I am in the process of transitioning to exchange 2010.
The current exchange server is as follows Server 2003 R2 Exchange 2003 SP2 Active Directory
I would like to be able to reuse the server name for so many reasons but I must format server 2003 R2 and reinstall Server 2008 R2 as a fresh instal. This server will no longer be a DC after the transition if that makes a difference.
Is it possible to keep the same server name? I can accept if that is not possible but just need a concrete answer. Some documentation on the subject is also appreciated. Info on areas I may need to clean up the old server name prior to reinstalling Server 2008 R2 is paramount.
On an Exchange server, adding or removing AD will have some seriously negative effects on Exchange itself. (In the future, NEVER install AD on an Exchange box.) See here for info on why
If you are dead set on keeping Exchange on the same hostname, you are in for a good project that will probably require some additional servers, be they physical or virtual to move some things around while you take the necessary steps to migrate away from Server & Exchange 2003.
-Bring up another DC if you dont have one and transfer all FSMO rules to it.
-Image your server in case things go tits up.
This is where things get a little heavy.
-Setup a new Server 2008 box w/ Exchange 2010 and migrate your mailboxes there.
-Test your new environment and make sure clients can send/receive
-Uninstall Exchange on the old box, and demote it, and dis-join from domain. Once it is offline, remove the computer account from AD on the other DC
-Format your old server, giving it the same name it used to have. install Server 2008 and Exchange 2010
-Migrate mailboxes from the temp Exchange box over to your newly created one.
It can be done. You need to make sure of a couple of things:
The real key is making sure sufficient time has passed once it is dropped from the domain to allow for all the other DNS servers to update. Otherwise, you should be fine.