Exchange Server 2007: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008
As you may have read in our Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2008 blog post, the RTM version of Exchange 2007 cannot be installed on Windows Server 2008, but Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) will be supported for installation on Windows Server 2008. Here's the tricky part: Exchange 2007 SP1 can be installed on Windows Server 2008, but Windows Server 2008 cannot be installed on Exchange 2007 SP1. This means that all computers running Exchange 2007 SP1 must have Windows Server 2008 already installed before Exchange can be installed on the system. This also means that you cannot take an existing Exchange 2007 server (RTM or SP1) running on Windows Server 2003, and do an in-place upgrade of the operating system to Windows Server 2008.
Or can you? I decided to give it a try myself (so you don't have to – please don't try this at home, or at work). I was completely undeterred by the many technical reasons why an in-place upgrade of the operating system cannot be performed on an Exchange server. For example:
There is the paradox of needing the Exchange pre-requisites for Windows 2008 before Exchange 2007 SP1 is installed. This includes Windows 2008 counterparts pre-requisites, such as RSAT-ADDS (the Active Directory Management tools in Windows Server 2008), Windows PowerShell (which ships in Windows Server 2008), and IIS (IIS 7.0 ships in Windows Server 2008, and it is significantly different from IIS 6.0, which ships in Windows Server 2003). If Exchange is already on the box (Windows 2003), you're installing the Exchange pre-requisites for Windows 2008 after Exchange is already installed on Windows 2008 (because you have to upgrade the OS to Windows 2008 before you can install any of the Exchange pre-requisites).
In the meantime, we encourage you to try out SP1 and Windows Server 2008 in your labs. Here's some fresh content and other useful links to help you get started:
- What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1
- How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008
- Windows Server 2008 RC0 Enterprise Trial Download
- Terminology Changes
Microsoft, Exchange Server 2007, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Longhorn, Upgrading, Guide, Tutorial, Knowledgebase, Article
I just did the upgrade from windows 2003 to 2008 on my exchange 2007 server. I had to deinstall powershell, then install the windows 2008 powershell. You also need to remove the dependency for the Exchange Information Store and SA service for NtLmSsp, because NtLmSsp is not available in 2008.
Everything is working now and it has been a few days. The event log looks good also.