Moving from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 within a SBS 2003 Domain

Question

I am currently facing the problem that my Exchange 2003 Database will hit the 75 GB limit in the next months, so I am thinking about retiring our current Exchange 2003 which is part of a Small Business Server 2003 Standard installation.

This is our current Setup

• 1x Dell Power Edge 2900 with SBS 2003 (DC/Exchange/Fileserver)

and I would like to migrate to the following Setup

• [old] 1x Dell Power Edge 2900 with SBS 2003 (DC & Fileserver)
• [new] 1x Dell R510 with Windows Server 2008 Std & Exchange 2010 Std.

this raises a bunch of Questions:

1. Is it technically possible to install and add Exchange 2010 in a Domain which primary and only DC is on a SBS2003?

2. Is this legal in terms of the SBS 2003 License?

3. Do I need to buy new Windows 2008 User CALs or am I fine with the SBS 2003 CALs we already own?

Answer 1

You can add an Exchange 2010 Server to your network. As long as your Windows Small Business Server 2003 machine has Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 installed and your AD forest functional level and domain functional level are Windows 2003 Exchange 2010 will install and work fine. You will be able to move mailboxes from the Exchange 2003 installation on the Windows SBS machine to the new Exchange 2010 installation and Outlook will automatically redirect users to their new mailbox location. It's really quite slick.

I've added E2K7 to a Windows SBS 2003 domain in the past and it's been no problem. Nobody has ever asked me to add E2K10 but I'd anticipate no problems.

Licensing questions really need to referred to Microsoft for authoritative answers. I would expect that you're going to need to purchase a Windows Server 2008 server license, an Exchange 2010 server license, and a sufficient number of Exchange 2010 CALs (device or user) for your needs. Microsoft can tell you that for sure.

There is no restriction that I'm aware of in the Windows SBS 2003 license that prevents you from having additional Exchange Server computers. (The restrictions relate to multi-domain forests and maximum numbers of users but don't address maximum numbers of *servers.) Again, licensing questions should go to Microsoft for an authoritative answer.