Overview of the Site Consolidation feature in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1

• Plan for site consolidation.
• Prepare a central site.
• Consolidate the site and remove the remote sites.
• Clean up the remote sites.

Earlier versions of Exchange, such as Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, require good network connectivity between the Microsoft Outlook client and the Exchange server. Because of this, if you have a network organization with remote physical locations, you have to locate Exchange servers in these remote locations to achieve a good Outlook client experience. If you use Exchange 2003 with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 in cached mode, you no longer have this restriction. This configuration permits a more cost-effective deployment because you can install Exchange Server 2003 on servers in central sites instead of on servers at remote locations.

This article describes how to move content to central sites from remote locations and how to remove Exchange from the remote locations. For more information, see the following resources. All three resources are updated for Exchange 2003 SP1.

• The "Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide." This deployment guide was released at the same time as Exchange 2003 SP1. This guide includes information about consolidation requirements and about the steps that you have to follow to consolidate sites. To obtain the deployment guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx
• The Exchange Server Deployment Tools program. This program provides a basic outline of the steps to consolidate sites. To obtain Exchange Server Deployment Tools, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=271E51FD-FE7D-42AD-B621-45F974ED34C0&displaylang=en
  After you download the Exdeploy.exe file, double-click it to extract the contents to a folder. After the files are extracted, double-click the Exdeploy.hta file to open Exchange Server Deployment Tools.
• The "Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System" guide. To obtain this planning guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0c968830-aaba-4938-9115-85d2a09736e4.aspx

Plan for site consolidation

Before you consolidate sites, read through the planning steps to learn about the process and to set your expectations. Read the updated "Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide," the information in the updated Exchange Server Deployment Tools program, and the updated "Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System" guide. The deployment tools outline the basic consolidation steps, and the deployment guide and the planning guide outline the consolidation details.

Prepare a central site

Before you consolidate remote sites, you must prepare a central site to consolidate the remote content to. To do this, follow these general steps:

1. Install Exchange 2003 on a server in the central site.
2. Deploy sufficient servers to consolidate the remote content to.
3. Upgrade the consolidation servers to Exchange 2003 SP1.

To deploy the initial Exchange 2003 server that you will use for site consolidation, use the Exchange Server Deployment Tools program. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Double-click the Exdeploy.hta file.
2. On the home page, click Deploy the first Exchange 2003 server.
3. In the Follow this process column, click one of the following options:
   • Click Coexistence with Exchange 5.5 to deploy Exchange 2003 into an existing Exchange Server 5.5 organization. Then, follow the steps in the three-phase process that Exchange Server Deployment Tools presents. You must install Exchange 2003 on new server hardware and then join that server to the Exchange Server 5.5 organization.
   • Click Coexistence with Mixed Mode Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5 if you have already deployed Exchange 2000 into a mixed-mode organization that uses Exchange 2000 and Exchange Server 5.5. Follow the instructions in Exchange Server Deployment Tools to upgrade each instance of the Active Directory Connector (ADC) in the site before you install Exchange 2003 on the first server.

Note We recommend that you install Exchange 2003 on a consolidation server in a site that contains a Microsoft Exchange Site Replication Service (SRS). This way, a remote site does not own the SRS for the central site. If a remote site owns the SRS for the central site, you cannot consolidate this remote site. Alternatively, you can manually create an SRS on the Exchange 2003 server in the central site to make sure that it owns its naming context.

For more information about how to create the SRS in the Exchange 2003 site, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Make sure that the supported Exchange versions are installed on the central site servers

You must deploy sufficient servers in the central site to handle the services and the content that you want to consolidate from the remote sites. Make sure that the servers that will provide these server roles are running the versions of Exchange that are shown in the following table, or later versions. "Yes" indicates that the Exchange version supports the server role. Note We strongly suggest that the server that will run Offline Address Book Generator be running Exchange 2003 because an offline Address Book that is generated in Exchange 2003 is smaller and less likely to be generated when it is not required. You can use an offline Address Book that is generated in Exchange 2000, but we do not recommend it. If you use it, performance may be affected.

Perform the post-installation steps

After you have deployed sufficient Exchange 2003 servers in the central site, follow the appropriate post-installation steps in Exchange Server Deployment Tools. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Exchange Server Deployment Tools home page, click Perform post-installation steps.
2. In the Consolidating Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode section, click consolidating sites in Exchange mixed mode.
   
