Transition from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007

A transition is the process in which you perform an upgrade to Exchange 2007 where you move data from any legacy Exchange servers in your Exchange organization to new Exchange 2007 Servers, after which you decommission the legacy Exchange servers. A transition should not be confused with a migration, because unlike a transition a migration is the process in which you move data from a non-Exchange messaging system (such as GroupWise, Lotus Notes or SendMail) to an Exchange organization, or move data from a legacy Exchange organization in an existing Active Directory Forest to an Exchange organization in a new Active Directory Forest.

It's important to note that unlike previous versions of Exchange, in-place upgrades from Exchange 2000 or 2003 to Exchange Server 2007 aren’t supported.

Requirements

To set the SuppressStateChanges registry value on Exchange Server 2003

1.  Open a registry editor, such as Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe.

2. Navigate toHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RESvc\Parameters.

3.  Right-click Parameters and select New | DWORD value. Name the new DWORD value SuppressStateChanges.

4.  Double-click SuppressStateChanges.

5.  Set Base to Decimal.

6. In the Value data field, enter 1.

7.  Close the registry editor and then restart the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine, and the Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks services for the change to take effect.

You must make sure that the Exchange organization is set to Native Mode (no pre-Exchange 2000 servers)

Any Exchange 2003 Servers have Service Pack 2 applied

Domain Controller that is the schema master in your Active Directory runs Windows Server 2003 with at least Service Pack 1 applied.

Active Directory functional level is set to Windows Serve 2000 or Windows Server 2003.

Run adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep on Exchange server 2003 from the Exchange Server 2007 CD