After ensuring that your organization meets the necessary prerequisites, the procedures referenced in this topic guide you through the deployment process. This process includes upgrading your Microsoft Active Directory® directory service forest to the Exchange 2003 schema, and then upgrading your Exchange 2000 servers to Exchange Server 2003.

Table 1 lists the required permissions or roles for the procedures referenced in this topic.

Table 1   Procedures referenced in this topic and corresponding permissions

For more information about managing and delegating permissions and user and group authorities, see the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide.

Before installing Exchange Server 2003 in your organization, it is important that you are familiar with your organization's security requirements. Familiarizing yourself with these requirements helps ensure that your Exchange Server 2003 deployment is as secure as possible. For more information about planning Exchange Server 2003 security, see the following guides:

• Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System
  
• Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide
  

Exchange Server Deployment Tools are tools and documentation that lead you through the entire upgrade process. To ensure that all of the required tools and services are installed and running properly, it is recommended that you run Exchange 2003 Setup through the Exchange Server Deployment Tools. For detailed steps, see How to Start the Exchange Server Deployment Tools.

Note:
You must download the latest version of the Exchange Server Deployment Tools before you run them. To receive the latest version of the tools, see the Downloads for Exchange 2003 Web site.

After you start the tools and specify that you want to Upgrade from Exchange 2000 Native Mode, you are provided with a checklist detailing the following installation steps:

• Verify that your organization meets the specified requirements.
  
• Run the DCDiag tool.
  
• Run the NetDiag tool.
  
• Run ForestPrep.
  
• Run DomainPrep.
  
• Run Exchange Setup.
  

With the exception of running the DCDiag and NetDiag tools, each of these installation steps is detailed later in this topic. For more information about the DCDiag and NetDiag tools, refer to the Exchange Server Deployment Tools. It is recommended that you run the DCDiag and NetDiag tools on every server on which you plan to install Exchange Server 2003.

Using Exchange Server Deployment Tools, you can run specific tools and utilities to verify that your organization is ready to install Exchange Server 2003. If you do not want to run Exchange Server Deployment Tools, read the remaining sections in this topic for information about manually installing Exchange Server 2003.

Before you upgrade to Exchange Server 2003, ensure that your network and servers meet the following system-wide requirements:

• Domain controllers are running Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Windows Server 2003.
  
• Global catalog servers are running Windows 2000 SP3 or later, or Windows Server 2003. It is recommended that you have a global catalog server in every domain where you plan to install Exchange Server 2003.
  
• Servers are running Windows 2000 Server SP3 or Windows Server 2003 Active Directory.
  
• You backed up your Exchange 2000 databases.
  

For more information about Windows Server 2003, Active Directory, and Domain Name System (DNS), see the following resources:

• Windows Server 2003 Help
  
• Best Practice: Active Directory Design for Exchange 2000 Server
  
• Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System
  

Before you upgrade to Exchange Server 2003, ensure that your Exchange Server 2003 servers meet the requirements that are described in this section.

Hardware Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Windows 2000 Components

When upgrading to Exchange Server 2003, the current state of the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4), and Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) services is preserved. Furthermore, if you are upgrading to Exchange Server 2003 on a server running Windows 2000, Exchange Setup installs and enables the Microsoft .NET Framework and ASP.NET components automatically, which are prerequisites for Exchange Server 2003.

Important:
Unless it is necessary that you run a particular service, you should disable it. For example, if you do not use POP3, IMAP4, or NNTP, you should disable these services on all of your Exchange Server 2003 servers after you install Exchange Server 2003.

For more information about installing these components, see Windows 2000 Help.

Exchange Server 2003 supports the deployment of Exchange in a manner that distributes server tasks among front-end and back-end servers. Specifically, a front-end server accepts requests from POP3, IMAP4, and RPC/HTTP clients, and proxies them to the appropriate back-end server for processing.

If your Exchange 2000 organization takes advantage of front-end and back-end architecture, you must upgrade your front-end servers before you upgrade your back-end servers.

For more information about front-end and back-end architecture, see Configuring Exchange 2003 for Client Access.

