i am already running Exchange Server 2003 and but machine s hardware is queit old and it can crash anytime so i want to create one more backup of Exchange Server so that if my old server goes down other one gets up and emails and users continue their work without any problem please reply what can i do to accomplish that for best practices.

Bring up another 2003 server and move all the mailboxes and public folders to it ASAP. Or migrate to 2010.

Hi, Run the Exchange setup on the new machine and when you get to the point where it asks do you want to join an existing domain or create a new one, just choose the join option and join to the exchange currently running domain. Once it is complete you will see under Exchange System Manager the two servers. You can then freely move mailboxes between servers and setup Public Folder Replication.Regards from www.windowsadmin.info

Hi Either do like Andy and Philip wrote with migrating to a new installed Exchange 2003 server and move mailboxes etc. Or else if you have a virtualization environment in place, it could be helpful to migrate the machine to a VM and then you can migrate from the VM to whatever you want and you have the time you need to do it in the right way Jonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

hi i will install exchange and willl join but what about my active directory as it is currently on same machine on which i have exchange.

Bring up another DC and move the FSMO roles as well if you are concerned about the server. I dont recommened DCs and Exchange on the same server, but for now, do whatever is needed to keep things going.

Hi, The best failover solution for exchange 2003 is deploying exchange in a clusting system. More information, please refer the followling links: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123612(EXCHG.65).aspx http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Implementing-Two-Node-Cluster-Windows-2003-Enterprise.htmlPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Thanks