EXPERT RESPONSE
There's a lot involved in renaming an Exchange 5.5 server. You would essentially have to:
- Back up all databases on that machine (or use ExMerge to export mailbox contents to PSTs).
- Get rid of all connectors on that server (i.e., delete or move them off).
- Uninstall Exchange 5.5 from that machine.
- Then completely delete the machine from your Exchange organization and wait for changes to replicate across your Exchange organization.
- After that, re-install Exchange and join the appropriate site.
- Wait for replication to complete and then re-establish your connectors.
- Finally, restore the databases and run ISINTEG -- patch or import the PSTs you created using ExMerge.
After all that, unless you really need to make this change, I really recommend you leave the server name as it is and just live with it, if possible.
You may want to consider just adding a new Exchange server to your site with the name you want, and then move all the connectors and mailboxes over to that server prior to de-commissioning the original Exchange 5.5 server. (If you do this, make sure you read this Microsoft Knowledge Base article first to see if it applies to you, How to remove the first Exchange server in a site.
Do you have comments on this Ask the Expert Q&A? Let us know.
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