Upgrade in place Unity 3.1.5 to Unity 4.0.X

[maratimer_2]

Has anyone ever done an upgrade in place on the same hardware from version 3.1.5 to versions 4.0.x? I would like to upgrade the server and have read the upgrade guide but have one question. We changed our unity AD accounts and added the 4 new unity install accounts for all unity 4.x installations. The older unity 2.x and 3.x servers used different service accounts for those installs as we were expecting to retire these servers, not upgrade. Now I am wondering how I can upgrade the unity 3.1.5 server (which uses unitysvc and unity_servername) as the accounts/services and change the accounts to the new AD accounts (unityinstall, unitydirsvc, unitymsgstore) - Can I simply run the permissions wizard on the current configuration and put in the new account names, and then upgrade or do I upgrade first and then replace the old accounts with the new AD accounts?

Any insight into this is appreciated. I am trying to obtain hardware to build out a 3.1.5 server to test but thought I could get some good feedback here also. Thanks.

[Ginger Dillon]

Hello -

You should be able to begin using the new accounts on the server by:

- Create the new accounts and allow domain replication to occur

- Run the Unity permissions wizard for the new accounts

- Run the Exchange Delegation wizard in System Manager for the required Exchange permissions (SendAs, ReceiveAs, View Information Store, Administer Information Store)

- Rerun the Message store configuration wizard for your partner server

- Rerun the Services configuration wizard to update the services that use the unitydirsvc and unitymsgstore accounts to logon

Note: A stop/start of Unity from the Systray (or reboot) should confirm all is happy. We changed our Unity accounts, but were already on 4.X. We moved our Unity accounts to an empty root domain (same place we update the schema). I performed the upgrade from 3.1(5) to 4.0(3) way back on the same physical server using the existing accounts, which included changing from USB key to Unity license key which requires the MAC address of the NIC. I don't know if changing the accounts before or after the upgrade matters. But in my opinion, you don't want to introduce too much change during the upgrade. I would go with the existing accounts, ensure your upgrade go smoothly, and then schedule another timeframe to change your accounts.

Sincerely, Ginger

[maratimer_2]

Thanks very much Ginger for your reply. Always great to get feedback from you.