Exchange 2007 upgrade questions

[drublic1019]

I am planning on upgrading from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, this weekend, and I have a few questions, I was hoping some of you who have already done this can fill me in on.

1. I understand correctly Exchange 2007 will automatically setup OWA, Active Sync, and Outlook Anywhere (formally RPC over https). My question pertains more to Outlook anywhere. Also, I understand that after the upgrade, when an individual logins into Outlook it will automatically reconfigure it for the new Exchange 2007 server. Does this work for individuals who are using RPC as well?

2. I am using Microsoft ISA 2006 for OWA, RPC, and Active Sync. I have purchased a cert from Go Daddy so these can be done over HTTPS without receiving any certificate errors. Do I need to install this cert on the new Exchange server? And when should I change the path of RPC to the new server?

3. Other than what I meantioned above, is there anything that needs to be done by the client? We have 77 mailboxes and over 30 of our users are not based in the office, so it would be a big deal if I had to call each one of them to make changes to outlook and their smart phones.

4. How long did this upgrade take you? How much downtime was involved?

I have run the exchange best practices analyzer and installed all prereq's on the new exchange server.

Any feed back would great. Thanks to all who respond.

 

[58sniper]

1. Outlook Anywhere is not enabled by default. Yes, it will automatically update the configuration, ASSUMING that the Exchange 2003 box is still up and running. You need to leave the 2003 box running until all clients have logged in once. Yes, it also includes OA clients.

2. Yes, but research how certificates work in 2007. Exchange uses Web Services for a lot of things you'll need to touch. Reroute when you move the mailboxes.

3. Shouldn't be.

4. It's not an upgrade, it's a migration (you're not upgrading a server, you're migrating to a new one). Properly done, zero downtime. Timeframe depends on speed of servers, connectivity, amount of mail to move, etc.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Contributing author Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: The Complete Reference

 

[DaphneVink]

Hi,

Maybe it is a good suggestion to install and configure Exhchange 2007 on your new server this weekend, and migrate one or two users to test if all functionality works the way you want it.

If all tests are succesfull, plan the migration of all the other users. This will probably have less unhappy users on monday.

Daphne

 

[Zelandakh]

I agree - install new box and move a test user and test a smartphone. If it all works, move the other users.

 

[drublic1019]

Thanks for the responses.

One other thing I just thought of. What about things like WSS 2.0 and SQL? I am assuming I am going to have to go and change the exchange server name in those manually, so they can still send out alerts. I am right in this?

Once again thanks for your help. I am pretty new to exchange and AD, but I have a pretty good working knownledge thanks to the help I have received from these boards.