Exchange 2000 and domain controller installs

[psiinc]

I have a scenario in which there are currently 4 servers, A, B, C, and D. Server A is the oldest of all the servers and we are looking to remove it from the mix, it is also the current mail server running Exchange 5.5 and the first server(domain controller) in the forest/tree/domain, the root controller. Server B is a member server running terminal services in application mode and I don't think it really plays in to this at all but just an FYI, server C is a fairly new server running W2K, it is a domain controller and has been made a Global catalog server as well, and finaly server D is a brand new server not yet added to the domain that is running W2K3.

We would like to install Exchange server 2K and I understand that it will not run on the newest server running W2K3, server D so I am assuming server C is the most suitable choice. I don't think we will upgrade/migrate from server A the Exchange 5.5 server. I think we will simply install and just add the accounts as needed, there is no more then 30 accounts or so.

We would also like to add W2k3 as a domain controller.

What is the best order to do this in? We need to remove server A from the mix, what roles need to be transferred if any, how do we go about this? If we install the W2k3 server as a domain controller does it assume all/any of the roles of the first domain controller installed in a forest, server A? Do we simply run DC promo on server D the W2k3 server to add it to the domain and run dcpromo on server A to remove it from the domain, which should be done first? Should I install Exchange 2k before I add server D, the W2k3 server and remove server A the Exchange 5.5 server? Should I uninstall Exchange 5.5 from server A before removing it from the Domain?

Hopefully this made sense to someone and I'd like to say thanks for any help and information volunteered.

Sincerely,
Dave

 

[primate]

Well tbh the first thing I would do would be to install Win2K on the newest server - is there a reason why you can't do this? You can then have your newest hardware bearing the heaviest load which makes the most sense to me.

If server A was setup as a DC first and nothing has been altered since presumably it will have all the FSMO roles so you should transfer these to another DC before doing anything. Check this first.

 

[psiinc]

Thanks primate,

So you are suggesting to format the newest server and install W2K as opposed to running W2K3 on it so I can run exchange 2000 on it? I don't think it would be a problem with just installing it on the existing w2k server, it's less then a year old and has more then enough resources I think. I guess it's the order I should do this in that I'm most concerned about.

With regards to the FSMO roles, so far I have only made the newest of W2k servers, server C a global catalog server, how do I go about transferring the other roles? Would these roles automatically be assumed by the W2k3 server when it's added, being the newest "version" or would any of the servers simply assume the roles upon the removal of the root controller using the dcpromo process?

 

[primate]

For me I would want to keep all my servers as uniform as possible - I get nervous having servers with different hotfixes let alone completely different version of Windows lol! So thats the first reason I'd put Win2K on the Win2K3 server.

The FSMO roles need to be moved before taking server A out of the mix, all sorts of woe will come your way if you don't do this. Here is a useful article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;234790

I would do this well in advance of anything else to make sure that everything has settled down before taking server A out of the mix.

As for migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000, its not something I have done so I'm not going to try to advise on that in case I point you in the wrong direction, but since you aren't worried about the accounts etc. you're probably making life easy for yourself - my advice is to hit the MS knowledgebase for this

As for which server to put Exchange, some people argue that you should put Exchange 2K on a DC thats a GC since this cuts down dramatically on network traffic with the Exchange server querying AD and the GC, however the opposite would be true if the Exchange server was your clients primary login server and was getting hammered. However, my Exchange 2000 server is a DC and GC and thats OK for me, plus your network doesn't sound too massive so its less of an issue.

Primarily though your Exchange server should be just that, an Exchange server and nothing else, its pretty resource intensive, so go for whichever server you can afford to either not utilise in any other way or do the minimum of other work.

 

[psiinc]

Thanks for that link, that helps quite a bit. I did have it in mind that my exchange server other then being a domain controller and acting as a global catalog server would have no other roles. I have read that it is recommended to actually have your exchange server on a member server I believe for security purposes and to reduce the amount of responsibilities it would have.