If an old Exchange server is not part of a domain, does that imply that it can be safely removed without affecting mailflow?

Question

We are doing some cleanup, and there is an old Exchange VM hanging around that we want to get rid of. We do not have the local admin credentials, but we can ascertain that it is not part of the current domain. Seeing as the new production Exchange server is working fine, is it safe to power off and remove the old server?

*I should probably note that this is not an Edge Transport server. There was an upgrade to Exchange 2013 at some point in the past, and there is only one functioning Exchange server now.

If it's not a member of the current domain then it can't do any harm to delete it. Turn it off for a day or two and if no issues arise then delete it. — joeqwerty, Oct 23 '13 at 20:49
@joeqwerty - sorry, posted it and then had to add the UPDATE...hence I've removed my previous comment and agree with you. :) — TheCleaner, Oct 23 '13 at 21:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 23 '13 at 21:37

UPDATE: my reading comprehension is off...sorry to JoeQwerty and the OP. In your case, if the box isn't part of the existing Exchange Org and isn't even part of the existing domain in AD, then I would agree that powering it off is fine if you don't need any data off of it. Otherwise, the below is true for MOST scenarios where the server is in the current AD domain.

is it safe to power off and remove the old server?

Never simply power down an Exchange server to decommission it. It will leave lingering AD objects that will require using ADSIedit to properly remove them and will cause the other Exchange servers in the Org to misreport information in the event logs and in the GUI.

You can follow this if it is Exchange 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee332361%28v=exchg.141%29.aspx

But really if it isn't the final Exchange server in the organization (which it sounds like it isn't), then you'll need to log into it and simply run the setup/uninstall and go through the uninstall wizard/screens to uninstall Exchange from that server. At that point you can shut it down.

If you simply can't get into it or the server is really off and isn't coming back then you'll need to use ADSIedit at that point...see here: http://thlnk3r.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/how-to-remove-legacy-exchange-servers-using-adsiedit-tool/

But if at all possible, uninstalling it properly is the way to go.

I don't disagree with you on the proper way to remove Exchange from an existing domain but I got the impression that this is an orphaned server that exists/existed in another AD domain altogether. — joeqwerty, Oct 23 '13 at 21:39
OK, just saw your edit. Thanks for having my back nonetheless. :) — joeqwerty, Oct 23 '13 at 21:39

If an old Exchange server is not part of a domain, does that imply that it can be safely removed without affecting mailflow?

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