For information about front-end and back-end scenarios, configurations, and installation, see the following guides:

• Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System
  
• Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server Front-End and Back-End Server Topology Guide
  

Before you begin upgrading your Exchange 2000 Server organization to Exchange Server 2003, it is important that you prepare your organization for the upgrade process. This section provides recommended and required pre-upgrade procedures.

Upgrading the Operating Systems

Removing Unsupported Components

The following components are not supported in Exchange Server 2003:

• Microsoft Mobile Information Server
  
• Instant Messaging service
  
• Exchange Chat Service
  
• Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server
  
• Key Management Service
  
• cc:Mail connector
  
• MS Mail connector
  

To successfully upgrade an Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, you must first use Exchange Setup to remove these components. For more information about removing these unsupported components, see Exchange 2000 Help and Mobile Information Server Help.

Note:
If you want to retain these components, do not upgrade the Exchange 2000 Servers that are running them. Instead, install Exchange Server 2003 on other servers in your organization.

Upgrading International Versions of Exchange

When upgrading from Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, you must upgrade to the same language version of Exchange Server 2003. For example, you cannot use Exchange Setup to upgrade a German version of Exchange 2000 Server to a French version of Exchange Server 2003.

Important:

You can use Exchange Setup to upgrade an English version of Exchange 2000 Server to the Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, or Korean versions of Exchange Server 2003. The Novell GroupWise connector, however, is not supported on any of these language versions. Therefore, if this connector is installed on your English version of Exchange 2000 Server, you must remove it before you can upgrade to Exchange Server 2003.

Even if you previously ran Exchange 2000 ForestPrep, you must still run Exchange 2003 ForestPrep. For detailed steps about how to run ForestPrep for Exchange Server 2003, see How to Run Exchange Server 2003 ForestPrep.

Exchange 2003 ForestPrep extends the Active Directory schema to include Exchange-specific classes and attributes. ForestPrep also creates the container object for the Exchange organization in Active Directory. The schema extensions supplied with Exchange Server 2003 are a superset of those supplied with Exchange 2000 Server. For information about the schema changes between Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003, see "Exchange 2003 Schema Changes" in the guide What's New in Exchange Server 2003.

In the domain where the schema master resides, run Exchange 2003 ForestPrep in your Active Directory forest. (By default, the schema master runs on the first Windows domain controller installed in a forest.) Exchange Setup verifies that you are running ForestPrep in the correct domain. If you are not in the correct domain, Setup informs you which domain contains the schema master. For information about how to determine which of your domain controllers is the schema master, see Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 Help.

Note:
If you used the schema manager to index Exchange 2000 schema attributes, you must verify and reapply any manual changes you made to the schema after Exchange 2003 ForestPrep updates the schema.

The account you use to run ForestPrep must be a member of the Enterprise Administrator and the Schema Administrator groups. While you are running ForestPrep, you designate an account or group that has Exchange Full Administrator permissions to the organization object. This account or group has the authority to install and manage Exchange Server 2003 throughout the forest. This account or group also has the authority to delegate additional Exchange Full Administrator permissions after the first server is installed.

Important:

When you delegate Exchange roles to a security group, it is recommended that you use Global or Universal security groups and not Domain Local security groups. Although Domain Local security groups can work, they are limited in scope to their own domain. In many scenarios, Exchange Setup needs to authenticate to other domains during the installation. Exchange Setup may fail in this case because of a lack of permissions to your external domains. The account or group you select does not override your previous account or previous delegations; it adds to them.

Note:
To decrease replication time, it is recommended that you run Exchange 2003 ForestPrep on a domain controller in your root domain.

After you run ForestPrep and allow time for replication, you must run Exchange 2003 DomainPrep. DomainPrep creates the groups and permissions necessary for Exchange servers to read and modify user attributes. Even if you previously ran Exchange 2000 DomainPrep, you must run Exchange 2003 DomainPrep.

For detailed steps about how to run DomainPrep for Exchange Server 2003, see How to Run Exchange Server 2003 DomainPrep.

The Exchange Server 2003 version of DomainPrep performs the following actions in the domain:

• Creates Exchange Domain Servers and Exchange Enterprise Servers groups.
  
• Nests the global Exchange Domain Servers into the Exchange Enterprise Servers local group.
  
