How To Convert from Mixed Mode to Native Mode in Exchange

This article describes how to convert a Microsoft Exchange 2000 organization or a Microsoft Exchange 2003 organization that is currently running in mixed mode to native mode. Follow these steps after the last Exchange 5.5 server in the organization is upgraded or before the last Exchange 5.5 server is decommissioned.

Back to the top

Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Mixed Mode

An organization running in mixed mode can accommodate all versions of Microsoft Exchange. By default, Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 is installed in mixed mode.

Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 running in mixed mode is subject to the following limitations:

• Exchange Server 5.0 and 5.5 sites are mapped directly to administrative groups.
• Administrative groups are mapped directly to Exchange Server 5.0 and 5.5 sites.
• Servers cannot be moved between administrative groups.
• Routing group membership consists only of servers that are installed in the administrative groups.

Back to the top

Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Native Mode

An organization running in native mode can accommodate only Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 computers. New Exchange Server 5.0 or 5.5 computers cannot be introduced into the organization.

You can switch an Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 organization to native mode after all of the servers in that organization are upgraded to Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003. You cannot switch to native mode until you either upgrade or decommission all earlier versions of Exchange Server.

The following are some of the features of Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 native mode:

• Support for multiple routing groups within a single administrative group.
• Routing groups can consist of servers from multiple administrative groups.
• Ability to move servers between routing groups.
• Ability to move mailboxes between servers in different Administrative Groups within an organization.
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the default routing protocol.
• An administrative group does not have to contain any routing groups and a server can belong to an administrative group without belonging to a routing group within that administrative group.

Back to the top

Determine the Mode of the Exchange Organization

By default, an Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 server is installed in mixed mode. To determine which mode your Exchange organization is currently running in:

1. Start Exchange System Manager. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Right-click the organization that you want to determine the mode for, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab. The operating mode of the organization is displayed Under Operations Mode.

Back to the top

When to Switch from Mixed Mode to Native mode

The following scenarios are good candidates for conversion to native mode:

• There are no Exchange 5.5-based servers in your organization.
• There are no plans to add Exchange Server 5.5 servers to your organization in the future.
• Your organization will never require interoperability between Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 and servers running earlier versions of Exchange Server.
• Your organization does not use any connectors or gateway programs that run only in Exchange Server 5.5.

Back to the top

Change from Mixed Mode to Native Mode

Before you can change an organization from mixed mode to native mode, all of the computers in the organization must be running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003. The switch to native mode cannot be reversed. Review the implications of this switch before proceeding.

After you upgrade or remove all versions of Exchange Server prior to Exchange 2000, you can switch your Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 organization to native mode by using Exchange System Manager:

1. Start Exchange System Manager. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Right-click the organization, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Change Mode under Change Operations Mode. Click Yes if you are sure that you want to permanently switch the organization's mode to native mode.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327779


Standard Server 2003 Migration to SBS 2008

I know there is not anything out there yet on moving a 2003 Server domain to a SBS 2008 Server so I thought I would share my experience. I just finished one and it went really smoothly. It helped I had been through a few migrations from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 already in my lab ok a few hundred or so and in the real world 4 or 5 so far so I just kind of modified that and went blazing ahead.

Note
One thing on this if you have Exchange 2003 in your enviroment you need to make sure the Exchange server is set to Native Mode and not Mixed Mode. This is one of the steps you have to do when migrating from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 and Thanks to Jamesmc for pointing this out on here. This article was just for doing a Standard 2003 server to SBS 2008 without Exchange in the Enviroment but because some of you could be using this to move from a 2003 domain with Exchange 2003 to SBS 2008 I better add this.

Roger

Steps I followed are below and I will put the disclaimer on here this is what I did and it worked for me but everyone’s circumstances and networks will be different so what I have done might not work well for your environment or circumstances. Also be very aware that you want to verify any LOB Apps that you might be moving to the SBS 2008 Server will be able to run on the server. Not all will work with a 64 Bit Server so do your due diligence and verify your Apps. If it is just a application running off the server from a file share you are pretty much good to go but the rest you will want to verify with the Software Company or from setting up a actual Test SBS 2008 Server and testing the LOB.

1. Updated Source Server i.e. existing 2003 Standard Server to latest Service packs and Windows Updates including Windows .Net Frameworks 2.0

2. Once this completed do a full backup of the server in my case I did 2 in this case the customer was using the built-in NTBackup so I ran this and did a full system backup. Once this is completed I downloaded and installed the Storage Craft Shadow Protect server works great and is a 30 day trial. Did another complete backup to a External USB Drive once finished unplug your USB Drive and set aside for emergencies.

3. I Updated the Domain and the forest to 2003 Native and you can do this by opening Active Directory Users and Computers right clicking on your domain and then selecting Raise Domain Functional level and choosing 2003 Native. Unless you have older Domain controllers in the domain then you will have to upgrade them to 2003 Server or take them off the domain. You would want to verify this before proceeding as it could be a show stopper. In this case it was just one 2003 Server so I was good to go. To Update the forest you open up Active Directory Domains and Trusts right click on the Top Level and select Raise Forest Functional Level and raise this to 2003 Native.

