How to upgrade to Exchange Server 2003 by using the swing upgrade method

This informational article discusses how to upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 by using the "swing" upgrade method.

The swing upgrade method offers you the flexibility of the move mailbox method of upgrading, but it does not require you to purchase new hardware for each existing server. With the swing method, you can purchase one or two new servers when you upgrade the whole Exchange organization to Exchange Server 2003. You can then use the move mailbox procedure to move data onto the new servers, upgrade the computers that are running earlier versions of Exchange Server to Exchange Server 2003 (or reinstall Exchange Server 2003), verify that the computers are stable, and then redeploy them in the production environment.

With the swing method, you can upgrade existing hardware to make it more powerful and then reintroduce it in the production environment with minimal disturbance to your users. Some advantages of the swing method include:

• Minimal user disturbance occurs. The only downtime is the time that it takes to move data between servers.
• You can upgrade users whose mailboxes reside on earlier versions of Exchange.
• No operating system upgrades, Exchange upgrades, or hardware upgrades occur on the existing server until the users are fully moved to another server.

Some disadvantages to the swing method include:

• The server name changes as users are moved onto new equipment.
• Older version connectors cannot be moved.

Move mailboxes to the swing server

1. Back up the server before you start.
2. If you are upgrading from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, verify that the users who you are moving have user accounts in the Active Directory directory service.
   
   Note If you have to create the user accounts, use an Active Directory Connector (ADC) to populate the accounts from Exchange Server 5.5 to Active Directory.
3. Install Exchange 2003 on the new server, and then join the existing Exchange site.
4. Use Active Directory Users and Computers to move the mailboxes from the current server to the swing server. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Start Active Directory Users and Computers.
   2. Right-click the user who you want to move, and then click Exchange Tasks.
   3. In Select a Task to Perform, click Move Mailbox.
   4. In the Move Mailbox pane, verify that Current Mailbox Store is the Exchange 5.5 computer and that the SERVER name is the name of the server that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, and then select the storage group and the mailbox store that you want to move the user to.
5. Verify that the mailboxes have been moved successfully.
6. Have the users log on to Exchange by using a client. As long as the original server is still up, their profiles can be automatically updated.

Note Mailboxes can also be moved by using Exchange System Manager. For more information about moving mailboxes in Exchange Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Move public folders to the swing server

1. Replicate your existing public folders from the existing Exchange computer to the new Exchange 2003 computer (the swing server).
2. Allow time for replication to finish. The time that it takes replication to finish depends on the number of folders that you have to replicate, the quantity of data that is going across, the scheduled time for replication, and the available bandwidth.
3. Verify that replication has completed successfully.
4. Remove the replicated instances from the existing Exchange computer.
5. After all users have been moved successfully to the swing server and have logged on, you can continue to upgrade the original server.

For more information about how to rehome the Offline Address Book folder and how to rehome the Schedule + Free Busy folder, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Upgrade the original server

Note You do not have to change the server name during this process.

1. Upgrade or add new hardware.
2. Upgrade or reinstall the operating system.
3. Upgrade Exchange or install a fresh copy of Exchange 2003.
4. Verify that the server is stable and functional.

Move public folders back to the original server

When you finish the upgrade of the original server, you must move all users and public folders back to that server. To move the public folders, follow the same steps that are outlined in the "Move public folders to the swing server" section of this article, but move the public folders from the swing server back to the original server. You can then use the swing server again to upgrade another Exchange computer.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: