I have 3 nt servers with one of the

[joepc]

I have 3 nt servers with one of them running excahnge 5.5. We just bought a new win 2000 server server to replace the mail server.

At some point I need to attach the new 2000 server to the domain, but I need to use the same computer name as the old nt mail server. Am going to run into a problem with that?

I know I can't have to pc's with same computer name, but what about server manager. Doesn't that keep a list of all the computer accounts with their SID?

Do you think I will run into a conflict with the computer accounts when I try to attach the new server after I shut the old one down? I know I can delete the computer account but I would like to have a way out if the switch over doesn't go so well.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks

 

[anbingham]

Hi Joepc,

SFAIK you cannot have two machines with the same name on an NT domain. I take it you need the name to be the same in order to migrate the exchange databases from your old server.

The only way I know to acheieve this is to set up the enw server on a physically different LAN with a copy of the PDC present then swithc to you main LAN when you migrate over. The two exchange server cannot be on the same physical LAN, or be able to see each other ever!!

The basic steps to what I descibe above are. (This is not an exhaustive description of the work and assumes good knowledge of NT and Exchange)

- Install a new BDC on your Network (This will be thrown away at the end, so can be any old workstation)
- Move this to a seperate LAN (use a small 5 port switch or something), so that it can not talk to anything on your main LAN. You will need to use static IPS from now on

(From now on all work is on this small LAN and new PDC, not on your main network and domain controllers)

- Using Server manager on the BDC, promote the BDC to PDC (you cannot ever attach it to your main LAN after this)
- Delete the entry for your exchange server in server manager
- Now attach the new server to this small LAN, install Win2k, Service packs, then Exchange and Service packs.
- Set up exchange to match the configuration of your old server.

When you are ready to move the exchange data over, shut down the exchange services, carry out a flat file backup of the databases etc, (or file copy them somewhere off the server).
Disconnect the old exchange server, connect the new one and reconfigure the network settings.
copy or restore the exchange files to the new server and you are ready to go.

In practice you need to test the set-up of the new server before going live and the switch over will not be as smooth as it seems above. There is some excellent documentation on Microsoft's site about restoring exchange to a server onb different hardware, which will help fill in the blanks. I don't have the reference here, but you can search for it.

Be warned that the above proces sounds simple but is not!! Be sure you know what you are doing before you start and backup your exchange box several times before moving the data over.

Good luck

 

[bworley]

The following link may help you:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;155216

If the link doesn't work, look up KnowledgeBase article 155216 on Microsoft's website.

What you're wanting to do, and how clean you want the end result to be will depend on how much downtime you can incur. For our company, we just needed more storage so we added another Exchange 5.5 server to our site and transfered some of the recipient containers onto the new server.

You will not be able to add the server to your existing domain having the same name. Basically, the server name is a computer account. Must be unique.

I would also recommend trying this in a test environment. Take a machine that you can load as a bdc on your existing domain. Once it has joined your domain and the SAM database has replicated, disconnect it from your domain, plug it into an isolated hub/switch and promote it to a PDC. Then join your new server to the test environment to simulate what you are planning on doing.

 

[fuego007]

Joe,

I have posted a FAQ on this subject. It should be available tomorrow. Look under 'Replacing an Old server'.

Bob