Can we run Exchange Server 2010 on 2008 domain controllers?

[coconurtaler]

At the moment we have 2 server 2008 domain controllers and are running Exchange 2003 on a 2003 server. We would like to upgrade to Exchange 2010 but the only servers we could do this on are the domain controllers.

From what I've read so far it is not recommended to run Exchange on a domain controller but is anyone doing this or have any advice?

Thanks

[K.C.Leblanc]

No,

 

The only way round this would be to visualise one of the servers.

[gshaw]

Exchange on DC... big no no avoid at all costs!

[coconurtaler]

Exchange on DC... big no no avoid at all costs!

 

Does it make a difference if you have more than one DC?

[K.C.Leblanc]

Does it make a difference if you have more than one DC?

 

No,

 

In an ideal world your DCs should just be DCs, DNS and maybe DHCP. Nothing else.

[SYNACK]

Ideal worlds are few and far between, I have run Exchang 2003 on a DC without any major problems but have never tried it with 2008. On the plus side given as you have Server 2008 you also have virtualisation rights for a single instance of the OS as well as the base install on the machine assuming Standard, you get four with Enterprise. At any rate you should just be able to enable the Hyper-V roal on the server and install a virtual server to put exchange on. 2010 is quite lite in comparison to older versions and just needs a good stack of RAM.

 

You can install all sorts of stuff on a DC and still have it run fine despite the cries of best practice from some. It is better not to stack heavy MS products on top though as although they generally work fine they can cause issues later.

[sukh]

1. You can do this but you will have MAJOR issues from my experience.

2. Virtualise one server, have on DC virtualiased.

 

Sukh

[coconurtaler]

Thanks for confirmation about keeping Exchange off the DC's. I will have a look into virtualisation some time. Thanks again.

[NikChillin]

No,

 

The only way round this would be to visualise one of the servers.

 

Oh, I see

[K.C.Leblanc]

Oh, I see

 

Sorry, I'm in the habit of saying something is impossible, when it's actually just not a particularly good idea. Must be something to do with working with teachers.

[Arthur]

Here are a list of the issues you would have...

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/omers/archive/2011/04/11/microsoft-exchange-server-on-domain-controller.aspx

 

As Sukh mentioned, it's not worth it.

[tonyd]

About the only time MS recommend Exchange with a DC role is within Small Business Edition, SBS 2011 Editions Overview, but as this is limited to 75 users it is not of much use to those of us stuck in schools!