Unity upgrade 4.02 > 5.X

[pndscm]

Does anyone know if a Unity upgrade from Win2k server/Exchange 2k/Unity 4.02 to Win2003 Server/Unity 5.X/ Exchange 2003 is possible without it being a complete rebuild? This is VMail only, not Unified Messaging so the Exchange mailstore would be on the Unity box.
I would be changing hardware at the same time so my thoughts were to build the new server as Win2003/Unity 4.02/ Exchange 2000, using DiRT to move info from the old box to the new, then finish the upgrade from there on the new box but I can't find docs that say that Unity 4.02 will run on Win2003 server. I have to keep downtime to a minumum as the place runs 24/7. Any ideas or documentation would be appreciated.

 

[whykap]

4.02 will not run on server 2003. But since this is a voice mail only why not upgrade from 4.02 to 5.X and keep it on win2000 server? It is supported, it will save you a lot of time and again it is just voice mail.

Your other option is to upgrade to 5.X on the 2000 box, build the new server with win2003 and 5.x, DiRT back up from existing 5.X and restore to new 5.X server. A lot of work but it will give you win2003 and minimal down time. The upgrade from 4.02 to 5.X depending on the server platform will be arounnd 4-6hrs.

Another option would be to upgrade the existing server to 4.05 use the COBRA tool to export all the data (see link below), then build your new server with win2003 and unity 5.x and restore with COBRA. COBRA is not currently TAC supported but will be on version 7.X. It does work however very very well. The catch is if you get in a rut you are on your own.

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/App_COBRAS.htm

I would personally have done the first option unless there is a compelling reason to go with win2003 server.

 

[pndscm]

I think the main reason for going to Win2003 is that Win2000 is EOL. I don't think Microsoft is releasing any more updates to it. Same with Exchange 2000.

I like the COBRA option but I'd have to do an upgrade on the existing server (downtime) THEN run it. I read through the Help file but don't see specifically that you can change Exchange versions also. Do you know if this is possible?

 

[whykap]

It should but have not tried it. So don't quote me on this. You might want to do a dry run and try it out.

 

[snootalope]

Wow, I just went through this mess about 4 months ago.. whykap is right on, we upgraded our 4.0(2) machine to 4.0(4) - did a DIRT/restore to the new 2003 server which is also running 4.0(4). Once that was done, we upgraded to 5.0x.

I'll tell you this though, I ran in to a mess of probelms with not only the Unity database, but also the changes in active directory from 2k 2k3. I went through two different Cisco TAC engineer's to get my upgrade completed. Given, I think I ran into some issues that the normal upgrade wouldn't see, but for some reason I think I hit a brick wall three times and had to start from scratch.

My lesson from it all, do NOT take down your old (currently live) Unity server till you are 110% sure you're ready to go live with your new.

Good luck!