Exchange 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers

Posted by Brian on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Brian
Published on 2009-10-29T14:04:38Z Indexed on 2010/04/19 13:23 UTC
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exchange-2003

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windows-server-2008-r2

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domain-controller

I'm looking at adding two Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers into our Windows Server 2003 domain to support our Exchange 2003 SP2 server and replace a retiring Windows Server 2003 Server.

Our Domain and Forest functional levels are currently Windows Server 2003, which supports domain controller operating systems (Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003) according to the "Appendix of Functional Level Features" on Technet .

So there should not be an issue other than running adprep /forestprep and adprep /domain.... right!?

But, according to the Exchange Server Supportability Matrix, Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Servers are not supported as global catalog servers or domain controllers in a Exchange 2003 SP2 environment!!!???

This was a shock to me... How can Windows Server 2008 R2 be a DC for a Windows Server 2003 domain and forest, but not communicate with an Exchange 2003 SP2 server?

Hopefully, I'm not the first to see this issue (or maybe I am), but I know a lot of Exchange 2003 admins will not be happy if there is not a work around... or is Microsoft trying to push everyone automatically to Exchange 2010...

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