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01Ryan10
Contributor
Contributor

My Exchange 2003 conversion success story

I know Exchange conversions get a lot of attention, so I thought I'd post my first Exchange conversion project.

Source Server:

- Exchange 2003 SP2 (not clustered)

- Windows 2003 SP2 (not clustered)

- Dell PowerEdge 2650

- RAID 1/5 (C: = RAID 1 and 😧 = RAID 5)

- 😧 hosted information stores and transaction logs

Destination Server:

- ESX 4.0

- Dell R710

- All data including VMs reside on a Dell MD3000i SAN

Steps taken for conversion:

1. complete backup of source server

2. Changed all Exchange services to "Disabled" on source server

3. Reboot source server

4. Brought a temporary Windows 2003 VM server online with a "D:" drive mapped to the MD3000i SAN using an RDM from the Destination Server.

5. After source server was back online from its reboot, I copied source's "D:" drive to the "D:" drive of the temporary Windows 2003 server.

6. Once copy was complete, I turned off the temporary Windows 2003 server, and dismounted the "D:" drive RDM mapping from the VM

7. I then rebooted the source server to the VMware cold clone boot disc and converted ONLY the "C:" drive of the source server. I was pleaseantly surprised that the converter actually modified the boot.ini file to reflect that there will no longer be a "management partition." After conversion completed successfully, I made sure the source server was turned off.

8. Powered on the newly created Exchange 2003 VM, and began uninstalling Dell and Broadcom controller software. After I did this and rebooted the VM, I had to reactivate Windows. I had to end up calling Microsoft, but no big deal. With activation completed, I moved on.

9. I checked the Windows app and system logs to verify everything looked good, and so it was.

10. Powered down Exchange VM and then mapped two RDM luns to it. The first RDM has the source server's "D:" drive data (info store and trans logs). The second RDM I will begin using for transaction logs.

11. Powered on the Exchange VM and changed all Exchange services back to the way they were on the source server before I started the conversion. I also confirmed that all of the source server's data was on my Exchange VM's "D:" drive (which it was). I then rebooted the Exchange VM.

12. After the reboot, I checked the Windows App and System logs again. All Exchange related entries were as normal, and email was functioning smoothly.

13. I then moved the Exchange transaction logs to the VM's "E:" drive (the second RDM).

14. Breathed a sigh of relief.

The entire project from start of backup to breathing a sigh of relief took about 3 hours. My info store is approximately 120 users at roughly 35GBs in size.

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4 Replies
DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Great. Worth converting to a DOC.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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mjpagan
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Any reason you didn't' t P2V the whole thing instead of using RDMs? The newest VMware Converter tool allows for the automatic shutting down of services as a part of the conversion process and would've probably made things simpler for you.

Also, if your physical Exchange server had OEM Windows licensing (i.e. sticker on the server with your Windows key) you will need to purchase a VLK copy of Windows to run it in a VM. OEM license is only for that specific hardware and will not travel with the windows instance.

Mike

Mike Pagán MCITP:EA, MCSE, VCAP5-DCA, VCAP5-DCD,VCP 5, VCP5-DT, CCNA, A+
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01Ryan10
Contributor
Contributor

Any reason you didn't' t P2V the whole thing instead of using RDMs? The newest VMware Converter tool allows for the automatic shutting down of services as a part of the conversion process and would've probably made things simpler for you.

Probably a lack of familiarity. I've read a lot about cold cloning being the best method for Exchange, so that's why i broke down my project the way I did.

Also, if your physical Exchange server had OEM Windows licensing (i.e. sticker on the server with your Windows key) you will need to purchase a VLK copy of Windows to run it in a VM. OEM license is only for that specific hardware and will not travel with the windows instance.

I tried to input my VLK when prompted for reactivation, but it would not take; hence why I had to call Microsoft.

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mjpagan
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I see. I only mentioned it in case you hadn't had a chance to use it. So far it has worked well for me.

For my OEM (re)activation, I've had to start the Windows Server setup with VLK media, choose repair and then enter the VLK key to get it to work. Glad you got it going without having to do all of that.

Mike P

MCSE 2003/2000/NT4, VCP, CCEA, CCSE, CCNA, A+

Mike Pagán MCITP:EA, MCSE, VCAP5-DCA, VCAP5-DCD,VCP 5, VCP5-DT, CCNA, A+
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