Upgrading from Windows 2003 to 2008 + exchange 2007 to 2010

My mission , which I chose to accept, is to migrate from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010.

Now the current scenario is:

- company runs only 1 exchange server
- server runs on Windows 2003
- currently has exchange 2007 running (just in case it wasn't clear)
- needless to say it a secondary domain controller

Now I understand I have to upgrade the Operating system to 2008 R2 , and install the SP2 for the exchange 2007 before proceeding... but is it safe to upgrade the operating system of an exchange server? will this stop the service? ruin something... do i have to run dcpromo (demote then promote the server) or do I just shuv the dvd in and hit the upgrade button, 1 hour later we're done?

once done with the OS upgrade, what tips and advices do you have for me before starting with the exchange upgrade?

over :major

 

I would go from scratch with a new server. Nowadays, it is not recommended to run exchange on a domain controller (or secondary).

Note(#11213): more than likely the 2003 server is 32 bit, you can't upgrade it, since 2008r2 is 64 bit only. So, you have to start over.

We are in the process (soon) to migrate from exchange 2003 to 2010, this next month. Migrating accounts from 2003 to 2010 is pretty simple. One thing to remember, you can't simple turn off the old server once the accounts get move over. There are procedures to take care of.

I hope you've read the many white papers on this.

Also, migrating the email from one store to another, will help with space issues. Unless ye have offline defragged the message stores.

 

Well to keep things safe I installed a fresh windows 2008 R2 on a new server and promoted it to be a domain controller (ofcourse after running adprep commands on the proper windows 2003 servers) , so far so good, I left it for 12 hours to monitor for any errors... after that I will install the 2010 exchange on it... then start moving the mailboxes... once the move is done and final , i am considering of just formating the other server... it was my secondary dns server, but i think i can simply take him out and back in... )ofcourse dcpromo will be run before and after theformat)

any further notes?

oh and the windows 2003 server is 64 bit... but still, fresh install IS better than an upgrade any day

 

Updates :

Some errors are showingup on the new server, one was with the certroll (no RPC server...) , was solved by giving him rights on the CA server...

another issue nowis the infamous "Security policies were propagated with warning. 0x534 : No mapping between account names and security IDs was done." (Scecli 1202)

any tipson hwo to resolve this issue? am googline around andtying several, monitoring this thread on the side...