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mmcg
Asked: 2011-03-23 08:19:18 +0800 CST

Exchange upgrade vs wipe and rebuild

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I have a new server and a license for Exchange 2010 to install for a 50 user company with ~25GB of mail.

They previously used Exchange 2003 on 2 servers, 1 of which has been removed in the meantime. After Exchange 2003 they moved to MDaemon but now want to move to Exchange 2010 on the new server.

The old Exchange installation is unused but running on the 1 remaining server, do I need to upgrade/migrate this existing Exchange 2003 organisation?

Or

Can I delete Exchange 2003 and create a new 2010 installation from scratch? As Exchange and Active Directory are linked at the hip I don't know if this is possible.

Thanks, Mark

P.S. Is there any better way of transferring the data from Mdaemon than exporting from Outlook to a PST?

exchange-2003 exchange-2010 mdaemon

2 Answers

  1. Exchange 2010 requires a 64 bit OS. If 2003 is on a 32-bit OS, the decision is already made for you.

    I'd highly suggest building a second system and migrating. It's much easier that way. Take a look at this guide: http://msexchangegeek.com/2010/01/30/rapid-transition-guide-from-exchange-2003-to-exchange-2010/

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  2. If you are not using the Exchange 2003 organization / servers you do have the option to remove the exchange organization from AD. See http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Remove-Exchange-server-entire-Exchange-organization.html

    However, you can install Exchange 2010 (on new hardware) into the existing exchange organization within AD. If you do, you should still remove any exchange 2003 servers from that organization.

    It is probably cleaner to tear down the old 03 organization and start from scratch.

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