Hi All We have one existing Exchnage2003SP2 server in a Server2003/Active Directory environment. I'd like to create a backup server with as few steps as possible. I checked the knowledgebase but can't find anything that addresses this directly. Question: What are the steps for making a copy of a complete Exchange environment from one physical server to a brand new server box without first installing Exchange on the new box? A kind of modified "ghosting" procedure. I'm looking for an option that doesn't involve first a full Exchange installation on the new box, backing up the original box and then restoring to the new box. (By the way, we do have a licenses for both.) Forgive the simple question from a rookie Exchange administrator, Thank you in advance.

Have you considered moving to Exchange 2007 and implementing Standby Continuous Replication? It's a Microsoft solution so it's tested, supported, understood by the community, etc. Just a thought.

Thanks for the response, Neil. My research did show the upgrade/SCR as an option but powers-that-be thought, because this is a disaster recovery application over a slow WAN link, the 3rd party solution was for them. Any suggestions on the ghosting?

It's not something I do for my customers to be honest, but you can always check out 3rd party replication products such as Neverfail for Exchange, etc. These effectively get you a cloned copy of the Exchange server at the other end of the WAN link.

I've used Symantec's Backup Exec System Recovery Server with the Exchange option. I'll clone the whole machine and move it to a virtual machine or dissimilar hardware. There should be a trial you can download. Rob