Moving from Exchange 2003 to 2010

[Jobos]

I'm in the process of moving from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010sp1 and when I run the Pre-Deployment Analyzer it is warning about "SMTP is configured to route all messages to a smart host".

 

SMTP instance.... is configured to route all messages via smart host 'relay.embc.uk.com'. Remove this option if this SMTP instance wil be set as the source or target transport server of a routing group connector between Exchange Server 2010 and an Exchange Server 2003 routing group.

 

I intend to leave 2003 running while I move the mailboxes over to the 2010 box.

Is the above error anything to worry about?

[mb2k01]

Don't take this as gospel as 2010 is a fairly new beast to me, but having gone the same route as you (and actually still being there some months later for various reasons!) I recall seeing the message myself.

It should be fine, but I believe 2003 will more than likely still process SMTP traffic.

[CyberNerd]

I intend to leave 2003 running while I move the mailboxes over to the 2010 box.

Is the above error anything to worry about?

 

no, keep it as it is - a smart host is just MS talk for sending email via a relay - which you will probably want to do if your going through embc

[Jobos]

Thanks for the advice.

[SYNACK]

As long as the connector between 2003 and 2010 still exists it will send email between them, had this going the other way for a while with 2010 reciving and 2003 storing for a while.

[luismor]

This only means you are routing your mails using an external SMTP server...

[Jobos]

So I've hit another problem.

 

I'm following Install Exchange 2010 in an Existing Exchange 2003 Organization: Exchange 2010 SP1 Help and I've got to halfway down the page about Configuring the Client Access Server and I keep getting the error

The operation couldn't be performed because object \OWA couldn't be found on .

It doesn't seem to matter if I'm configuring OWA, OAB or any of the other setting listed in this section. It looks like something is not installed but I've followed the guide the best I can and I can't see where I've gone wrong

[Jobos]

Right, I've sorted all but one error now but this one has got me foxed.

 

I've moved a mailbox over to Exchange 2010 and now I can't get Outlook 2003 to connect to it. Encryption is off and I've dropped the firewalls on both the server and client. The error message is:

 

Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The Microsoft Exchange Server computer is not available

 

Everything I can find on Google refers changing the encryption settings but that's already disabled.

[mb2k01]

Is this Outlook accessing internally or externally?

Also, can you confirm that Microsoft Updates are up to date on the client? I'm fairly sure there were a couple of hotfixes for Outlook 2003 to connect to Exchange 2010 released a while back.

[Jobos]

Thank for the reply.

 

The clients are accessing internally and using WSUS for the updates. What classification was the update in WSUS... most likely the one I don't have selected

[mb2k01]

Ah, question I don't know how to answer I'm afraid! I've managed to completely delegate responsibility for WSUS between two of my technicians!

In the traditional Microsoft update sense it would have been a hotfix after sp2 I guess?

[john]

When you setup the Exchange server you need to specificially tell it if you have Outlook 2003 or older clients connecting to it, did you do this as part of the setup?

[Jobos]

No, I don't recall doing that. Can this be changed now using power shell or the Exchange console?

[oxide54]

Is this Outlook accessing internally or externally?

Also, can you confirm that Microsoft Updates are up to date on the client? I'm fairly sure there were a couple of hotfixes for Outlook 2003 to connect to Exchange 2010 released a while back.

 

we didn't require any. although we were running office 2003 sp2. you do need to to either configure the outlook 2003 for secure access to exchange 2010 or configure exchange 2010 not secure.#

 

EDIT: sorry just read above posts, but still my post stands it was okay for us with this setup. 77

 

We found people roaming between outlook 2003 and outlook 2007 more of a problem with the outlook profile getting corrupt.

Edited December 21, 2010 by oxide54

[john]

No, I don't recall doing that. Can this be changed now using power shell or the Exchange console?

 

I believe so, I've not got my book here in-front of me but i think it can be set in the Client Access options.

[rh91uk]

Also - not being funny, one of the tricks i have learnt since dealing with Exchange/Outlook is potentially dumping the local profile on the machine/profile all together fixes issues like this.

[oxide54]

Also - not being funny, one of the tricks i have learnt since dealing with Exchange/Outlook is potentially dumping the local profile on the machine/profile all together fixes issues like this.

 

we find killing the exchange profile is good in 98% of places, although the last 2% the whole windows profile is neccesary.

[Jobos]

Update:

I've installed Exchange update rollup 2 but it's not helped. Further testing shows that Outlook 2007 clients can't connect either so it looks like the problem is with Exchange and not the clients.

 

I've done something wrong but I can't see what

[Willott]

Does OWA work successfully? If it does it would suggest MAPI issues (or RPC over HTTP depending on how you have Outlook->Exchange connection configured), if it doesn't, possible mailstore issues (or OWA not installed...). It sounds vaguely familiar as an issue... but I can't remember for definite if I hit this one (I don't recall 2007 issues, just 2003). Have you tried restarting services on the Exchange box, or look to enable MAPI logging on the Exchange box to see what's occuring.

 

Cheers

 

Will

[Jobos]

On checking the services the RPC Client Access Service had not started. Now I've started it Outlook clients connect fine. The service is set to auto start so I can't understand why it's doing this. I'll give the server a reboot and see if it's still playing up.

[Jobos]

Update:

Rebooting made no difference so I set the service to delayed start which did the trick. RPC client access service now starts every time.

[chrisbrown]

Update:

Rebooting made no difference so I set the service to delayed start which did the trick. RPC client access service now starts every time.

Without trying to sound condescending, I'd really suggest you head along to an Exchange course. I did 10135A in the middle of a 2010 deployment and it completely changed my mentality on the matter. There's all sorts of things that TechNet covers but doesn't quite explain the importance of that you can learn in the course. It also has a heavy reliance on PowerShell which TechNet doesn't enforce overly well. If you can find the time/money to go, I consider it a very worthwhile investment.

[Jobos]

You have highlighted a very important point, but like most of us that work in primary schools we are on our own with no one to ask for help apart from the members of Edugeek. I suppose it's a tall order for a technician to move from 2003 to 2010 anyway, but as I said above we are on our own and I can't see myself attending a 5 day course while I work here.

[Kitkatninja]

You have highlighted a very important point, but like most of us that work in primary schools we are on our own with no one to ask for help apart from the members of Edugeek. I suppose it's a tall order for a technician to move from 2003 to 2010 anyway, but as I said above we are on our own and I can't see myself attending a 5 day course while I work here.

 

Have you thought about seeing if any tech's from secondary schools in your area have done either a migration or transition to 2010? As they may be able to help (on site).

 

You say that you're having problems connecting Outlook to Exchange, have you either opened the required ports on the firewall on Exchange or turned off the firewall? Have you installed SP1 for Exchange 2010? As that has resolved some connectivity issues.

 

Also did you use the Exchange Deployment wizard and the Exchange Calculator to help with your planning and deployment of Exchange 2010?

 

-Ken

Edited January 22, 2011 by Kitkatninja
more questions

[Jobos]

@wagnerk

Thanks for the advice but it's all working now. Turned out to be the RPC client access service not starting so I set it to delayed start and it fires up after every reboot now.