Decommission exchange 2010 after Hybrid migration.

[nicholab]

How can I see where the Hybid migration from exchange 2010 is and how do I decommission the exchange server? I don't really want old server kicking around using power.

[AlanD]

...don't you want to use the exchange 2010 as a relay server - for devices (printers etc) in school that need to email?

[Norphy]

Office 365 can do that by itself... and even if you did want a local SMTP server for that sort of thing, running a full Exchange instance for that is waaaaaay overkill.

[HPlum78]

You still need an exchange sever after you have migrated! Just need to upgrade it to a 2016 box.... I will be a little more helpful as the above statement is not entirely correct so the following may clear it up:-

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn931280(v=exchg.150).aspx

Edited February 27, 2018 by HPlum78

[nicholab]

Thing is it got lots of other junk on the server and is not virtualised so I would like to remove it.

[HPlum78]

If you are using any of the sync tools, you are going to need an exchange server of some description on prem essentially. You could just create a VM and install exchange 2016 (support requires n -1 anyhow - so exchange 2013 is a minimum) just make sure that the VM meets the minimum requirements for installing 2016. Then you are free to decommission the 2010 box, just make sure that you are never going to need a 2013 install before you install 2016 if you do install that first (all the roles you may require) before you install 2016.

[AlanD]

Sync tools.... you mean stuff like AD connect? to replicate users and passwords?

[Snuffkins]

Once you remove the hybrid configuration you only need exchange on premises to manage email attributes of users/groups etc. Strictly speaking you don't need an on premises installation of Exchange at that point, you can use ADSIEdit or 3rd party apps to do it, they're just unsupported. I think i remember reading that with the Office 365 subscription you have on-premises exchange rights, but cannot host mailboxes etc. so you can have an installation of exchange for the management side at no cost (don't quote me on that, but it would be worth checking that it is the case still with O365 support).

 

If you haven't got to pay for a license i would be inclined to keep an on premises installation of Exchange for management rather than relying on unsupported options. Even if you have, other than ADSIEdit the 3rd party options probably aren't any more cost effective.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Snuffkins

[nicholab]

I don't really want to move a 900GB server on to the hyper-v environment. Running an old OS and old version of Exchange just to manager Office 365. I just looked and the server does not have Office 365 listed in hub transport. Is there a way I can tell if it is a hybrid for definite? I would be keen to tidy up the server and domain. Edited February 28, 2018 by nicholab

[round2it]

What happens if you turn it off if it breaks then you will know for sure.

 

A bit harsh I suppose

[gh5000]

Is there a way I can tell if it is a hybrid for definite?

Don't know about for definite but in the accepted domains part is there any hybrid domains listed, any of the typical hybrid send/receive connectors, did you do remote moved to do the migrations?

[mukz]

What happens if you turn it off if it breaks then you will know for sure.

 

A bit harsh I suppose

 

This is how i check a lot of stuff sometimes it is the only way when someone doesn’t leave documentation!!

[Snuffkins]

Regardless of whether you have an exchange server or not, if it was setup as a hybrid configuration you will need a way to manage accounts in Office 365, unless you no longer have a requirement for synchronisation? Have a look at this: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2012/12/05/decommissioning-your-exchange-2010-servers-in-a-hybrid-deployment/

 

It's one of the things I got pointed towards when spoke with O365 support about decommissioning and removing the hybrid configuration etc. The long and short of it is that you wouldn't need to virtualise your current exchange server (900gb), as long as you had an instance of Exchange with the CAS role, it doesn't even need hybrid configuration, but you do need something to manage the Exchange online accounts if you are synchronising from AD as the source of authority is on-prem.