Question:
I have Exchange 5.0 running on a server that has become too small to do everything asked of it. I bought Exchange 5.5 Upgrade and a totally new copy of NT 4.0 for a new server. What I was going to do is install 5.5 on the new server and then move over mailboxes from the machine that has Exchange 5.0 on it.
What I did not know is that installing the 5.2 Upgrade is not as simple as starting the install on a new machine and then putting in the version-5.0 CD-ROM to prove I have a legal copy. Version 5.5 simply does not install when it does not see a previous version of Exchange.
So I decided to install 5.0 on the new machine and then tell it to join the existing site. It started installing OK and said it was replicating directories. It then stopped and said it could not continue and to look at the event log.
The event log had several entries similar to this:
Event ID 286 Unable to create object /o=xxxx/ou=xxxx.org/cn=configuration/cn=addressing/_ cn=display-templates/cn:409 because one or more_ objects in the directory path /o=xxxx/ou=xxxx.org/cn=configuration/cn=addressing/_ cn=display-templates do not exist.
It seems as though I’m eligible for an upgrade copy of Exchange because once the new server is running OK, the original server with 5.0 is going to be stripped of Exchange. But how do I get everything onto the new server?
I only have these two servers and one domain. The original server at this time is a PDC and the new one is a BDC. My goal is to get Exchange, as well as the other applications, completely off the original machine. When things are running smoothly, I will remove Exchange from the original machine and promote the BDC to a PDC, while demoting the original machine to a BDC.
Does this make sense?
Answer:
I think your second instinct is the right one. Install Exchange 5.0 on the new server in the same Exchange site, move all of the mailboxes over, and upgrade that new server to version 5.5.
You’re getting Event ID 286 because the recipients container on the new server isn’t the same as the recipients container on the old one. The easiest way around this is to select “Always Use Selected Container” on the Directory Import dialog box.
The other option would be to create a recipients container on the new server that’s identical to the one on the old server. You’ll need to use the same directory name, but you can make the display name different (for example, “New”) so it’s easier to tell them apart.
But I’d go for the easier option. Just restart the Directory Import, select that option, and it should import all of the directory objects.
