I wasn't prepared for this task, and it was thrown at me to do... Eyes are bleeding from planning reading and planning, would LOVE any input from you guys. First time posting, here and have heard great things about these forums. The Company I work for obtained a new client and a network that is in a cluster at the moment, so I'm having to dig through everything and restructure..
Scenario:
Old Domain/Server: (To be decommissioned)
Server 2003 Standard SP2 (Domain: cosco.com; NETBIOS name: coscoex)
Exchange 2003 SP2 (6.5.7638.1)
Server is a domain controller and exchange server.
Migrating to:
Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (New Domain ad.cosco.com; NETBIOS name: cosco)
VM #1: Server 2012 R2 Domain Controller at 2012 R2 Functionality
VM #2: Server 2012 R2 with Exchange 2013 Standard (Not Yet Installed) Joined to ad.cosco.com domain
VM #3: Server 2012 R2 with Exchange 2010 (Not Yet Installed) joined to ad.cosco.com domain
These are probably not ideal conditions, but I have to work with what I'm given.
Host server (2012 R2) is in work group mode. Hyper V Installed with a VM of Server 2012 R2 and as a DC at a functionality level of Server 2012 R2. I had intended starting at a lower functionality level and raising it later, but.... ya I forgot to change it. If needed I can spool up a new DC with a lower functional level.
DNS, AD and group policy is all jacked up on the 2003 DC so that doesn't matter, All user accounts are going to be created under the new domain. The concern is migrating the mailboxes from Exchange 2003 on the old domain to Exchange 2013 on the new domain. The client is going to provide CSV of the AD accounts that are still valid (a lot of accounts are no longer used or are from people that no longer with the organization.)
I had some ideas, but I'm not sure if they will work. This is something I have never done before (Senior Engineer Quit).
My thoughts:
- Establish a two way trust relationship between the two domains.
- Create two VM's, one with Exchange 2010 and one with Exchange 2013 (They have a 2010 licence that was not used).
- Create the users on the new domain
- Use the double hop method from Exchange 2003 > Exchange 2010 > Exchange 2013
- Link Exchange accounts to the correct user accounts on the new DC.
Can this be done cleanly? Am I going about this the correct way? Any feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.
Note: We are forced to use ad.cosco.com (Obviously not the actual domain name)