kelvin

Hopefully someone on here can assist...

I am experiencing the problem detailed in MS KB article 875300, the proposed fix of which is to rerun Forest Prep.

Quick question (I hope!)... am I OK to run this during the day in a live environment? It's very rare that I get an opportunity for downtime, and I am conscious that while inconvenient, the problem I have isn't preventing me from doing anything I need to at the moment. If i'm better to wait, and plan for this during a downtime period then I will.

Has anyone experienced any problems when rerunning Forest Prep?

Thanks,

Kelvin.

scoobz72

Hi Kelvin,

I assume you are using exchange 2003?

I would not rerun the forest prep tool whilst live as it may corrupt the database. The last thing you would need to do is rebuild an exchange database! Do you have a tape backup of the current exchange? If so, take the server offline, then run forest prep. This fix is quite common.
I would anticipate 2 hours downtime to settle the exchange down. Are you using a .local domain? If so, then this would be very easy to implement.
If not, definitely consider taking the server offline.

kelvin

Thanks Scoobz...

Yes, running Exchange 2003 albeit in mixed mode at the moment as we still have 2 5.5 servers lurking. We take full backups everyday so could restore if need to but don't really want to have to go down that route!

Do you know whether there are any differences between the pre and post SP1 versions of forest prep? We're running SP1 - will I need to reapply the Service Pack in addition to running forest prep?

Now need to jump through hoops to organise downtime!

Thanks again...

K.

scoobz72

I would reapply SP1 after running forestprep, as there were a few minor changes. 2 hours i suggested is the most, to thoroughly implement forestprep. It should take half that but do take the time.
AD is where you may get problems, but after forestprep has run, AD should sync with exchange.

scoobz72

Exchange 2003
To verify that the setup /forestprep command and the setup /domainprep command completed successfully in Exchange 2003, run the OrgPrepCheck tool from Exchange 2003 Deployment Tools. To run the OrgPrepCheck tool, use either of the following methods.

Note You must have the LDAP protocol installed on the Exchange 5.5 computer to run Exchange Deployment Tools successfully. • Start OrgPrepCheck from Exchange Deployment Tools
Use the OrgPrepCheck tool that is in the Exchange Deployment Tools to determine if the commands have been completed successfully. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Insert the Exchange 2003 CD in your CD-ROM drive.
2. On the Welcome to Exchange Server 2003 Setup page, click Exchange Deployment Tools.

Note If the Welcome to Exchange Server 2003 Setup page does not appear after you insert your CD, double-click Setup.exe, and then click Exchange Deployment Tools.
3. Click Deploy the first Exchange 2003 server.
4. Click Coexistence with Exchange 5.5.
5. On the Phase 1 page, click Next.
6. On the Phase 2 page, locate step 3, enter the required information, and then click Run OrgPrepCheck now.
7. Close the Exchange Deployment Tools window.
8. View the following output file to see if the setup /forestprep command and the setup /domainprep command have completed successfully:
C:\Exdeploy Logs\Exdeploy.log

• Run OrgPrepCheck at a command prompt You can also run the OrgPrepCheck tool at a command prompt. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Insert the Exchange 2003 CD in your CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
4. Locate the CD-ROM drive, and then type the following command:
CD-ROM_Drive_Letter:\support\exdeploy\exdeploy.exe /gc:global catalog server name /s:Exchange_5.5_Computer_Name /trgprepcheck
5. View the following output file to see if the setup /forestprep command and the setup /domainprep command have completed successfully:
C:\Exdeploy Logs\Exdeploy.log

Additionally, you can use the ADSI Edit snap-in to verify that the setup /forestprep and the setup /domainprep commands completed successfully in Exchange 2003.
ForestPrep
The Exchange 2003 setup /forestprep command writes many of its changes to the configuration naming context in the Active Directory directory service. One of the last ForestPrep actions sets the objectVersion attribute on the Exchange organization container to a value of 6903. To locate the objectVersion attribute, use the ADSI Edit snap-in or the LDP utility. Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

To use the ADSI Edit snap-in to view the objectVersion attribute, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows 2000 Support Tools, point to Tools, and then click ADSI Edit.
2. Expand Configuration Container, expand CN=Configuration,DC=forest_root_domain,DC=com, expand CN=Services, and then expand CN=Microsoft Exchange.
3. Right-click CN=Exchange_organization_name, and then click Properties.
4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Optional.
5. In the Select a property to view list, click objectVersion. View the value in the Value(s) box. If the Exchange 2003 setup /forestprep command has ever been run, the objectVersion attribute has a value of 6903. If the objectVersion attribute does not have a value, or if the value appears in the ADSI Edit snap-in as "<not set>", either the ForestPrep utility has not been run on the forest, or the domain controller that you are connected to has not yet received replication messages from more up-to-date domain controllers.

DomainPrep
The Exchange 2003 setup /domainprep command writes many of its changes to the domain naming context in Active Directory. One of the last DomainPrep actions sets the objectVersion attribute on the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container to a value of 6936. To locate the objectVersion attribute, use the ADSI Edit snap-in or the LDP utility. To view the objectVersion attribute by using the ADSI Edit snap-in, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows 2000 Support Tools, point to Tools, and then click ADSI Edit.
2. Expand Domain NC, and then expand DC=local_domain,DC=com.
3. Right-click CN=Microsoft Exchange System Objects, and then click Properties.
4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Optional.
5. In the Select a property to view list, click objectVersion.
6. View the value in the Value(s) box. If the Exchange 2003 setup /domainprep command has ever been run on the domain, the objectVersion attribute has a value of 6936. If the objectVersion attribute does not have a value, or if the value appears in the ADSI Edit snap-in as "<not set>", either the DomainPrep utility has not been run on the domain, or the domain controller that you are connected to has not yet received replication messages from more up-to-date domain controllers.
These steps are useful to determine whether the Exchange 2003 Setup program (the Setup program without any additional parameters) can continue to run on an Exchange 2003 computer. Before the Exchange 2003 Setup program can run, the Setup program verifies that the latest Exchange 2003-specific Active Directory updates are present on the domain controller that the Exchange computer is connected to.


They can word it better than I can, hence i said 2 hours

kelvin

Thanks again scoobz...

Already run through that article - according to their checks ForestPrep has been run successfully but i'm experiencing the exact issue detailed in 875300. Unable to view Address List Properties/RUS Properties, or create new ones - very odd...

K.