Migrating exchange data back to the local hard drive from the Netapp

[david_kennedy]

Hi all,

I have a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 running Exchange 2003 and SnapManager for Exchange.  The logs, databases, etc, etc, are on the netapp.

I want to upgrade the server to Windows Server 2008, but I'm not sure that the Netapp software will survive the upgrade.  So I'd like to move the exchange data back to the local drive, upgrade to exchange 2010, upgrade the OS to server 2008, and then see what I can do with the netapp software.

Any suggestions/advice on how to go about this?

Thanks!

-Dave Kennedy

[evilensky]

It's far more complicated than you might think:

Exchange 2003 is the last version of Exchange to support in-place upgrades (from 2003).  From 2007 and on, you will need to bring in new servers parallel to your 2003 environment and perform a user migration.

The architecture of Exchange 2003 and 2007 and 2010 can be radically different.  I would encourage you to read as much as possible before attempting anything.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638130.aspx.

As an aside, 2010 is a 64-bit only release.  Is your 2003 server already 64-bit?  Upgrades from 32-bit 2003 to 64-bit 2008 are not supported.

[amiller_1]

To be honest, your best path forward would likely be to setup an Exchange 2010 server with all the NetApp pieces (Host Utilities, SnapDrive, SnapManager for Exchange, etc.) and migrate mailboxes over.

In-place Exchange upgrades can be interesting regardless (and somewhat high stress) and as evilensky noted you may not even be able to do an in-place upgrade in this scenario.

[evilensky]

The last in-place upgrade to be supported by Microsoft was from 2000 to 2003.

[david_kennedy]

Thanks for the help!  With your help, I've decided to build a new 2008 server with exchange 2007 and then run the migration wizard to move the data over.

As for the tools, what version of Data OnTap is supported with the newest snapmanager for exchange?  The tech docs here aren't great and just layout the required software, but not version numbers.

[radek_kubka]

Hi,

It's a bit painful to find, even via Interoperability Matrix Tool.

It's tied up to SnapDrive support, so with version 6.2 you should be looking at ONTAP 7.2.6 or later (personally I wouldn't recommend though to run anything older than 7.3.x)

Regards,
Radek