   The Consolidate Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode page that appears outlines the steps that you must perform to consolidate content and to remove servers from remote sites. These steps are organized in three phases. To consolidate the remote sites, follow the steps on these pages in the order that is designated.
   • Phase 1 - Preparing for site consolidation
     This page guides you through the process of preparing public folder content, mailboxes, distribution lists, and contacts that you want to consolidate into a central site.
   • Phase 2 - Consolidating remote content
     This page guides you through the process of moving public folder content, mailboxes, distribution lists and contacts to a central site.
   • Phase 3 - Removing a site
     This phase guides you through the process of removing a site from an Exchange mixed-mode organization.

Perform additional site consolidation steps

After you have deployed the consolidation servers in a central site, you must follow these additional steps to prepare for site consolidation:

1. Install Exchange 2003 SP1 Active Directory Connector (ADC).
   To install Exchange 2003 SP1 ADC, upgrade the existing ADCs to Exchange 2003 SP1. Exchange 2003 SP1 ADC is a prerequisite for consolidation. In the Exchange System Manager graphical user interface (GUI) in Exchange 2003 SP1, you cannot make cross-site moves until all ADCs in the forest have been upgraded to Exchange 2003 SP1.
   
   For more information about how to upgrade the ADCs, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   306505 The Active Directory Connector upgrade does not succeed if certain files are in use
   328839 How to apply Exchange service packs and hotfixes
2. Upgrade several target servers to Exchange 2003 SP1.
   You must upgrade several target servers to Exchange 2003 SP1 before consolidation. Any server that you plan to move mailboxes to from remote sites must be running Exchange 2003 SP1. Additionally, you must upgrade one server to Exchange 2003 SP1 to act as a WMI server when you move the public folders.
3. Install the Exchange Server 5.5 DS/IS hotfix.
   To preserve Exchange Server 5.5 public folder access control lists (ACLs), you must install the Exchange Server 5.5 DS/IS hotfix that is included in the May 2004 Update Rollup for Exchange Server 5.5 on all Exchange Server 5.5 public folder servers before you move public folders, mailboxes, contacts, or distribution lists between sites. If you do not install this hotfix, you will be blocked from moving these items between sites.

For more information about the May 2004 Update Rollup for Exchange Server 5.5, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about ESMTP X verbs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Consolidate the site and remove the remote sites

After you have deployed a central site and after clients are running Outlook 2003, you can start to consolidate content from remote sites. This includes consolidating public folders, mailboxes, distribution groups, contacts, and services to servers in the central site. Examples of services include offline Address Book generation responsibility and foreign connectors.

To consolidate the site and to remove the remote sites, follow these steps:

1. Replicate public folders to the central site.
   Consolidate public folder content from the remote site to the central site. To do this, add an Exchange 2000 server or an Exchange 2003 server as the target public folder content server in the central site to the replica list of all public folders that are in the remote site. Make sure that there is an Exchange 2003 SP1 server in the central site that can be used as the public folder WMI server during the public folder move process.
   
   To add a target server in the central site to the replica list, use the Exchange 2003 SP1 PFMigrate tool against all the servers in the remote site that have public folders. To do this, open Exchange Server Deployment Tools, click Consolidate Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode, click Phase 1, and then go to step 4.
   
   Note You must use the Exchange Server 2003 SP1 version of the PFMigrate tool. This version is available as part of the updated Exchange Server Deployment Tools program. To obtain the Exchange Server Deployment Tools program, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=271E51FD-FE7D-42AD-B621-45F974ED34C0&displaylang=en
   Do not delete the original public folder server from the replica list. After you add the Exchange server in the central site to the replica list, clients have constant access to public folders while the mailboxes are moved from the remote site. You do not have to configure public folder affinity.
2. Move mailboxes to the central site.
   To move mailboxes from a remote server that is running Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange 2000, or Exchange 2003 to an Exchange 2003 SP1 server in the central site, use the Exchange 2003 SP1 Exchange System Manager, or use Active Directory Users and Computers, on a server that has Exchange 2003 SP1 Exchange System Manager installed. The Move Mailbox functionality in the Exchange Task Wizard has a new Cross Administrative Group Move option in Exchange 2003 SP1 to make cross-site moves easier.
   
   After the mailboxes are moved, you must wait for the mailbox changes to replicate to Active Directory and to each Exchange Server 5.5 site before you remove the remote site.
   
   Important If you remove the site before the automated cleanup process for distribution lists has completed, distribution list membership may be lost.
3. Clean up public folders, distribution lists, and contacts.
   After you move the mailboxes, move any additional Exchange Server 5.5 directory objects from the remote site. This includes contacts or custom recipients, distribution lists, and public folder directory objects.
   
