Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2007-02-15

This topic explains how to transition from an existing single forest Microsoft Exchange topology to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. You can transition from the following Exchange organizations to Exchange 2007:

Before You Begin

Before you perform the procedure in this topic, confirm the following:

  • You understand the supported scenarios for transitioning to Exchange 2007. For more information about supported upgrade scenarios, see Upgrading to Exchange 2007.

  • You have planned your Exchange 2007 messaging system. For more information about planning an Exchange 2007 messaging system, see Planning and Architecture.

  • If you will continue to use any features from Exchange 2003 that are not supported in Exchange 2007, you have planned to keep at least one Exchange 2003 server in your organization. The following Exchange 2003 features are not supported in Exchange 2007:

    • Novell GroupWise connector

    • Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)

  • If you will continue to use any features from Exchange 2000 that are not supported in Exchange 2007, you have planned to keep at least one Exchange 2000 server in your organization. The following Exchange 2000 features are not supported in Exchange 2007:

    • Microsoft Mobile Information Server

    • Instant Messaging service

    • Exchange Chat Service

    • Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server

    • Key Management Service

    • cc:Mail connector

    • MS Mail connector

Procedure

To transition from an Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 single forest organization to an Exchange 2007 single forest organization

  1. On a new computer in your existing Microsoft Exchange organization, install Exchange 2007. For more information about installing Exchange 2007, see one of the following topics:

    If you do not install the Mailbox, Hub Transport, Client Access, and Unified Messaging server roles on a single computer, you should install the Exchange 2007 server roles on separate computers in the following order:

    • Client Access server role

    • Hub Transport server role

    • Mailbox server role

    • Unified Messaging server role

    An Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 front-end server cannot provide access to an Exchange 2007 Mailbox server. In addition, an Exchange 2007 Mailbox server cannot send or receive e-mail messages unless a Hub Transport server also exists in its Active Directory site. Therefore, when upgrading an existing Exchange organization, we recommend that you install the Client Access and Hub Transport server roles before installing the Mailbox server role. If you install the Mailbox server first, you will not have client access or mail flow to or from the Mailbox server until you install the Client Access and Hub Transport server roles.

    If you plan to have an Edge Transport server in your Exchange 2007 organization, you must install the Edge Transport server role on a separate computer.

  2. Move mailboxes from your existing Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 servers to the new Exchange 2007 Mailbox server or servers. For detailed steps, see How to Move a Mailbox Within a Single Forest.

    Note:
    You do not need to move your existing contacts or distribution groups. They will be available in Active Directory even if you remove your Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 servers.
    Note:
    If you have any Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 recipient policies that have not been applied, moving the mailboxes to an Exchange 2007 server will force the recipient policies to be re-evaluated and applied. Before you move mailboxes, make sure that you want to apply all of the existing recipient policies. If you have an existing recipient policy that you do not want to apply, clear the Automatically update e-mail address based on e-mail address policy check box in Active Directory Users and Computers. For more information, see the Exchange Server Team Blog article Yes, Exchange 2007 really enforces Email Address Policies. (Note: The content of each blog and its URL are subject to change without notice.)

  3. (Optional) Remove your Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 servers from the organization. For information about how to remove Exchange 2003 servers, see How to Uninstall Exchange Server 2003 in the Exchange Server Deployment Guide. For information about how to remove Exchange 2000 servers, see How to Uninstall Exchange 2000 Server in the Exchange Server Deployment Guide.

    Note:
    To remove the last Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 server from an organization, you must perform special steps to move public folder replicas, remove the public folder database, move the public folder hierarchy, move the offline address book (OAB) generation server, delete routing group connectors, delete the recipient update service, and verify mail flow, protocols, and recipient policies. For detailed steps, see How to Remove the Last Legacy Exchange Server from an Organization.

For More Information

For more information about features that you can configure after you have installed Exchange 2007, see Post-Installation Tasks.