Hello, I recently became the administrator for a 2003 domain with one exchange 2003 server. I would like to upgrade the domain to 2008 functionality and also upgrade the mail server to 2007. I have read that an exchange 2003 server can run in a 2008 native domain, so I was wondering which i should do first. There are about 6 domain controllers all running server 2003. Two are local and the rest are in remote offices. Should I 1. Install server 2008 on new hardware, install exchange 2007, and then transition to the new exchange server first. Then upgrade all the domain controllers to server 2008 and raise the domain functionality. or 2. Upgrade the domain controllers to server 2008 first and raise domain functionality, then transition the exchange 2003 server to exchange 2007 on a 2008 server OS. I really appreciate the help. This is first for me so i'm a bit nervous. Thank you.

Hi Shamrock0, My suggestion (and I think all the guides/books ive seen go this route too), would be to upgrade Exchange first, and then when you are happy Exchange 2007 is running ok and have decommisioned your Exchange 2003 server, upgrade your domain controllers. You may find this guide over on msexchange.org helpful. If you do want to upgrade your Domain Controllers first, aslong as your Exchange 2003 servers are at SP2 you should be ok according to this chart.

You can't actually cant raise the domain or forest levels past 2003 with Exchange 2003. So if you want to take advantage of the 2008 features, you need to have all your 2003 Exchange servers removed.Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:EMA 2K7,EDA Win 7,ES,SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

Mark, take a look at the technet chart I linked to, Exchange 2003 SP2 will happily run in 2008 and 2008 R2 forest level environments, you just cant install it on new versions of windows thats all.

Thank you for the replies! I will plan to upgrade the Exchange server first. Do you see any reason not to go with server 2008 x64 for the OS?

You wont be able to upgrade the OS once Exchange is installed. I would put the latest OS that is supported by that version of Exchange. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:EMA 2K7,EDA Win 7,ES,SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

None at all, both 2008 and 2003 x64 are valid choices, we use 2003 here but thats mainly to do with ease of administration as all our servers are 2003 based and by the time we move them to 2008 (or newer), we will also likely be ready to upgrade the whole exchange infrastructure too. Pick whichever makes the most sense for you, it sounds like you are renewing large sections of your infrastructure so moving to 2008 for exchange would be logical, the only thing you may want to consider is whether its worth waiting a few more months for the next 2007 SP which I believe will add 2008 R2 support but it is entirely your choice :)