   To move distribution lists and contacts, use the Object Rehome tool. To do this, open Exchange Server Deployment Tools, click Consolidate Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode, click Phase 2, go to step 5, and then click Run Object Rehome now.
   
   After all the mailboxes have been moved to the central site, remove the public folder replicas from the remote site. To do this, open Exchange Server Deployment Tools, click Consolidate Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode, click Phase 3, go to step 1, and then click Run PFMigrate now.
   
   After you perform this step, the public folder directory objects will be rehomed to the central site.

Clean up the remote sites

Remove the servers

Sometimes you may want to remove Exchange Server 5.5 servers from a remote site without decommissioning the site. For example, you may want to remove these servers before the site is decommissioned so that the server hardware can be used for other purposes.

Remove an Exchange Server 5.5 server from a site with multiple Exchange Server 5.5 servers

To remove an Exchange Server 5.5 server from a site where multiple Exchange Server 5.5 servers exist, follow these steps:

1. Back up the Exchange server.
2. Make sure that there are no mail connectors on this server.
3. Run the Setup program from the Exchange Server CD, and then click the Remove All option.
   
   For more information about how to remove an Exchange Server 5.5 server from a site, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   189286 How to delete a server from a site

Remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 server in a mixed-mode site

To remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 server in a site where Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange 2000, and Exchange 2003 servers exist, use the Exchange System Manager program.

For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 server when it is the last server in a site

If the last Exchange Server 5.5 server in a site is the last server in that site, you must decommission the site before you remove that server. After you decommission the site, you can remove Exchange Server 5.5 by using the Exchange Server 5.5 Setup program.

Consider these removal issues

The following are issues that you must consider when you remove servers from remote sites.

• Removing the first Exchange Server 5.5 server in a site
  If the server that you are removing is the first Exchange 5.5 server that was installed in a site, follow the recommendations in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
  152959 How to remove the first Exchange server in a site
• Key Management server
  If the server that you are removing is also a Key Management server (KM server), follow the process in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to move the KM server between servers in the site:
  154531 Moving the KM server to another server in the site
  Alternatively, see "Server Backups" by visiting the following Microsoft Web site:
  https://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/exchangeserver55/reskit/exc03a.mspx
  Note that a KM server is not a feature of Exchange 2003. Therefore, if your goal is an Exchange 2003 organization, or if you want to move the KM server database across to another site for consolidation, you may want to migrate your KM server environment into Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Certificate Services. See the "Key Archival and Management in Windows Server 2003" white paper for more information. To see this white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/296f87df-06c3-4e27-89ff-5283cb76fb811033.mspx?mfr=true
• Site and directory replication connectors
  If the server that you are removing is a bridgehead for a site or directory replication connector and if it is not the last server in the site, you must redirect the site and directory replication connectors to another server in the site. Make sure that both sides of the connector are updated with the new information.
• Foreign connectors (Notes/GroupWise)
  If the server that you are removing has a foreign connector (either Lotus Notes or Novell GroupWise), you must remove the connector before you remove the server. You must move the custom recipients that were created by the connector to a central site as part of the directory cleanup in "Phase 3 - Removing the Remote Site." After you move the contacts that were created by the connector, you can install a new Exchange 2003 foreign connector and configure it with an import and export container in the Active Directory to match the existing contacts. After you configure the new connector, it will take ownership of the existing contacts.
• Foreign connectors (MS Mail, cc:Mail, SNADS/PROFS)
  Because these connectors are not available with Exchange 2003, if you want to remove an Exchange 5.5 server with these connectors, you must decommission these connectors. If connectivity is still needed to these systems, consider using SMTP or leaving an Exchange 5.5 server intact somewhere in the organization.
• X400 connector
  If an X400 connector is being used as a site connector between Exchange sites on the server that you are removing, move the X400 connector to another server, unless this is the last server in the site. If it is the last server, remove the X400 connector. If the X400 connector is being used to route mail externally, install a new X400 connector on an Exchange 2003 server in the central site, and remove the X400 connector from the remote site.
• Internet Mail Connector
  If an Internet Mail Connector (IMC) exists on the Exchange 5.5 server that is to be removed, move the connector functionality to an Exchange 2003 server in the main site. To do this, create an SMTP connector on an Exchange 2003 server, configure it for mail handling, and then remove the existing Internet Mail Connector on the Exchange 5.5 server.
• Non-leaf nodes
  If an Exchange 5.5 site is being used as a replication link to other Exchange 5.5 sites, the Exchange 5.5 server should not be removed until you first remove all the leaf nodes or reconfigure them to perform directory replication. For example, the main site is configured for directory replication to site A, and site A is configured for directory replication to site B. You must not completely remove Site A until you remove or reconfigure site B. You can move the public folders, the mailboxes, the groups, and the contacts from site A. However, site A must remain intact with at least one Exchange 5.5 server or SRS to perform directory replication.
  
