Upgrading from 2k to 2k3 and exchange 2003

[squirre777]

I'm going to be upgrading 2 servers from Server 2000 to 2003 and also Exchange 2000 to 2003. I have 2 servers, one older and one really fast newer one. The old one currently is running Exchange 2k (they are also both DCs). The plan was to upgrade the newer server to 2k3, let it run a week, install Exchange 03 and move the mailboxes. After a week or so up and running remove Exchange 2000 from the older server and upgrade it to Server 2003. I've been reading up and it seems when upgrading to a Server 2003 environment that something gets screwed up in Exchange 2k. Should I try to install Exchange 2003 and get everything up and running there BEFORE upgrading that server to Server 03 or will everything be ok with my initial plan?

Thanks for any help!

 

[spi200]

Hi

I just did the Exchange 2003 course and they gave an example of the upgrade path like you describe. You MUST upgrade the Exchange component first. ie Exchange 2003 runs perfectly fine on Windows 2000 but it is not recommended the other way around. Also put your DC on some other box than your Exchange server - this was another recomendation.
Building one server and transfering the mailboxes sounds like a good idea.

Good luck

Dave