Trying to move to Exchange 2003 off-box...

[buporter]

Hi folks,

I am currently running Unity 4.0(3) UM on a Windows 2000 Server (SP3) box with Exchange 2000 (SP3) on-box. We are now in the process of migrating from Groupwise to Exchange 2003 and I need to re-partner this Unity configuration to an Exchange 2003 Cluster off-box.

Exchange 2003 was installed into the same forest and Exchange organization as the Unity configuration and all has been fine. Now I need to move the Exchange mailboxes from the Exchange 2000 Unity configuration to the Exchange 2003 cluster. I moved a test account from Unity to the new cluster and I receive a message about the system being unavailable (using the phone).

I believe what I need to do is:

1) Install Exchange 2003 System Manager on the existing Unity/E2K box.

2) Run the permissions wizard.

3) Run the Configuration utility to partner the existing Unity box with the new E2K3 cluster.

The problem I'm currently faced with is that I can't simply install the E2K3 System Manager on the current Unity/E2K box. The setup is only giving me an option to upgrade the entire E2K installation. I have no option of choosing "Custom" and then selecting only the Exchange 2003 System Management Tools to install.

What am I missing here? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated...

-Bud-

[kechambe]

You will need to move all of the mailboxes, uninstall Exchange 2000 from the Unity server and then run the install for the Exchange 2003 System Management Tools.

That is probably less risky than trying to upgrade to Exchange 2003 which wouldn't be supported. But then again running Unity in a UM configuration with any version of Exchange installed on-box isn't supported either.

The mailbox moves can take a while with AD Users & Computers. One way to speed it up is to launch several instances of ADUC. I have done bulk mailboxes moves with as many as 20 instanced of ADUC without issue.

Just keep in mind that we don't document this stuff because it isn't supported by Cisco.

Hope this helps...

Keith

[buporter]

Thanks for the response Keith...

So I should:

Move all mailboxes to the E2K3 cluster

Uninstall Exchange 2000 on the Unity box

Install Exchange 2003 System Management Tools

Run the permissions wizard

Run the Configuration wizard to partner Unity with the Exchange 2003 cluster

Did I miss anything? Any "gotcha's" I should be aware of?

Thanks again...

-Bud-

[kechambe]

That is exactly what I would do...