We are retiring an old Exchange 2000 server and of course, the system crashed days before we did. The Exchange scenario is 3 servers, the Exch2000, and 2 Exch2003 servers. All are PF replica's. Here's where things get complicated. As the 2000 was in the last days before going out, the choice not to bring the PF store back online was made and it was removed from all PF replicas. The 2000 PF is still offline and still also shows as a replica in ESM. Does the PF store need to be brought back online in order to process the replication removal notifications and if so, can it be brought up with a fresh, blank edb just to do so, AND if so, is there any potential for that to obliterate my other replicas? I dislike Exchange wierdness so much. Thanks for the help!!

Nope it doesnt need to be brought online, can you remove it as a replicate in ESM? If not, no big deal you can remove the replica via adsiedit. If you can't remove via ESM post back and I'll give you instructions on how to remove the replica via adsiedit.James Chong MCITP | EA | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+ Security+, Project+, ITIL msexchangetips.blogspot.com

Nope it doesnt need to be brought online, can you remove it as a replicate in ESM? If not, no big deal you can remove the replica via adsiedit. If you can't remove via ESM post back and I'll give you instructions on how to remove the replica via adsiedit.James Chong MCITP | EA | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+ Security+, Project+, ITIL msexchangetips.blogspot.com

I had used PFDavAdmin and ESM at different times to make the proper adjustments to the PF replicas. The replicas are in sync between the 2003 boxes under the replication tab and no 2000 server was showing; However, under details it was still showing so being ridiculously cautious I was reluctant to move forward with the unistall as I did not want to do it incorrectly if the 2000 pub1.edb needed to come back online to be successful. Anyhow... I took the leap and ran the setup on the old server to remove the Exchange components. The uninstall ran smooth (after Remote Registry service was started) with the pub1.edb still offline and ESM looks clean from the other servers. I appreciate the post James!

Hello, Also, you may need to make sure the sitefolderserer is set to the current Exchange 2003 serer. Thanks, Simon