Hello my friends. Lot of time out of the forum!! ok... i have a enteprise 2003 edition with dns, dhcp, nav9, gpo and exchange 2003 enterprise edition.

exchange 2003 enterprise is required because the 16gb store limitation on the standard edition.

but the client wants to downgrade server 2003 (not exchange) to standard version.

Is this possible without need to format and reinstall everything from cero?

thanks!
Alex

__________________
Best Regards
Alex
alexisgarcia72@hotmail.com
Cuban in Mexico
www.cm2gj.com

Report this post to a moderator

Exchange 2003 can be installed onto Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 (any version).

Having said that, I do not know of any way to Downgrade the OS from Enterprise to Standard without some form of reinstallation.

If it were me, I would perform a complete backup on the Exchange server, including all databases and mailboxes, etc.

Build a parallel system with the desired OS, including DNS, DHCP, etc.

Reinstall exchange and recover the databases from the backup.

Once everything is confirmed to be okay, then you could de-commission the original box and use the enterprise license somewhere else.

If there is no real use for the enterprise license somewhere else, I wouldn't recommend doing anything. The money is already spent and the system is working. The labor involved is possibly not worth the difference in price.

To me that is the tradeoff, look at the price difference of the server OS, value of using the license somewhere else, vs. your time.

Report this post to a moderator

thanks very much for your words. I will try to explain this to my client...

the exchange server now have 7 months working with cero problems! i believe such configuration must keeped safe instead of made a new install...

__________________
Best Regards
Alex
alexisgarcia72@hotmail.com
Cuban in Mexico
www.cm2gj.com

Report this post to a moderator

absolutely agree with you. If it is working without problems, you will spend more time reinstalling and getting the new configuration working than the cost of the software license.

Another way you might approach this is from a disaster recovery perspective. Offer to set up a second system using Windows 2003 Server Standard as a backup or recovery system in the event of a major failure of the current system. If you need Exchange Enterprise for its abilities, it shouldn't be a single point of failure for any organization. You need to have a standby that can come up and run within a day or less.

At least your client will be able to save a bit on the backup system.

Report this post to a moderator

quote:

---

Originally posted by em_ar_ducks
absolutely agree with you. If it is working without problems, you will spend more time reinstalling and getting the new configuration working than the cost of the software license.

Another way you might approach this is from a disaster recovery perspective. Offer to set up a second system using Windows 2003 Server Standard as a backup or recovery system in the event of a major failure of the current system. If you need Exchange Enterprise for its abilities, it shouldn't be a single point of failure for any organization. You need to have a standby that can come up and run within a day or less.

At least your client will be able to save a bit on the backup system.

---

__________________
Best Regards
Alex
alexisgarcia72@hotmail.com
Cuban in Mexico
www.cm2gj.com

Report this post to a moderator