Hi,
I currently have a single Exchange 2010 Server that has all the roles supporting about 500 users. I plan to upgrade to 2013 and move to a four server HA Exchange setup (a CAS array with 2 Server as CAS servers and one DAG with 2 mailbox Servers). My goal is to plan out the transition in steps with no downtime. Email is most critical with my company.
Exchange 2010 is running SP3 on a Windows Server 2010 and a Separate Server as archive. In the new setup, rather than having a separate server for archiving, I am just going to put that on a separate partition.
Here is what I have planned so far.
1. Build out four Servers. 2 CAS and 2 Mailbox Servers. Mailbox Servers have 4 partitions each. One for OS. Second for DB. Third for Logs and Fourth for Archives.
2. Prepare AD for exchange 2013.
3. Install Exchange roles. CAS on two servers and mailbox on 2 servers. Add a DAG. Someone had suggested to me to use an odd number so 3 or 5. Is that a requirement?
4. I am using a third party load balancer for CAS array instead of NLB so I will be setting up that.
5. Do post install to ready up the new CAS. While doing this, can i use the same parameters as assigned on exchange 2010 like can i use the webmail URL for outlook anywhere, OAB etc.
6. Once this is done. I plan to move a few mailboxes as test to the new mailbox servers or DAG.
7. Testing outlook setups on new servers. inbound and outbound email tests.
once this is done, I can migrate over and point all my MX records to the new servers.
Please let me know your thoughts and what am I missing. I like to solidify a flowchart of all steps that I need to do before I start the migration.
thank you for your help in advance