Improved security, including all those of IIS v
6.0.
HTTP over RPC means you do not need to configure a
VPN for OWA.
Up to 8 node Active / Passive clustering.
Volume Shadow Copy for backup.
Super upgrade tools like ExDeploy.
pfMigrate utility to move public folders from
legacy systems.
An attempt to control Junk email both on the client
and the server.
♠
Preparation to Upgrade from Microsoft Exchange 2000
Upgrading from Exchange 2000 to Exchange Server 2003 is
not going to be as easy an upgrade as say SQL 2000 - SQL 2003. The
reasons lie in the many different components that need upgrading and the
incompatibilities between IIS and Active Directory of the two versions.
You must plan your Microsoft Active Directory upgrade
strategy. Exchange 2003 is designed to run on Windows Server 2003 not
Windows 2000. However, Exchange 2000 will not run in a Windows Server
2003 machine. Here is how you overcome this 'gotcha':
upgrade those Exchange 2000 servers to Exchange 2003 before you upgrade
Active Directory. This upgrade sequence is required because
Exchange 2000 is not supported on Windows Server 2003 machines.
If you need a workaround, keep
the Exchange 2000 machines on a Windows 2000 member server in a Windows
Server 2003 domain.
First step, make sure that you have applied at
least SP3 to the Exchange 2000 server.
You will need to upgrade the ADC connectors, see
diagram. To do this navigate to the following executable on the CD
setup\adc\i386\setup.exe.
Services you need to remove - because they are not supported in
Exchange 2003
Surprisingly, some services are were supported in
Exchange 2000 will no longer work in Exchange 2003. Most of the
missing components are 'real time' services, which makes sense if Exchange
is going to concentrate on being the top email system, rather than a 'jack
of all trades'. If you have any of
the following services then you will need to remove them before you upgrade
to Exchange 2003.
Instant Messaging Server and Chat
Key Management Server
MMIS Mobile Exchange Event Sink
Lotus cc:mail connector and MS Mail connectors
(No M:\ Drive Mapping)
Guy Recommends: SolarWinds' Free Bulk Mailbox Import Tool
Import users from a spreadsheet, complete with their mailbox. Just provide a list of the
users with the fields in the
top row, and save as .csv file. Then launch this FREE utility, match
your Exchange fields with AD's
attributes, click and import the users. Optionally, you can
provide the name of the OU where the new mailboxes will be born.
There are also two bonus tools in the free download, and all 3 have been approved by Microsoft:
Bulk-import new users and mailboxes into Active Directory.
Assumption: you are upgrading the same organization that you had in
Exchange 2000.
Note: this method only works for Exchange 2000, not Exchange 5.5.
If you are a small organization with Exchange 2000 and one domain, all you need to do is
logon as THE administrator, put in the CD, and Autorun will then launch the Exchange 2003 setup
menu. This is because the Administrator is a member of
not only the Administrators group, but also a Schema Admin and
Enterprise Admin. (You can check this information by examining the
property sheet of Administrator in Active Directory Users and Computers.)
You can only use in-place upgrades for Exchange 2000. The leap from
Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003 is too great, so you must use the move mailbox
method.
In-place upgrades are used by small organizations with only one server,
or by medium size companies where the whole upgrade can be completed quickly
in a weekend. The tactic is simply to install the Exchange 2003 CD in
the Exchange 2000 server and answer the Wizard's prompts.
This wonderful ExDeploy wizard leads you through the nine steps needed for
a successful upgrade from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003. (See Diagram)
Note 1: ExDeploy is new in Exchange 2003 (not available for Exchange
2000). Check out the Exchange 2003 Server CD for ExDeploy
Note 2: Run ExDeploy.hta for the Wizard, or select Deployment
Tools from the startup screen that opens when you run Setup.exe. Do not be
tempted to run ExDeploy.exe.
Here is a
free tool to monitor your Exchange Server. Download and
install the utility, then inspect your mail queues, monitor the Exchange
server's memory, confirm there is enough disk space and check the CPU
utilization.
This is the real deal - there is no catch. SolarWinds provides this
fully-functioning freebie, as part of their commitment to supporting
the network management community.
The fact is that the only time you need to manually tune the Exchange
2003 server is if you have made an in-place upgrade, in which case you have
to remove all the manual tuning settings from Exchange 2000.
If you configured these on the server while it was Exchange 2000, then
you need to launch Regedit and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT then use
'find' to locate and remove these settings:
Here is a
free tool to monitor your Exchange Server.
Download the utility, then inspect your mail queues, monitor Exchange server's
memory, confirm there is enough disk space and check the CPU utilization.