  Note A non-leaf node is a site that has more than one directory replication connector, not including ADNAutoDRC connectors.
• Offline Address Book
  If the server that you are removing is also configured to generate the offline Address book and if the server is not the last server in the site, configure another server in the site to generate the offline Address Book. If this is the last server in the site, you do not have to reconfigure it. The offline Address Book for a remote site is not needed after all the mailboxes are moved from the site. Therefore, the offline Address Book will not have to be replicated to the central site.
• System Folders
  The system folders (EventConfig, OAB, F/B) from the remote Exchange 5.5 site are not needed after the site is removed. Therefore, do not move them to the new target site.

Decommission a site

To decommission a site where the last Exchange Server 5.5 server is the last Exchange server in the site, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that no objects remain in the site.
   Make sure that no mailboxes, distribution lists, contacts, or mail-enabled public folders exist that reference the site. If objects such as these remain in the site, data loss may occur when you decommission the site. Make sure both that no objects have been left unmigrated. Also, make sure that no objects remain in the process of being migrated.
   
   Objects that you must make sure do not remain are the following:
   • Directory objects
     Directory objects that are in the process of being migrated (stub objects in the source site) are hidden and have two X500 proxies stamped on them in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory. To verify that no directory objects are still being migrated, look for hidden objects in the various recipient containers in Exchange Server 5.5. Additionally, export the directory and include hidden objects. Make sure that no objects with an "X500:ADCDeleteWhenUnlinked" proxy or an "X500:ADCDoNotReplicate" proxy exist in the directory.
   • Mailboxes
     To make sure that no mailboxes exist on the server that you are removing, use the Exchange Server 5.5 Administrator program to view the Mailbox Resources container on the server object.
   • Public folders
     To make sure that no public folder replicas exist on the server that you are removing, use the PFMigrate tool to generate a report on the replica status on the server. To do this, use the following command:
     PFMigrate /S:Source_Server /R
     Additionally, view the public folder "instances" information on the servers in the remote site to make sure that the replication is complete. PFMigrate does not remove public folder instances from the public folder server until the replica has finished replicating and until the Delete Pending state has been removed.
   • Contacts and distribution lists
     To verify that there are no unmigrated contacts or distribution lists in the source remote site, rerun the scan phase of the Object Rehome tool to make sure that no additional objects remain to be migrated. To do this, open Exchange Server Deployment Tools, click Consolidate Sites in Exchange Mixed Mode, click Phase 3, go to step 4, and then click Run Object Rehome tool now.
     
     Note Because this action does not verify that the transition of distribution list membership is complete, you must still verify that the directory objects have completed migration.
2. Remove ADC recipient Connection Agreements.
   To delete any recipient Connection Agreements to the server in the site that you are removing, use ADC Admin. Because the site is an Exchange Server 5.5 site, you will not have any Configuration Connection Agreements to remove.
3. Remove Exchange Server 5.5 directory replication connectors and site connectors.
   Use the Exchange Server 5.5 Administrator program to remove all directory replication connectors on the last Exchange Server 5.5 server. Do this on the Directory Replication object in the Configuration container. Also, make sure that the directory replication connector from other sites back to the server that is being removed is also deleted. Typically, you can do this at the same time by clicking Yes when you are prompted with the question "Should the directory replication connector in the remote site 'Site' be deleted also?".
   
   You must also remove any mailflow (site/x400/IMS) connectors to and from this site by using the Exchange Server 5.5 Admin on the Connections object. After the connectors are removed, wait for replication, and then make sure that the site is removed throughout the organization. To do this, review the Administrative Groups in Exchange System Manager. Look in the Exchange Server 5.5 Administrator program elsewhere in the organization to make sure that the remote site no longer appears.
4. Recalculate routing.
   In any other Exchange Server 5.5 site that was connected to the site that was removed, recalculate routing. To recalculate routing, view the properties of the Site Addressing object under the Configuration object. Click the Routing tab, and then click Recalculate Routing. Recalculation occurs automatically according to the Routing Calculation Schedule for the Exchange Server site, but you can manually recalculate routing to speed up the process.
5. Remove Exchange Server 5.5.
   Use the Exchange Server 5.5 Setup program to remove Exchange Server 5.5 on the remote server.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: