Tutorials

In this situation we already have installed Windows Server Essentials 2012R2 or a Windows Server 2016 and we migrated FSMO roles from the SBS 2008 to that new server. We have been following this migration tutorial How to migrate from SBS 2008 Standard to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials untill chapter 10 or How to migrate from SBS 2008 to Windows Server 2016 (Essentials) untill chapter 12. In the below network topology you see we introduce an Exchange Server 2013 on a Windows Server 2012 R2 and that is what we will do in this guide. Exchange Server 2013 will be installed on a member server in your domain and NOT on a Domain Controller because that is no longer supported.

Every step in this tutorials has a screenshot and if any Powershell is involved we have made it easy for you to copy it to your own situtation. This tutorial will guide you from the start until all Exchange mail has been migrated to the new server. The tutorial includes Powershell commands to migrate public folders in one batch to the new Exchange Server 2013. We will also explain what DNS changes are needed.

You may wonder why we do not offer a migration tutorial from Exchange Server 2007 to 2016? Well, it is not possible to that according to Can't install Exchange 2016 in a forest that contains Exchange 2007 servers. If you really need to have Exchange Server 2016 you can first migrate to 2013, remove Exchange Server 2007 from your network and then install another member server with Exchange Server 2016 on it and migrate from Exchange Server 2013 to 2016.

When the Exchange Server 2013 is installed and properly configured it can act as a downstream proxy for the Exchange Server 2007. The other way around is not possible because Exchange Server 2007 cannot act as an upstream proxy. This way both Exchange Servers will coexist in the network. You can migrate mailboxes in batches. An Outlook client will connect to the highest version Exchange Server in our network, in our case the Exchange Server 2013, and if the mailbox for that user has not been migrated to the new server it will proxy the request.

This tutorial will help most companies to migrate from Exchange Server 2007 to a new server with a new Exchange Server 2013. You should read the procedure before you start and if there is anything not clear please use our special forum for subscribers to ask your questions. This forum can not be crawled by search engines and is private.