4. Once this has been completed I checked the DNS Settings on the NIC and also on any forwarders and removed the forwarders and made sure on the NIC it was pointing to the Source Server IP only and nothing outside the network i.e. ISP’s DNS servers or a Router that might be handling the DNS for the network. Also if you have a Router handing out DHCP I would really suggest moving this to your Source Server and let the new SBS 2008 Server moved this over in the migration process to itself off the Source Server. I just believe that the SBS Server needs to be handling the DHCP and also DNS for the domain and not some Router but that is my opinion.

5. At this point I rebooted the server and then checked the Event log to make sure there is no problems with AD i.e. a Journal Wrap Error or anything like this that might affect the migration in anyway. Once you are comfortable that the Server and the domain is healthy and you have fixed any problems you had then on to the next steps.

I was going to finish this with the continued migration but thought we should talk about some of the system requirements for the SBS 2008 Server before we continue. On the SBS 2008 Servers I am specing we start with 8 Gig of RAM as the base and then adding memory from there depending upon the amount of users and what the server will be doing. I am also going with dual Quad Core CPU’s as these are getting cheaper. I am also doing a RAID 6 for the Server OS and DATA and apps and doing 2 drives in a mirrored set for use as the destination drive for the Exchange 2007 Continuous Replication which is basically a copy of the Databases and the logs files for disaster recovery which I will cover more on this at a later time.

We sell HP Proliant Servers and mainly the ML 350 G5’s at the moment so you have the ability of having 6 Drives for OS and DATA and the 2 for the Exchange Replication set. I know there is thoughts out there to do a mirrored set of 2 Drives for OS and then doing more drives for your data RAID 5/6 . I am still not sold on that train of thought as I have had WAY too many mirrored drives sets die where it takes the whole server down. You must remember these as small businesses that don’t necessarily check there server everyday or even at all and might not notice one of the Mirrored drives go bad and then have the remaining one go bad on you. That does not leave you in a good position so if you are running OS and Data on one RAID 6 drive set to me you are in a better position for that not happening.

Like I have said this is just my opinion and what I am going with and everyone will have their own opinions on what to spec or not to or how much and why. I am just going with what works for me and works well for me and my customers. Part 3 will be coming soon and we will finish the migration.

1. Now is the time to prep the domain for the 2008 Server which if you was migrating from a SBS 2003 Server you would put the SBS 2008 DVD in and run the Migration Prep Tool and do these steps. Well this is not a SBS 2003 Server so you would open a command prompt browse to the DVD Drive and the Tools Folder and the ADPrep Folder. Then run adprep /forestprep and then once that completes give it a while and then run adprep /domainprep and then once that finishes you can just to be sure run adprep /domainprep /gpprep usually this will return you don’t need to run this.

2. Once that is all done it is time to run the Answer File Tool to create a answer file for the migration. You will be using a little USB Flash drive and what you do is plug this into your Source Server and then Browsing to Tools folder on the DVD and running the SBSAfg file. Usually I will select the attended install meaning uncheck the box that says run unattended just so I can verify the information as the migration starts. I also select to Migrate from existing server (join existing domain) and to download Updates. You can select unattended but you need to be darn sure you have all your information correct. One thing to be aware of is where it asks for the Certificate Authority Name do not put the name of your email domain i.e. mail.whatever.com. Leaving it blank is acceptable or Company Name CA or whatever you feel like just not your domain name so leaving this blank is good. So once you are sure everything is the way you want it save your Answer File to the USB Flash drive.

3. Now is the time to start the install of the SBS 2008 by booting your new server to the DVD and you do not have to have your USB Drive plugged into the destination server at this point. Some servers will try and boot to the USB drive if you have it plugged in so it is best to leave it out until it is time for it to be plugged in. which is after the second server reboot if I remember correctly. If you miss this and the server goes to the new install without reading your USB Drive. Hit cancel reboot the server with the USB Drive in and away you go. That is why I select to do a attended install so I can watch what is happening plus to verify the customer info. You can configure you hard drive partitions before or during the SBS 2008. On the HP servers we have the option to configure the Partition sizes during the boot process and it will depend on what you are using for a server and RAID Controller if you can do this before or not. MS recommends a 60 Gig C Drive size I say 100 Gig.

4. Also be sure in the BIOS of your server you have the time and date set correctly before installing.

You then would follow along with the Documentation from Microsoft on a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration paper, the steps for walking though the whole migration is on this. Basically what it boils down to is you can use the SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration doc you just cannot use the Source Tool to Adprep your domain on the 2003 Server and you use the install DVD to Prep your forest and domain. I would really suggest if you have not been testing this that you do 10 to 20 migrations in your test lab to get yourself ready for this as it is a whole new way of migrating. Also if you do not want to remove the old server it can run as a DC in the domain after the SBS 2008 server is on the domain and has all the Roles moved to it. This is only true with a Standard 2003 Server and not SBS2003

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sbs/standard-server-2003-migration-to-sbs-2008-part-1/

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sbs/standard-server-2003-migration-to-sbs-2008-part-2/

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sbs/standard-server-2003-migration-to-sbs-2008-part-3/