Moving exchange from one server to another

[SilverJOE]

hi guys,
I am doing a clean installation of exchange on a new server to replace the old domain controller, i was wondering if someone have done this before. what are the steps that i should take to move the users, emails , setting to the new server, I am using the same version of exchange and the same operating system. I was thinking of doing a back up and then moving that to then use that on the new machine. Thank you

 

[jonarden]

You may find thread10-466339 helpful.

 

[SilverJOE]

yeah i read it, but the problem is that i want to keep the other server untouched for about a week in case something went wrong. Also the 2 servers have different names. If wanted to do a recovery do i need to have the same server name on both machines. Also, the 2 servers are domain controller, do i need to create a trust between them, I am not sure how to approach this. Any ideas???
Thanks!!

 

[jonarden]

Regarding your concerns, if you follow the procedures in thread10-466339

1. You can always keep your old (renamed) exchange server intact and bring it back up if needed (and rename it again back to its old name so the move is transparent to users). However, you would first need to reverse the move process, moving the information stores from the new to the old server to retain the most recent e-mails, (or else restore the most recent information stores to the old server from a good backup of the new Exchange).

2. I would advise bringing up a PDC (promoting a BDC) on a non-Exchange server before doing any Exchange moves, if your PDC is now on the existing Exchange server.

 

[fuego007]

If Exchange is currently on a PDC, you MUST either promote a BDC to PDC or build a BDC and promote it. Also, if you don't have to, do not make the new server a PDC - see Thread 10-603616.

You cannot move databases from a server with one name to a server with a different name, as the directory won't work. If you follow the process in my FAQ

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?spid=10&sfid=3512,

you should get excellent results - just be sure to follow the steps carefully .

E-mail me at bob.robinson@gd-ns if you have any questions.