How to Remove the Last Exchange 5.5 Server

As organizations upgrade their Exchange Server 5.5 infrastructures to Exchange 2000 Server, they need to remove and upgrade Exchange 5.5 servers. Deleting the server from the organization means removing the Exchange 5.5 server's directory entries that a mixed-mode Exchange 2000 administrative group includes in both the Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory (AD). However, you need to avoid some pitfalls in the process.

The lessons I learned from deleting the last Exchange 5.5 server in an administrative group in my company's Exchange organization will be useful to administrators involved in planning and performing migrations to Exchange 2000. "Related Reading," page 6, lists Microsoft articles that provide more detailed information about some of the steps.

In my organization, three servers were in the administrative group NSIS European Messaging Team: DBOIST-MSXCL (running Exchange 5.5), DBOEXCVS1 (running Exchange 2000), and VBEEXCPS01 (running Exchange 2000 with Site Replication Service—SRS). My objective was to remove DBOIST-MSXCL from the administrative group with minimum disruption to service. . . .