My company will likely be upgrading our exchange server next year to Exchange 2007 running on Server 2008. This will be our first Server 2008 installation. Since this server will be running Exchange, it will obviously need to have Active Directory installed. I have been unable to find any information that describes what the minimum level is for my Server 2003 Domain Controllers in this type of environment. I am hoping that we will not have to upgrade the domain controllers too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mark, ideally Exchange Server should *not* also be a domain controller. I realize that is not practical in small environments, but if you have dedicated domain controllers, do not put Exchange Server on a domain controller. Put Exchange 2007 on a member server (either Windows 2003 SP1 or Windows 2008). A Windows 2008 server will function just fine in forest that is only running Windows 2003 domain controllers. I recommend that your Active Directory forest be at Windows 2003 forest functional level and your domains be at the Windows 2003 domain mode.Jim McBee - Blog - http://mostlyexchange.blogspot.com

Jim, Thank you for the reply. I'm sorry, I should have been a little more clear as to what my company is looking at doing. It is my intention to put the new Exchange server on Server 2008 (probably R2) and that server would be a member server. Again, this will be our first server of any kind running Server 2008. I am uncertain how the new server will interface with our existing domain controllers and Active Directory structure that is all running Server 2003. Please note that all of our servers are current with all updates from Microsoft. Below is an outline of our current DC and Exchange server. We have 2 virtual DC's running Server 2003. We have 1 Exchange Server 2003 with all of the server roles running on this one server as well as the database and logs. We are about to enter the time of year we do our budgets and our current Exchange server is due for a refresh. My director wants redundancy with our next exchange server and the senior network admin wants ease of back up and maintenance. I am looking really hard at the CCR that is in Exchange 2007 and I am pretty close to having the architecture of how I want it configured set. I am beginning to try to evaluate all of the sub-systems that will need updating as a result of the new Exchange server. First on that list is the DC's and I need to know if the new Exchange server will be compatible with our existing DC's and the active directory or if they will need to be upgraded to Server 2008 as well. If I understood what you said correctly, we will be fine just deploying the new Exchange server on Server 2008 as a member server. Thank you for the advice. Mark Gordon

Hi, I have recently read about Windows 2008 R2 not supporting Exchange 2007. So plz confirm it before going to Win2008 R2. Customers upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2, due later this year, will have to upgrade to Exchange Server 2010, which is also due this year. This news, disclosed in the fourth bullet point in a July 17 Microsoft Exchange blog post, means Microsoft partners have to sell Exchange Server 2007 without the promise of support on future OSes and without Windows Server 2008 R2 interoperability with Exchange Server 2007. Regards, Laeeq Qazi|Snr Software Engineer(Exchange + Sharepoint + BES + DynamicsCRM) www.hostingcontroller.com

Laeeq,I have not seen this in the research that I have done so far. What I have seen is that Exchange 2007 SP1 enables it to run on Server 2008. Granted, I have not specifically looked at Exchange 2007 SP1 running Win2008 R2. I guess I just assumed Microsoft would have tested this configuration and it would work on the new R2. We cannot move to Exchange 2010 as we have over 100 clients still running Office XP.However, I am only in the review process right now. My implementation is at least 6-9 months out. So I have some time to let Microsoft fix some of the issues that always pop up.Mark

Hi, Here are some links which go with my words. May be MS soon release Exchange 2007 SP2 for Win 2008 R2. Exch 2007 SP1 is fully supported with Windows 2008 versions prior to R2. http://searchcio.techtarget.com.au/articles/34363-Exchange-2-7-won-t-be-supported-on-Windows-Server-2-8-R2 http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrdeploy/thread/3fc833a1-ab1f-489d-a48d-9cc630d2ef29 http://blog.frode.org/?p=109 Regards, Laeeq Qazi|Snr Software Engineer(Exchange + Sharepoint + BES + DynamicsCRM) www.hostingcontroller.com

Hi, It is to inform all Exchange Admins that E2k7 Sp2 is also not supported on Windows 2008 R2. Ref: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/21/452567.aspx Regards,Laeeq Qazi|Snr Software Engineer(Exchange + Sharepoint + BES + DynamicsCRM) www.hostingcontroller.com

I just found this article this morning that details a change in the Supportability Matrix. http://msexchangeteam.com/ "With the release of Exchange 2007 SP2 we provided a Supportability Matrix which outlined the supported configurations for Exchange 2000 SP3, Exchange 2003 SP2, and Exchange 2007 (RTM, SP1, and SP2). But as many are aware, with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 there have been a variety of questions raised about our support policies and a multitude of feedback. Two pieces of feedback occurred numerous times - the need to support Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and the need to support Exchange 2003 against Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory servers." This site also states that this will be done through SP3 for Exchange and it is slated for the second half of 2010. Mark

It was really cool that Exchange 2007 SP1 enables it to run on Server 2008. Granted, I have not specifically looked at Exchange 2007 SP1 running Win2008 R2. thank you for your info. Tushar Acharya, Aroma Chemicals