Exchange 2013

[kevin_lane]

so this has been on the list todo for awhile now and due to one thing and another it fell off the radar but it needs doing

 

 

we currently have exchange 2013, all of our mailboxes have all been moved expect for 3 to Office 365 and for the pat few years i've just kind forgotten about,

 

we use salamander to create our user accounts and also assign the office 365 license to our users.

 

the server exchange is running on is 2012r2 - i am aware they are no longer supported by MS

 

I'm just looking for the best way to wade through, don't want to install full blown exchange but just need something to manage the mailbox, which i know will involve some exchange software install

[Olliedawg]

If it's an option, migrate the remaining mailboxes to 365 & shutdown the exchange server forever. Don't uninstall the exchange role as it's also tied into a lot of AD stuff, and will end up breaking other things. Best to just switch it off & keep it turned off. Keep the VM & maybe keep a backup of the VM also.

 

Once it's shut down, make sure you change MX records/connectors etc to mail is not pointed to your on prem mail server anymore.

 

You can manage 365 exchange via Powershell ( Connect-ExchangeOnline ) if you install the Powershell module.

 

I'm sure there are other GUI tools out there too.

Edited January 17, 2025 by Olliedawg

[3s-gtech]

I think Salamander needs the Exchange install to work though, from what I can see. I have an install on our SIMS TPC for this reason - though it's just the toolset, it is technically an Exchange 2016 install just without the service.

[NegativeKillDeath]

If you are a Hybrid environment then Microsoft only support if theres an on prem Exchange to manage the AD entries. You can do it through other tools like ADSIEdit but its not supported. If the on prem isn't hosting any mailboxes then its very light weight and can be run on a low powered VM. Microsoft would also licence it for free if it was just to support hybrid.

[chaplic]

At the very least you need to do the Exchange 2019 schema and domain prep updates, then you can get the exchange 2019 powershell cmdlets which dont need to talk to an exchange server. As I found out with exchange 2013 decom just before Christmas there are some use cases where the exchange-server-less cmdlets wont work for you but Id think the chances of that are slim

 

There are LOTS of things to consider when decomming exchange 2013, MS do a good guide and depending on your setup doing it wrong may break exchange online (autodiscover for example) so take care.

 

If salamander is calling exchange PowerShell then maybe it'll still work if you install the 2019 tools but you need to speak to them. Failing that, whack 2019 on a box, nuke hybrid (not needed) decom 2013, job done.

[kevin_lane]

@chaplic

 

Thanks mate, much appreciated.

 

I was a nervous wreck when I was moving our entire domain over to exchange online lol 😂 kept waiting for the batches to fail but worked really well.

[john]

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/decommission-on-premises-exchange is worth a read on options from Microsoft itself.

[kevin_lane]

i might be over thinking this but correct me if im wrong

 

so the new exchange 2019 server is installed and is now showing in my server list (great)

 

but because we have already moved our mailboxes to office 365, and all mailboxes are showing type as office 365, could i just not move the db over to the new server and run the HCW and not have move certs etc over, we use salamander to create our accounts and use entra id to sync...

 

or should i ?

 

its just a shame i have to go through this process, our external DNS and internal DNS for outlook and autodiscover etc point to MS after we moved the mailboxes a few years back, i just dont see the point in having an on prem exchange....

[chaplic]

You dont need to be in exchange hybrid at all if you dont want/ make use of if for things like smtp relay or perhaps critical the rules that auto generate email addresses if thats not done by third party tooling

 

At this moment, your exchange 2019 environment is basically a gui to AD for modifying email properties (and this remains the same post removal of HCW). I would move system mailboxes to them and decom 2013

[3s-gtech]

Since some firewall changes today, the only things our on prem does is:

Gives me the GUI for managing mailboxes and groups

Allows FSRM to send emails

 

I’ve already moved all DNS stuff so mail never hits it, and it can’t be resolved externally so it’s a bit more protected.

 

I like the GUI but it’s not a good reason to keep this thing.

[NegativeKillDeath]

If you have Directory sync for an on prem Active Directory then an on prem Exchange is the only supported configuration. How and when to decommission your on-premises Exchange servers in a hybrid deployment | Microsoft Learn

[chaplic]

This is not true. The latest CU of Exchange 2019 allows powershell cmdlets to be run without an Exchange server, meeting the criteria for using a supported tool as per that link, but not needing an Exchange server.

 

In decommissioning the last server is not uninstalled as that removes various buts of config still needed.