Exchange 2003 Upgrade / Windows 2003 Upgrade Dilema

Our current Active Directory domain consists of 3 Windows 2003 domain controllers.  The FFL and DFL are Windows 2003. In the domain, we have a member server running Exchange 2003 Server for messaging and another Windows 2008 member server running MOSS 2007.

We have been given a budget for an IT refresh and would like to upgrade to the latest versions of these products where possible.  I have read various blogs that advise that an Exchange 2003 messaging environment is not supported in a Windows 2012 domain.  My dilema is where to start  I want to upgrade Active Directory to 2012 and also Exchange to Exchange Server 2013.  Is there a recommended approach to this without breaking the system?

Thanks

March 30th, 2015 9:26am

Exchange is going to be a 2 step process. You first need to upgrade your entire Exchange Environment to Exchange 2010 SP3 and completely decommission your Exchange 2003 environment (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff805040%28v=exchg.141%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396)

Once that's done, I would probably tackle the AD upgrade from 2003 to 2012R2.  (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/22749.migrating-a-2003-domain-controller-with-dhcp-to-2012r2.aspx) If you have more detailed questions, you should ask them in the AD Forums (https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=winserverDS)

Then finally you can upgrade from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj898583(v=exchg.150).aspx)

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March 30th, 2015 10:52am

Are your servers x64 capable?

Most likely, you will need new servers anyway but Windows 2008 R2 (and above) as well as Exchange 2010 (and above) are all 64 bit.

Unless this has recently changed, Exchange 2010 SP3 can be installed on Windows 2012 Server but is not (yet?) supported on Windows 2012 R2. 

March 30th, 2015 1:00pm

Stand corrected... you need Exchange 2010 SP3 RU5, but with that you can use 2012R2 Domain Controllers. I would hope you use a later RU though since MSFT only supports the latest 2 RU's :)

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff728623%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396


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March 30th, 2015 1:10pm

With RU5 and above you can install on 2012 R2? I'm talking about the OS on which you install Exchange rather than the compatibility with regard to the domain controllers.

In the matrix (OS section), the cell is still blank for 2012 R2 as a host for 2010 (regardless of SP or RU).

March 30th, 2015 3:12pm

Nope.. I'm totally just talking about Domain Controllers.  I'm assuming you're going to check to see what OS Exchange itself supports before installing it.
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March 30th, 2015 3:15pm

Hi,

We can do the following to upgrade from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013:

1. Install Exchange 2010 SP3 in the Existing Exchange 2003 Organization.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638130%28v=exchg.141%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
2. Move the Exchange resources, such as mailboxes, public folders, and connectors to Exchange 2010.
3. Remove Exchange 2003 from the Exchange 2010 organization.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg576862%28v=exchg.141%29.aspx
4. upgrade the DC to Windows server 2012.
5. Upgrade from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj898583%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

Regards,

March 31st, 2015 8:20am

Apologies for not replying sooner and thank you to everyone for guidance. I was not sure wether to start with the exchange upgrade or the domain upgrade first but your replies have pointed me in the right direction. I hope to kick off testing in a sandbox environment within the next month to get a feel for how this plays out.

Thanks again for all the replies.

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May 4th, 2015 9:45am

I would do Exchange first.  Once you have an Exchange environment that fully supports the Domain Controllers you want to introduce you can then do the Domain Controller work.
May 4th, 2015 11:36am

Thanks.  I have been presented with another problem.  Apparently, I still need to retain our X.400 connectors.   I have opened a new thread for this.

Thanks

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May 25th, 2015 3:34pm

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