Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007: Implementation and Administration

Chapter 5. Performing an Intra-Organization Migration

Chances are pretty good that if you are reading this book, you may already by responsible for an Exchange 2000/2003 messaging system. You are now faced with the task of upgrading your Exchange 2000/2003 environment to Exchange Server 2007. If you are performing a "new" installation of Exchange 2007, you can skip this chapter entirely; aren't you relieved?

You may be wondering what your actual path to a successful migration is going to be. How will you get from an Exchange 2000/2003 organization to an Exchange Server 2007 organization?

In my opinion, getting from Exchange 2000/2003 to Exchange Server 2007 is easier and faster than most organizations think it will be. It is an order of magnitude simpler than migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000/2003.

In this chapter, I hope to share with you some of my own experiences performing upgrades/ migrations as well as Microsoft's best practices and how they may differ from your real-world requirements. I will assume that you already have Exchange 2000/2003 in your Active Directory and that you want to move to Exchange Server 2007. This chapter includes the following topics:

• Understanding the difference between upgrades and migrations

• Testing the migration process

• Installing Exchange in an existing organization

• Creating a checklist for installation

Upgrades vs. Migrations

Though this concept is certainly understood better now than it has been in the past, Exchange 2000/2003 cannot be "upgraded" ...