Exchange 2003 using Windows Server 2008 Active directory
I am looking to install a 2008 domain controller running Active Directory. I have a current Windows 2003 server running Exchange 2003. Are these compatible, will the exchange 2003 server integrate with the 2008 active directory? Cheers, Steve
May 27th, 2008 9:08am

Yes, it will. Before you can install the first Windows Server 2008 server you need to update the schema using adprep.exe. Schema extensions (like the onethat has beeninstalled when the Exchange Server got introduced in your currentenvironment)that were performed before you upgrade the schema will be preserved.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
May 27th, 2008 12:05pm

Yes you can Install Win 2008 domain controllerExisting Win 2003 and Exchange 2003. This Canbe achieved in 2 ways 1) In place upgrade 2) Transition To doan inplace upgrade please read the following below. Prepare your Active Directory environment Before you can begin to introduce the first Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller into your existing Active Directory environment, you first have to prepare the Active Directory. Microsoft provides a tool called adprep.exe to facilitate this preparation. You need to run the following commands on the following servers in your Active Directory environment: On you Windows Server 2003 DC, insert the Windows Server 2008 DVD, and then open command prompt and run the following commands, make sure first to browse to the adprep directory inside the Windows 2008 DVD , in my case case, the F drive is the DVD Drive letter, so to browse to the adprep directory I would write the following inside cmd: cd f:\sources\adprerp adprep/ forestprep adprep/ domainprep Command Domain Controller adprep.exe /forestprep Schema Master adprep.exe /domainprep Infrastructure Master adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep Infrastructure Master adprep.exe /rodcprep * Domain Naming Master * Optional when you want to deploy Read Only Domain Controllers. After preparing your Active Directory for Windows Server 2008 be sure to check the process.Please do checkthe failures may be found in the event viewer, but real men will check the adprep.log files. Allow sufficient time for proper replication to all Domain Controllers. When you're done preparing your Active Directory you can safely go ahead installing the first Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller by promoting a Windows Server 2008 box to a Domain Controller using dcpromo.exe.. After instalation and verification of services, demote 2003 AD. One can also upgrade the domain functional level to 2008 much similar to 2003 for added advantages like Distributed File System Replication (DFS-R) support for SYSVOL, which provides more robust and detailed replication of SYSVOL contents with minimal replication traffic compared to FRS. Advanced Encryption Services (AES 128 and 256) support for the Kerberos protocol. Last Interactive Logon Information, which displays the time of the last successful interactive logon for a user, from what workstation, and the number of failed logon attempts since the last logon. Fine-grained password policies, which make it possible for password and account lockout policies to be specified for users and global security groups in a domain, instead of per domain only. http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/8519f859-7159-4dae-ba4c-8ed791c01be01033.mspx?mfr=true I will advice you to do the transition instead of an inplace upgrade because transition is the most secure way to do the things in a smooth manner.. Please do let me know if I can help you out in Transition as well. Thanks Syed
May 28th, 2008 3:53pm

Syed Khairuddin wrote: Yes you can Install Win 2008 domain controllerExisting Win 2003 and Exchange 2003. This Canbe achieved in 2 ways 1) In place upgrade 2) Transition I'm sorry to have to inform you this is not true.In-place upgradingWindows Server 2003 / Exchange Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 / Exchange Server 2007 is not supported. Read here why. When you perform an in-place upgrade you will encounter problems as described here.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
May 29th, 2008 10:09am

Thanks for the information sander. I joined this forum to learn and make people learn, so I have a great day I learnt something Thanks
May 29th, 2008 10:32am

hidid you manage to get exchange 2003 runningin awin 2008 active directory?i m planning to implement the same setupthanksclt
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 10th, 2009 11:39pm

Hi Please follow the steps given below. You need to add a windows 2008 DC as an additional DC and change all the FSMO roles to the windows 2008 DC. Change Recipient Update Services DC to the new Windows 2008 DC in Exchange System Manager. Make all the DNS changes in the new DC and change the DNS server Ip address in the exchange 2003 to the new windows 2008 DC's IP address. Now you can get rid of the windows 2003 DC and Restart the system attendant service once, so that the new DC will be automatically detected as a configuration DC, DC and GC in the dsaccess tab in the server properties. Now your new windows 2008 DC will contact the exchange 2003. Yes you can do it... Thanks Vinod
December 31st, 2009 7:45am

I want to start fresh Windows 2008 64BIT with Exchange 2003. can I ?
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
January 13th, 2010 11:37pm

We can have windows 2008 as a DC(domain controller) in the exchange 2003 environment, but we cannot install exchange 2003 in windows 2008 64 bit OS.Please refer to the Exchange Server Supportability Matrixhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee338574(EXCHG.80).aspx...Refer this article, you will have a clear idea about the environment you can install exchange 2003 server...Thanks Vinod
January 19th, 2010 12:39am

Hi, I have same setup . windows 2003 sp2 std edition and exchange 2003 sp2.I am planning to upgrade 2003 to 2008 64bit and exchange 2003 to exchange 2010. Do you tried migrating windows 2003 to windows 2008 in exchange 2003 environment
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 9th, 2010 9:01pm

Hi All, Sorry i am a little late joining this discussion, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how they got on adding Win2k8 DC's into an enviornment with Exchange 2003 SP2. I am going to be implementing this withing the next week or so and came accross this thread from Microsoft: 'Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Exchange 2007, and Exchange 2007 SP1 (when released) are supported in enviornments that either partly or entirely use writeable Windows Server 2008 directory servers' So as you can see Microsoft do support it, however I just wanted to check first hand if anyone has encountered any problems?
October 4th, 2010 6:10pm

Hi PinnacleAkhil (Hi, I have same setup . windows 2003 sp2 std edition and exchange 2003 sp2.I am planning to upgrade 2003 to 2008 64bit and exchange 2003 to exchange 2010. Do you tried migrating windows 2003 to windows 2008 in exchange 2003 environment) Did you successfully installed the above? If you did please guide me. I am going to do the same work on next week. Thanks PkSarangi
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 2nd, 2011 1:38pm

Hi PinnacleAkhil (Hi, I have same setup . windows 2003 sp2 std edition and exchange 2003 sp2.I am planning to upgrade 2003 to 2008 64bit and exchange 2003 to exchange 2010. Do you tried migrating windows 2003 to windows 2008 in exchange 2003 environment) Did you successfully installed the above? If you did please guide me. I am going to do the same work on next week. Thanks PkSarangi Hello, you can NOT inplace upgrade a Windows server 2003 machine WITH Exchange 2003 installed. BUT you can add a Windows server 2008 or higher DC to the domain where at least Exchange 2003 SP2 is installed.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.
September 2nd, 2011 1:56pm

Thanks for the extra tips. We already had 1 2008 DC and 1 2003 DC running with Exchange 2003. I added one more 2008 DC, transferred roles from the 2003, then demoted the 2003 to become a member server. Then raises functional level to server 2008. Mail stopped working since I did not change the DNS entry before demoting the previous DC. Problem may also have been with SA the Recipient update service. I've done as you've suggested and all is well. Am stilling running DNS on the demoted DC until we get around and change IP settings on all machine still pointing to it. Question - can I install Exchange 2003 (just the admin tools) on the 2008 DC's? Without the tools, I can create accounts on the DC's but cannot create mailboxes.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
February 4th, 2012 2:05pm

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics