Migrating to Exchange Server 2007 : Migrating from Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007 (part 2)

Testing the Migration Process

Part of any migration best practice is to perform the migration in a test lab prior to performing the migration in a real production environment. The test lab allows the person performing the migration to test and validate assumptions. Effectively, if it works in the lab, you have a higher level of confidence that it will work in the production environment. At a minimum, after walking through the migration process, you will understand the steps necessary to perform the migration, become familiar with the steps, work through problems if they arise, and correct problems so that if or when they happen in the production migration you will already be prepared for the necessary action. In addition, testing the migration process provides you with a timeline to know how long it will likely take to migrate the databases into the Exchange 2007 environment.

This section addresses getting a copy of an Active Directory global catalog (GC) server and seizing the roles to make this GC replica the master global catalog for the lab environment. This section also addresses getting a copy of the current Exchange 2000 or 2003 server data into the lab.

Key to the test lab process is to validate the operation of your third-party add-ons, utilities, backup software, and so on to confirm that all of the components in your current Exchange environment will successfully migrate to Exchange 2007. Take this chance to confirm whether you need to download any patches or hotfixes from the third-party product vendors, and whether you can simply reinstall the third-party products on an Exchange 2007 server, or whether you need to keep a legacy Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 server in your environment to maintain backward compatibility for a while.

When the lab is ready, you can run through the processes outlined in the following step-by-step sections to confirm that the processes outlined work as planned in your migration environment. Again, make note of all problems you run in to and document the workarounds you come up with in the lab so that when you get into the production migration, you will have step-by-step notes on how to work through problems that come up. And also keep track of how long it takes processes to complete so you are prepared for how long the production migration process will take to complete.

Backing Up Your Production Environment

When you are ready to perform the migration in your production environment, you need to have a complete backup of the critical components that you will be working on just in case you need to roll back your environment. The expectation is that if your test lab replicated as much of your production environment as possible, then there should be no surprises in your production migration. However, as a best practice, make a backup of your Active Directory global catalog server, all of your Exchange servers, and all of the servers that interoperate with Exchange, such as gateway systems or replicated directory servers.

It is also a best practice to turn off any replication to other environments during the migration process, such as Microsoft Identity and Integration Server (MIIS), Identity and Integration Feature Pack (IIFP), Services for UNIX or Services for NetWare synchronization, or other directory synchronization tools.

Preparing the Exchange Server 2007 Server with Windows

Each Exchange 2007 server in the new environment needs to have Windows Server 2003 SP1 or higher installed on the system. There are components in the R2 edition of Windows Server 2003 that are used in Exchange 2007, such as the .NET Framework 2.0 component; however, it is not necessary to actually install the R2 updates to the Windows installation. You can add the appropriate R2 update components or even download the necessary components at the time of installation. The Exchange 2007 should have a basic installation of Windows 2003 SP1 or higher on a 64-bit server system that has been joined to the expected Active Directory domain.

Preparing Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 Permissions

Whether you are performing this migration in a lab environment or in production, after performing a backup of your production environment, the first step in the migration process is to prepare the permissions in Exchange 2000 or 2003. This readies Active Directory and Exchange 2000 or 2003 to integrate Exchange 2007 in the existing Exchange environment. This is necessary because during the migration process, or potentially in a long-term coexistence between Exchange 2000 or 2003 with Exchange 2007, the old and new environments need to support each other.

The process for preparing Exchange 2000 or 2003 permissions is as follows:

Setup/PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions

This setup command does the following:

• Copies setup files

• Performs Microsoft Exchange Server prerequisite check

• Updates legacy permissions

This process takes a couple of minutes and prepares the necessary basic environment permissions.

Extending the Active Directory Schema

The next step is to extend the Active Directory schema. This is performed as follows:

Setup/PrepareAD

This setup command does the following:

• Copies setup files

• Performs organizational checks

• Conducts the organizational preparation

This process can take several minutes depending on the size of the organization’s existing Active Directory as the changes modify the Active Directory database.