• Creates the Exchange System Objects container, which is used for mail-enabled public folders.
  
• Sets permissions for the Exchange Enterprise Servers group at the root of the domain, so that Recipient Update Service has the appropriate access to process recipient objects.
  
• Modifies the AdminSdHolder template where Windows sets permissions for members of the local Domain Administrator group.
  
• Adds the local Exchange Domain Servers group to the Pre-Windows 2000 Compatible Access group.
  
• Performs Setup pre-installation checks.
  

The account you use to run DomainPrep must be a member of the Domain Administrators group in the local domain and a local computer administrator. You must run DomainPrep in the following domains:

• The root domain.
  
• All domains that will contain Exchange Server 2003 servers.
  
• All domains that will contain Exchange Server 2003 mailbox-enabled objects (such as users and groups), even if no Exchange servers will be installed in these domains.
  
• All domains that contain global catalog servers that Exchange directory access components may potentially use.
  
• All domains that will contain Exchange Server 2003 users and groups that you will use to manage your Exchange Server 2003 organization.
  

Note:
Running DomainPrep does not require any Exchange permissions. Only Domain Administrator permissions are required in the local domain.

To upgrade the first Exchange 2000 Server in the forest, you must use an account that has Exchange Full Administrator permissions at the organization level and is a local administrator on the computer. Specifically, you can use the account you designated while you were running ForestPrep.

Before you begin your upgrade, you should back up your Exchange 2000 Servers and databases, Active Directory, and ensure that the databases can be mounted on backup servers. For more information about how to back up your Exchange 2000 servers, see the guide Exchange Server 2003 Disaster Recovery Operations Guide. For more information about how to back up Active Directory, see Best Practice Active Directory Design for Exchange 2000.

Note:
You can mount an Exchange 2000 SP3 database on an Exchange Server 2003 server. You cannot, however, mount an Exchange 2003 database on an Exchange 2000 SP3 server.

Close all Exchange 2000 Microsoft Management Console (MMC) applications, such as Exchange System Manager and Active Directory Users and Computers. If you are using Terminal Services or Windows Remote Desktop to perform the upgrade, ensure that all Exchange MMC applications are closed on both the console and on other Terminal Services logons.

For detailed steps about how to install Exchange Server 2003, see How to Install Exchange Server 2003.

Important:
In Exchange, the default size limit for sending and receiving messages is 10,240 KB. This default size limit applies to new installations and to upgrades from Exchange 2000 Server in which no size limit was set. If you specify a size limit other than the default, the existing setting is preserved. If you want the size limit to be unlimited, you can manually change the setting to No limit.

Note:
Additionally, the maximum item size limit for public folder stores is set to 10,240 KB. As with the default message size limit, this setting applies to new installations and to upgrades in which no size limit was set. Existing size limits are preserved during an upgrade.

Note:
When you upgrade Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, offline address book replication between your servers may no longer function as you expect. For more information about how to correct offline address book replication problems, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 817377, Offline Address Book Replication Does Not Work After You Upgrade to Exchange Server 2003.

For important information about post-deployment steps, see Post-Installation Steps for Exchange Server 2003. That topic includes information about how to verify that your Exchange installation was successful. It also includes information about the latest Exchange Server 2003 service packs and security patches.

Many Exchange 2000 Server tuning parameters (for example, those parameters listed in the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Internals: Quick Tuning Guide), are no longer applicable in Exchange 2003; in fact, some of these parameters cause problems. If you previously tuned your Exchange 2000 Servers by adding any of the settings listed in this section, you must manually remove them on your servers running Exchange Server 2003. The tools you use to remove those settings are Registry Editor, Internet Information Services Manager, and ADSI Edit. For information about how to use Registry Editor, Internet Information Services Manager, and ADSI Edit, see Windows Server Help.

Initial Memory Percentage

Extensible Storage System Heaps

DSAccess Memory Cache Tuning

Log Buffers

Max Open Tables

After ensuring that your organization meets certain prerequisites, you can run Exchange Setup to uninstall Exchange Server 2003. For detailed steps, see How to Uninstall Exchange Server 2003.