Remove Domain Controler functionality from server also running Exchange Server 2003
Our network has 3 AD domain controllers. One DC runs Server 2008, one DC runs Server 2003. Both of those servers also have the Global Catalogue on them. Another server is a DC without aGlobal Catalogueand also runs Exchange 2003 Standard SP2. I want to remove the DC functionality from that server and just run Exchange on it as a member server. That will then leave me with 2 DCs on the netowork. The reason I want to do this is because I'm having problems running McAfee GroupShield on the DC. I've read conflicting literature on this. I've read that if you install Exchange on a server that is a DC, that server can never be demoted so that it is not a DC. Basicallyit said that Exchange is tied to that DC. I've read other literature that says by default,Exchange detects the AD topology at startup and will locate the DC, Global Catalogue and config server it needs. Can anyone help me with this? Can I just run dcpromo and demote that DC, make the server a member server and have Exchange come back up and work on it? Any existing posts here or any other documentation on the Internet would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Vince
November 14th, 2008 12:17am

Hi, It is an unsupported scenario if we demote from a domain controller to a member server. Several unexpected issues like that the Exchange Metabase Update service no longer replicates information from the Microsoft Active Directory directory service to the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase will occur. We recommend you to install Exchange Server on a member server and then uninstall Exchange Server from DC. 1. Install Exchange Server on a different computer. 2. Use Move Mailbox in the Exchange Task Wizard to move any existing mailboxes from the domain controller to the new Exchange server. 3. Rehome any public folders and roles held by the old Exchange Server computer to the new Exchange Server computer. 4. Uninstall Exchange Server from the domain controller. For more information about Domain controller, config Domain Controller, you can refer to the below article: Exchange Server 2003 Active Directory Integration http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996247(EXCHG.65).aspx Hope it helps. Xiu
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November 17th, 2008 7:04am

Thank you for your answer. I have a few questions regarding the steps you outlined. Do the steps apply even though I am only using Exchange Standard and not Exchange Enterprise? When I install Exchange on a different server, will I have to use the /disasterrecovery switch with the Exchange setup.exe? Will the new server have to be placed into the same Administrative Group as the existing server or does it have to be ina different Administrative Group? The existing exchange server is running SP2. Will I need to use the /disasterrecovery switch when I install SP2 on the new server? All of my users use MS Outlook for their email client. After I do the move mailbox, will all of the clients automatically go to the new server for the user's e-mail or will all of the clients have to be manually reconfigured to look at the new server? Once I have all of the mail boxes moved to the new server and I uninstall Exchange from the old server, is it then safe to demote the old server to a member server? Thanks in advance, Vince
November 17th, 2008 4:19pm

Hi, Those steps can be performed all both standard version and enterprise version. Besides Id like to share the more detail steps for the whole process to you and answer your questions. 1. Please install Exchange Server to the existing Administrative Group. It should be the newly installation on the machine, so just let it install from Setup CD. 2. Please apply Exchange Server Service Pack 2. 3. Please move all the mailbox to the new Exchange Server. For how to move mailbox, you can refer to the steps in the below article: Moving mailboxes in Exchange Server 2003 4. After that, please ensure that all the users can logon outlook. Note: When user logon outlook, it will try to find mailbox from the old Exchange Server. If it cannot find the mailbox there, it will query AD to find other mailbox server. So outlook will automatically connect to the new Exchange Server. Once all the users have logon outlook for their first time after you move mailbox to the newly installed Exchange Server, you can remove the old Exchange Server. So please let the old server alive for certain time and then plan to remove it. 5. Finally, we can remove the Exchange Server. You can follow the steps in How to remove the first Exchange Server 2003 computer from the administrative group to remove the old Exchange Server. 6. All the Exchange related information should be replicated to all the other Domain Controllers.Exchange use one config domain controller to read these configuration data. If the config domain controller becomes unavailable to Exchange Server2003 for any reason, DSAccess selects another working domain controller as its config domain controller. Every eight hours, DSAccess re-evaluates the config domain controller role by running a set of suitability tests. You can change Configuration Domain Controller via Configuration Domain Controller dialog box. Organization Configuration > Configuration Domain Controller http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998227.aspx More information on Directory Integration and Exchange Server 2003 Directory Integration and Exchange Server 2003 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124641(EXCHG.65).aspx Regards, Xiu
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November 18th, 2008 9:56am

Thanks very much for your help. We're going to give it a try. Vince
November 18th, 2008 4:34pm

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