I am looking to install a secondary/Temp Exchange 2010 server into a single Exchange server environment. The reason behind this is so i can rebuild the original server due to hardware issues. Yes this is the only option other than blowing away the original server and restoring it after an OS rebuild. I was going to build it and bring it into the environment, migrate the data across rebuild the original server and re migrate everything back. Has anyone attempted this? If so can you let me know if you ran into any problems or have any recommendations? Do i just install Exchange with all the same options as the original. then do the same later on the original server? Any help/suggestions/process documents would be very helpful

Do you have an RPC CAS Array in place? If not then it isn't going to work as you expect unless you can have a period with no users connected at all. You are doing a swing migration, which is a supported method of migrating between machines. The machine will have to be built on the domain. The major issue is the change in behaviour on mailbox moves. As the clients now connect to the CAS role, not the mailbox role, when you move the mailbox the client does NOT follow. It will continue to connect to the old server. If you have an RPC CAS Array configured, then you can just update the DNS entry to point to the new server. If you don't, then your only option is to remove the old server completely, then hope that autodiscover works in the way that it should do and sends the user to the correct place. However it is impossible to test that in advance, as it is dependant on the original server no longer existing. I would ensure that you have the RPC CAS Array in place though, so that the clients are directed to that host name and this problem is avoided in the future. Another option would be to create the RPC CAS Array, then visit every client and update their Outlook profile (literally "repair" the profile) so that they are using the RPC CAS Array address, before you do anything with the old server. Then you can just move the DNS entry around as required. It is client access that will be your problem, moving the data about is a piece of cake. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources | In the UK? Hire Me.

Do you have an RPC CAS Array in place? If not then it isn't going to work as you expect unless you can have a period with no users connected at all. You are doing a swing migration, which is a supported method of migrating between machines. The machine will have to be built on the domain. The major issue is the change in behaviour on mailbox moves. As the clients now connect to the CAS role, not the mailbox role, when you move the mailbox the client does NOT follow. It will continue to connect to the old server. If you have an RPC CAS Array configured, then you can just update the DNS entry to point to the new server. If you don't, then your only option is to remove the old server completely, then hope that autodiscover works in the way that it should do and sends the user to the correct place. However it is impossible to test that in advance, as it is dependant on the original server no longer existing. I would ensure that you have the RPC CAS Array in place though, so that the clients are directed to that host name and this problem is avoided in the future. Another option would be to create the RPC CAS Array, then visit every client and update their Outlook profile (literally "repair" the profile) so that they are using the RPC CAS Array address, before you do anything with the old server. Then you can just move the DNS entry around as required. It is client access that will be your problem, moving the data about is a piece of cake. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources | In the UK? Hire Me.

Hi If you install all roles on one server, you can install other server in the same domain and move mailbox to it. Terence Yu TechNet Community Support