2003 server on 2k domain... need comments

will be onsite at a client to bring a 2003 server online in an environment
that currently only has 1 server. 2000, AD, exchange, DHCP... it does it
all. i was thinking of bringing the new guy online and giving it most of the
fsmo roles..... any comments would be appreciated

If it were me I'd try to isolate Exchange away from the primary file & print services. If you can get away with one of the boxes being DC & Exchange only, everything else on the other, I think you will get better performance on both sides

Just because Exchange WILL run on the same box with other servers doesn't mean it SHOULD. I think you will save yourself a lot of heartache this way. Put your new WS2k3 on the wire and move all your FS|PS|DNS and DHCP to the new box, leave Exchange running on the old. Is there any possibility of upgrading the old server to WS2k3? You still won't gain all the functionality of the new WS2k3 box in a mixed server environment, but it's not prohibitive in any way. Still, I would make the case to your site manager(s) for bringing both boxes up to 2k3

At least that's been my experience. Good luck.

yup. that was exactly my plan. leaving exchange all alone... although i
would leave DNS up and running on that server also... other than that, no
problems moving fsmo roles over to the new machine?


"Medicine Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:EB01BF98-3192-46CE-A06B-(E-Mail Removed)...
> If it were me I'd try to isolate Exchange away from the primary file &
print services. If you can get away with one of the boxes being DC &
Exchange only, everything else on the other, I think you will get better
performance on both sides.
>
> Just because Exchange WILL run on the same box with other servers doesn't
mean it SHOULD. I think you will save yourself a lot of heartache this way.
Put your new WS2k3 on the wire and move all your FS|PS|DNS and DHCP to the
new box, leave Exchange running on the old. Is there any possibility of
upgrading the old server to WS2k3? You still won't gain all the
functionality of the new WS2k3 box in a mixed server environment, but it's
not prohibitive in any way. Still, I would make the case to your site
manager(s) for bringing both boxes up to 2k3.
>
> At least that's been my experience. Good luck.

Hold the phone. You said "other than that, no problems moving fsmo roles
over to the new machine?" You have a Windows 2000 domain so your question
implies that you want to promote the new box to a Win2K3 domain controller
and then transfer the FSMOs to that new domain controller? You'll need to
prepare the forest and the domain using the adprep tool from the Windows
Server 2003 CD-ROM before you can upgrade the box. Also, your Exchange 2000
server needs to be at Exchange SP 3 to run in a Windows Server 2003 Domain
environment [it will work at SP2 but may need a fix for Win2K3 domain
controller support]. There are also a few gottchas when upgrading a 2000
forest to a 2003 forest when Exchange 2000 is involved...

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;321648 has the dirt
on Exchange 2000 in a 2003 environment

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=314649 outlines a caveat you
should be aware of when running adprep in an Exchange 2000 environment

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;309628 What adprep
does to your forest and domain

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=278875 Another useful adprep/Exchange 2000
article.

HTH
Reg

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:tyLtc.67247$(E-Mail Removed). net...
> yup. that was exactly my plan. leaving exchange all alone... although i
> would leave DNS up and running on that server also... other than that, no
> problems moving fsmo roles over to the new machine?
>
>
> "Medicine Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:EB01BF98-3192-46CE-A06B-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > If it were me I'd try to isolate Exchange away from the primary file &
> print services. If you can get away with one of the boxes being DC &
> Exchange only, everything else on the other, I think you will get better
> performance on both sides.
> >
> > Just because Exchange WILL run on the same box with other servers
doesn't
> mean it SHOULD. I think you will save yourself a lot of heartache this
way.
> Put your new WS2k3 on the wire and move all your FS|PS|DNS and DHCP to the
> new box, leave Exchange running on the old. Is there any possibility of
> upgrading the old server to WS2k3? You still won't gain all the
> functionality of the new WS2k3 box in a mixed server environment, but it's
> not prohibitive in any way. Still, I would make the case to your site
> manager(s) for bringing both boxes up to 2k3.
> >
> > At least that's been my experience. Good luck.
>
>