Exchange Server 2007 Migration: Look Before You Leap

By Michelle Savage

September 15, 2008 —  (Page 2 of 6)
Another architectural change is that Exchange Server 2007 must be deployed on 64-bit hardware and will not support an in-place upgrade from any previous version of Exchange. Administrators must use the swing upgrade method to move an existing messaging service to Exchange Server 2007. According to Morimoto, many organizations have never worked with 64-bit Windows before, so they don’t know how to size, configure or optimize it properly.

Unlike prior versions of the software, in-place upgrades are not available with Exchange Server 2007, and companies with Exchange Server 2000 or 2003 will need to run both their legacy Exchange Server platform and Exchange Server 2007 in coexistence mode during the migration process. Exchange Server 5.5 users must first migrate to Exchange Server 2000/2003 before migrating to Exchange Server 2007.

Because Exchange Server 2007 only supports x64, many organizations require a server refresh. “Customers are concerned about data loss with continuous replication,” said Roger Frey, director of Microsoft solutions marketing at NetApp. “In the event of a primary-node failure, the passive node will come online and query the hub transport for missing mail. Should the entire site fail, that mail is lost.” Frey recommended host-based data replication products to replicate hub transport servers to a disaster recovery site, thereby ensuring near-zero data loss.

To address issues related to Exchange Server 2007’s learning curve, Lucey advises users to review Microsoft’s extensive planning documentation during the essential planning phase. “One of the most important things for any organization deploying a mission-critical application is to get the planning and architecture right from the start,” he said. “Like laying the foundation for a building, you want to make sure the design of your Exchange Server deployment is planned properly.”

Topics to consider in the planning phase, Lucey said, “include hardware, storage, site consolidation, server sizing, high-availability and disaster-recovery needs, Active Directory, security requirements, etc. Whether this is a small, medium or large Exchange organization, we have provided in-depth planning references for Exchange administrators to properly deploy Exchange Server 2007.”

Related Search Term(s): Exchange Server, ITIL, migration, server management, Microsoft

Share this link: http://www.sptechweb.com/link/32847