Upgrading to Exchange Server 2010
As RTM date approaches, people are starting to ask "how can I migrate to Exchange Server 2010 ?"
This post will walk you along the migration path on a high level perspective, not going into 0's and 1's detail, but this will sure help you out.
First let's go ahead and cover the pre-requisites needed for deploying Exchange Server 2010.
On the Active Directory side :
- Global Catalog running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on EACH Exchange AD Site
- Windows Server 2003 Forest Functional Level
- Schema Additions ( Installed with the Setup itself )
- There is no HARD REQUIREMENT for 2008 Active Directory
On the Exchange Server side :
- Mixing Exchange Server versions is supported
- Existing Exchange Servers, 2003 or 2007, MUST have the Service Pack 2
There are other pre-requisites that needs to be installed and you can find them here :
- Servers that will contain the Exchange Server roles must be Windows Server 2008 64-bit Edition ( Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter )
- Windows PowerShell 2.0
- .NET Framework 3.5
- Windows Remote Management 2.0
- Internet Information Services ( IIS )
We will have to install/ activate som server features as explained here :
How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx
Migration Steps :
1 - Upgrading path is from the Internet-facing Sites to the Internal sites.
2 - Install Exchange Server 2010 on the following order :
CAS - Client Access Server Role
HUB - HUB/ Transport Server Role
UM - Unified Messaging Server Role
MBX - Mailbox Server Role
This order should be ignored in case of a single server is deployed to host all the roles.
3 - Move the internet hostnames in order to point the Exchange 2010 CAS Server. This will also move the Autodiscover..
4 - Move the UM phone number for OVA ( Outlook Voice Access ) to point the Exchange 2010 UM Server.
5 - Start moving the Mailboxes.
As it was said before this is a straight forward migration.