Exchange server 5.5 moving server

[spivvy]

my old exchnage server 5.5 is gradually loosing the will to live so i need a new server
i have a new server in place now ,but rather than replace the old one in one hit i want to set up the second exchange and move people over gradually and then shutdown the old server

a. is this possible ?
b. can you have 2 exchange servers retrieving mail from the same domain ?

any advice appreciated

[BliarOut]

Yup, I would suggest adding your new server to the existing 5.5 organisation and then gradually migrating the mailboxes, public folders and connectors etc. If you do it one step at a time, your users will be totally unaware of the change.

Search on support.microsoft.com for removing the first exchange server from a site and it should tell you all the necessary steps.

[loaf]

spivvy said:

my old exchnage server 5.5 is gradually loosing the will to live so i need a new server i have a new server in place now ,but rather than replace the old one in one hit i want to set up the second exchange and move people over gradually and then shutdown the old server a. is this possible ? b. can you have 2 exchange servers retrieving mail from the same domain ? any advice appreciated

a) Yes
b) yes

When you built your new server did you build it into the same org and site as the old one?

If so then you're all set.

[recall the good old days as a 5.5 admin mode on]

MAKE SURE BOTH MACHINES HAVE THE SAME SERVICE PACK ON

I tried to migrate from an SP4 box to an SP3 box once having assumed that my predecessor had patched all the machines to the same level; on the plus side it gave me an opportunity to get up close and personal with the process of restoring Exchange When I left mail admin behind - some years ago now, mind - 5.5 was up to SP4, which I always found was pretty stable. You might want to consider moving to 2k or 2k3 though as I think 5.5 is/will be de-supported pretty soon now.

You can move mailboxes across (exadmin - tools - move mailbox? and IIRC you can select multiple boxes; best done out of hours as the user can't be logged into thier box and it's out of service while you move it) and if you set public folder replication up and set the host for the PFs as the new box they should replicate round.

The MTA between the servers should have been set up automatically when you built the server into the site.

You'll need to set up the IMS on your new box and make that the primary destination on your firewall for mx traffic. Once you've done this you can turn off the IMS on the old box.

Don't forget to turn off circular logging - don't know why M$ left this as the default, it's a pain in the a$$ and a decent backup schedule will prevent accidents

There's plenty of stuff available on TechNet for migrations - if you get stuck post on here and I'll see what I can dig out.

[_DeeJay_]

All good advice - apart from Circular logging. Turn it off? You must be joking!!

What happens when the database disk falls over 10 minutes before the backup was due to run? I'd just restore the DB from backup and play back the transactions. What would do?

Exchange 5.5 has been discontinued, though it's much more hassle setting up a e2k3 server than another of the same type.

edited to add: oh, and you need to rehome the public folders too (and don't forget the system folders).





>> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Monday 11th April 12:34

[spivvy]

thanks for the info ,thought it would be possible but you have answered my questions for now ,
would love to upgrade to latest versions , but Our USA company cannot decide on AD structure and exchange server layouts until then i am stuck with 5.5


>> Edited by spivvy on Monday 11th April 14:01

[loaf]

_DeeJay_ said:

All good advice - apart from Circular logging. Turn it off? You must be joking!! What happens when the database disk falls over 10 minutes before the backup was due to run? I'd just restore the DB from backup and play back the transactions. What would do? edited to add: oh, and you need to rehome the public folders too (and don't forget the system folders). >> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Monday 11th April 12:34

Forgot the re-home bit, good point.

Circular logging=BAD unless you have no disk space whatsoever - the DB should be on a RAID array and the log files should be on a separate RAID array so that if a disk goes bent the only person who'll notice is you. If the whole DB array went (controller failure) you'd still be able to replay the logs into the DB from the good array; if the log array went you'd shut Exchange down and do a cold backup.

The backup process commits all the transactions into the DB and then deletes the .LOG files - I'd be VERY uncomfortable not having the logs on tape and relying on Exchange to commit everything before deleting it.

Each to their own

[ErnestM]

Don't forget to have your users save thier data to pst files prior to the big switch (if possible)...

Also, if everything goes pear shaped, these folks have some outstanding information store recovery software:

www.pcrecovery.com

You can even use thier software to pull email from one store and merge it with data in a completely different store/user AD hiarchy... Ask me how I know...


ErnestM

[_DeeJay_]

loaf said:

_DeeJay_ said: All good advice - apart from Circular logging. Turn it off? You must be joking!! What happens when the database disk falls over 10 minutes before the backup was due to run? I'd just restore the DB from backup and play back the transactions. What would do? edited to add: oh, and you need to rehome the public folders too (and don't forget the system folders). >> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Monday 11th April 12:34 Forgot the re-home bit, good point. Circular logging=BAD unless you have no disk space whatsoever - the DB should be on a RAID array and the log files should be on a separate RAID array so that if a disk goes bent the only person who'll notice is you. If the whole DB array went (controller failure) you'd still be able to replay the logs into the DB from the good array; if the log array went you'd shut Exchange down and do a cold backup. The backup process commits all the transactions into the DB and then deletes the .LOG files - I'd be VERY uncomfortable not having the logs on tape and relying on Exchange to commit everything before deleting it. Each to their own

Must have mis-read that. I think I was attempting to argue the same point - I read from your post that you should enable circular logging.

As circular logging is DISABLED by default on all recent versions of Exchange (for the past 5 years) I'd forgotten about 5.5 and jumped to completely the wrong conclusion.

All my Exchange servers have 2 or move different RAID arrays for each storage group (mirrored logs, and a mix for the DB's depending on requirements).

[loaf]

_DeeJay_ said:

loaf said: _DeeJay_ said: All good advice - apart from Circular logging. Turn it off? You must be joking!! What happens when the database disk falls over 10 minutes before the backup was due to run? I'd just restore the DB from backup and play back the transactions. What would do? edited to add: oh, and you need to rehome the public folders too (and don't forget the system folders). >> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Monday 11th April 12:34 Forgot the re-home bit, good point. Circular logging=BAD unless you have no disk space whatsoever - the DB should be on a RAID array and the log files should be on a separate RAID array so that if a disk goes bent the only person who'll notice is you. If the whole DB array went (controller failure) you'd still be able to replay the logs into the DB from the good array; if the log array went you'd shut Exchange down and do a cold backup. The backup process commits all the transactions into the DB and then deletes the .LOG files - I'd be VERY uncomfortable not having the logs on tape and relying on Exchange to commit everything before deleting it. Each to their own Must have mis-read that. I think I was attempting to argue the same point - I read from your post that you should enable circular logging. As circular logging is DISABLED by default on all recent versions of Exchange (for the past 5 years) I'd forgotten about 5.5 and jumped to completely the wrong conclusion. All my Exchange servers have 2 or move different RAID arrays for each storage group (mirrored logs, and a mix for the DB's depending on requirements).

Ah - I haven't installed 2k or 2k3 (it really IS a long time since I was a mail admin ) so don't knwo any better - is seems M$ actually listened to us at the MEC a few years ago then and defaulted it to off. I guess it stemmed from when disk was expensive and, to quote Bill Gates, 640k was enough for anybody *

*he did actually say this but it was in 1981...

[_DeeJay_]

Yep, and there was a long internal debate about whether to enable circular logging for the jet engine in Windows 2000 AD when it was first released.

So now Exchange is off and AD is on.