgrade of BDC to 2000 or
2003 the connect the BDC and upgrade it. You should also have 2 Windows
2000 DC's if possible, even if one is doing other duties.

If you want to do a clean install there is a Users and Computers
migration tool but I am not familiar with it.

In either case you should not have to install Exchange from scratch when
you put on Exchange 2000. You just want to wait until you have AD up and
going.

You will find lots of articles on http://support.microsoft.com and I
would go there and search through several.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team
 
Back
Top