It is a very common situation when your company uses an Exchange 5.5 server, running on old hardware. The server is reaching the end of its life while funding for a major upgrade project is pending or not available.

In this 10 Step tutorial we will show you how to move your Exchange 5.5 resources to a new hardware. This approach is suitable when your existing server is still running so you can introduce the replacement as an additional Exchange server in the same Exchange organization.

If your existing Exchange 5.5 server is not available (i.e. it crashed or is not able to mount the stores) then you should take a look at the second screencast in this section
Moving Exchange 5.5 to new hardware – restoring the Exchange 5.5 to different hardware using Online/Offline backup .

Step 1 Here you can take a brief look of the Network Configuration. We have a NT4.0 Domain with a PDC, BDC, Exchange 5.5, Windows 2000 member server and a XP client. The Windows 2000 server is added as a member server to the domain, and the new Exchange 5.5 is going to run on it. Click here to open the Video panel.

Step 2 Next, we will install IIS on the Windows 2000 server. We are going to use the new machine as OWA (Outlook Web Access) server too.

Step 3 Before we proceed with the Exchange 5.5 installation we have to adjust the local policy of the Windows 2000 server. Applying the compatws.inf security template will allow the Exchange 5.5 installation program to be executed successfully. Before we proceed with the Exchange 5.5 installation we have to adjust the local policy of the Windows 2000 server.

Step 4 Here we can proceed with the actual installation of Exchange 5.5 on the new server. We are going to check the OWA option and it is very important to choose – Join an existing site – when you are prompted for the type of installation.

Step 5 Installing Service Pack 4 for Exchange 5.5 is obligatory. Though you are not prompted for reboot, it is a good idea to restart the server at this point.

Step 6 Moving the mailboxes from the old server to the new Exchange 5.5.

Step 7 When your clients try to login they are automatically pointed to the new server. You do not have to reconfigure manually their MS Outlook profiles. It is important to note that this is one of the main reasons to wait for a couple of days before you decommission your old server. If there are clients who did not login to the new server in this interim period (there are always such users – people who are on a vacation etc.) you will have to reconfigure their Outlook profiles manually or using the profile editor.

Step 8 Here we can proceed with the actual installation of Exchange 5.5 on the new server. We are going to check the OWA option and it is very important to choose – Join an existing site – when you are prompted for the type of installation.

Step 9 Next, we will delete IMS (Internet Mail Service) from the old server and configure it on the new one. It is important reflect the change of the IP address of your Mail server in your firewall configuration.

Step 10 The last step is to shutdown the old server for a couple of days. If everything works normal you can proceed and decommission it from your Exchange organization.