Hi all, Currently we have 2007 Exchange SP1 installation with 3 roles in one box MB/Hub/CAS. We need to expand the setup to be 2 Mailbox servers (In CCR cluster mode) - 2 Hub/CAS servers Load balanced using HW load balancer- 1 Edge server in the DMZ. all on Windows server 2008. i want to get your advices about the below methodology: 1 - We will install the 2 nodes of the CCR, Then Create a testing DB and move some mailboxes (we will Place the MNS share on one of the new HUB servres) 2- We will install the 2 hub servers and configure the load balancer with ports 25,443,995,587,110. for both Hub/CAS roles 3- We will add the CAS role to the last 2 servers and configure the publishing part on the firewall (we will be using public SAN certificate) 4- Finally we will configure the Edge server. 5- Allow the public folder data to replicate to the new MB and uninstall the old server Knowing that we have only one AD site Check my below concerns A- will the above steps will not cause any service interruption. or we may need down time to switch between the old CAS and the new ones. B- What are the alternate names i should include in the certificate request file in addition to my Webmail address ? C- can i do the load balancing using NLB feature ? Thanks all for your support Nahtawy

Hi Nathway, A. Usually when doing a move in exchange server best practice suggests the cas server role first be installed before the other roles . I would like to suggest you run steps 3 and 2 first, followed by 1 and then before you move on to publish anything, carry out myriads of tests for all your services in order to ensure you are back up in a good working condition (at least local mail flow and owa services should work fine). B.the fqdns' (each node in the nlb) for the hub/cas server nodes should be included, the fqdn for the autodiscover site should also be included. C. yes u can u can follow this post for guidiance http://exchangeserverinfo.com/2008/03/20/network-load-balance-for-hub--cas--exchange-2007.aspx Hope this helps!

Thanks Muppielee, One question here, How can i manage to have 2 CAS provider in the same AD site(i mean my current server and the new load balanced CAS)

hi, the link below is a technet article about q&a that address such moves though it talks about 2010 i believe it would be relevant to 2007 also http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff626260.aspx Hope this helps!