How to remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 computer from an Exchange Server 2003 administrative group

You cannot use Exchange System Manager to remove Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 computers from an Exchange Server 2003 administrative group. This article describes how to use the Exchange Server 5.5 Administrator program to remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 computer from an Exchange 2003 administrative group.

1. Log on to the Exchange 2003 computer with an account that has Full Exchange Administrator permissions and Service Account Administrator permissions to the Exchange Server 5.5 site.
2. Start Exchange System Manager.
3. In the left pane, expand Administrative Groups, expand Administrative Group, and then expand Folders.
   
   Note The Folders object is located in the first administrative group that was upgraded. If you do not see the Folders object, check the other administrative groups to locate this object.
4. Right-click Public Folders, and then click View System Folders.
5. Expand Offline Address Book, and then click the offline Address Book.
   
   Note The offline Address Book appears in the following format:
   EX:/o=Organization/ou=Site
6. Right-click the offline Address Book, click Properties, and then click the Replication tab.
7. In the Replicate content to these public stores section, verify that there is an Exchange 2003 computer listed.
   
   If a replica does not exist on an Exchange 2003 computer, click Add, click an Exchange 2003 server name, and then click OK to add a replica to at least one Exchange 2003 computer.
8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 for offline Address Book version 2, if it is present. If it is present, it is located in the Offline Address Book folder.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 7 for the Schedule+ Free Busy folder.
10. Repeat steps 5 through 7 for the Organization Forms folder (under the Eforms Registry folder) if it is present.
11. If public folders are present on the computer that is running Exchange Server 5.5, they must be migrated to an Exchange 2003 computer that is in the administrative group.
    822895 Overview of the Public Folder Migration tool
12. Move any connectors on the Exchange 5.5 computer to a Site Replication Service (SRS) server in the site. This includes any of the following connector types:
    • Site connectors
    • X400 connectors
    • Directory Replication connectors
    
    
    If you have an Internet Mail Service or any outgoing Internet e-mail connectors on the last Exchange 5.5 computer, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for additional information:
    883407 How to switch outgoing Internet e-mail connectors when you migrate from Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Server or to Exchange Server 2003
13. Wait for the replication to complete, and then verify that all the previous steps have been performed before you continue to the next section.
    
    Important Before you continue, verify that all the Exchange 5.5 mailboxes have been moved to another Exchange Server computer. If you have any distribution lists, verify that the Expansion Server setting of each distribution list no longer points to any Exchange 5.5 computer. Allow time for all clients to log on to their mailboxes after they are moved so that their profile is redirected to the new computer. At this point, you may want to turn off the Exchange Server 5.5 computer to make sure that everything functions correctly before you remove Exchange Server 5.5 from the computer. When you are convinced that everything is functioning correctly, remove Exchange Server 5.5 completely from the old computer to prevent any problems that might occur if the Exchange Server 5.5 computer was restarted on the network after you removed it.
    
    After you start the procedure that is described in the next section, you cannot reverse the process. You must complete this procedure.
14. On the Exchange Server 5.5 computer, stop all the Microsoft Exchange services.
15. From the Exchange 2003 or the Exchange Server 5.5 computer, start the Exchange Server 5.5 Administrator program.
16. When you receive the prompt for a server to connect to, type the name of the Exchange 2003 SRS server for that administrative group. As an alternative, you can click File, click Connect to Server, and then type the name of the SRS server.
    
    Note You cannot delete an Exchange Server 5.5 computer if you are connected to it with the Exchange Administrator program. Use Connect to Server to connect to a different Exchange Server computer first. Also, Exchange Administrator will not allow you to delete the server if Exchange services are still running on it.
17. Click the Exchange Server 5.5 computer that you want to remove from the administrative group, and then press DELETE.
18. Start the Active Directory Connector Services management tool. To do so, click Start, click Programs, click Microsoft Exchange, and then click Active Directory Connector.
19. Click Active Directory Connector, and then right-click the Config CA_SRS_Server_Name connection agreement in the right pane.
20. Click Replicate Now.
21. Wait for replication to occur.

Note The Exchange 5.5 Administrator program removes the Exchange Server 5.5 computer from the SRS database. The Config CA object reads this deletion, and then replicates the deletion to the Microsoft Active Directory directory service.

Important Do not remove a Config_CA or an SRS from your Exchange environment unless you are ready to follow the instructions in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: We strongly recommend that you keep all Site Replication Service (SRS) databases and Config_CA connection agreements in place until after you have removed the last Exchange 5.5 server from your organization.

To verify that there are no more system or public folders in use on Exchange Server 5.5, use the Exchange Administrator program to connect to the Exchange Server 5.5 computer. Under the public information store, expand Folder Replication Status. The system and public folders disappear after IS Maintenance runs (it runs on a nightly basis) and discovers that all the content has replicated, and that there are no other replicas to backfill to. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 computer from an Exchange 2000 administrative group, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: