Exchange Server 2010 : Upgrading from and Coexisting with Exchange Server 2003 (part 13) - Removing Legacy Exchange Servers

12/26/2010 8:55:01 AM

8. Removing Legacy Exchange Servers

The ultimate milestone in your upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 is the decommissioning of your last legacy Exchange servers. Before you reformat the hard drives on the final legacy server, however, you have numerous items to confirm:

To uninstall the last Exchange Server 2003 computer you require Exchange Full Administrator permissions in Exchange Server 2003, as well as the Organization Management role in Exchange Server 2010.
Confirm that all legacy Exchange features are decommissioned or replaced.
Confirm that all mailboxes and public folders are migrated to Exchange Server 2010.
Move the public folder hierarchy to the Exchange Server 2010 administrative group from the legacy Exchange Server 2003 administrative group by following these steps:
1. Open the Exchange System Manager console for Exchange Server 2003.
2. Within Exchange System Manager, expand Administrative Groups, right-click Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT), select New, and then select Public Folders Container.
3. Expand the legacy Exchange administrative group that contains the public-folder tree, expand Folders, and then drag Public Folders to Folders under the Exchange 2007 administrative group.
Ensure that all offline address books have been moved to Exchange Server 2010.
Verify that Send and Receive connectors have been created and configured on Exchange Server 2010, and inbound and outbound Internet SMTP traffic has been moved to Exchange Server 2010. Also verify your DNS MX records have been modified to resolve to Exchange Server 2010 Edge Transport or Hub Transport servers, and verify in Exchange Server 2010 that no Exchange Server 2003 computers are listed as smart hosts for any Send connectors.
Check internal and external DNS records to verify that the following protocol services are resolving to Exchange Server 2010 Client Access servers. Confirm as well that all clients are using Exchange Server 2010 for these services and protocols.
- ActiveSync
- Outlook Web App
- Outlook Anywhere
- POP3
- IMAP4
- Autodiscover service
- Other Exchange Web services
Remove public folder stores from Exchange Server 2003 by using the Exchange System Manager. The Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Exchange System Manager console blocks removing a public folder store until all replicas are removed, but best practice dictates confirming all public folders have been moved before removing the public folder store.
Delete any routing group connectors connecting Exchange Server 2010 to the Exchange Server 2003 routing groups using either the legacy Exchange System Manager console or the Remove-RoutingGroupConnector cmdlet in the EMS.
Remove any legacy Exchange recipient policies that don't contain E-mail Address policies using the legacy Exchange System Manager console. If any of the legacy Exchange recipient policies should contain both Mailbox Manager and E-mail Address policies, remove the mailbox manager policies as follows. (Don't delete any policies that have e-mail address definitions that are still in use because Exchange Server 2010 will use these policies when new mailboxes are created.)
1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Recipients and then select Recipient Policies.
2. Right-click the policy and select Change Property Pages.
3. Clear the Mailbox Manager Settings check box, and then click OK.
Delete the Recipient Update Services domain instance for each domain using the Exchange System Manager console.
Uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from the last server.
Delete the Recipient Update Services (Enterprise Configuration) instance. Because you do this after the last Exchange Server 2003 computer is removed, the Exchange System Manager console can't be used; you must use ADSI Edit (AdsiEdit.msc). Delete the RUS instance by following these steps:
1. Open ADSI Edit, expand Configuration, expand CN=Configuration, DC=<domain>, DC=<top_level_domain>, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN=<Exchange organization name>, expand CN=Address Lists Container, and then select CN=Recipient Update Services.
2. In the Results pane, right-click Recipient Update Service (Enterprise Configuration), click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Note:

Important As a final note on decommissioning Exchange Server 2003 in your environment, it is important to point out that Exchange Server 2003 administrative groups that contained mailboxes at any time should not be deleted. This is because the LegacyExchangeDN attribute on mailboxes moved to Exchange Server 2010 from Exchange Server 2003 continues to reference the legacy administrative group. This attribute is used by Outlook 2003 and earlier to retrieve free/busy information, and is used by all versions of Outlook for delegate access. Outlook will be unable to find the delegated user if the Exchange Server 2003 administrative group is deleted.