Good day, I'm still trying to get all my pieces/parts in place. I have Exchange 2007 Server installed and can see my Exchange 2003 components. I've done very little in terms of configuring anything at this point. I moved a mailbox from Ex 2003-2007 that I set up for testing purposes. I am able to send internal messages between 2003-2007. This morning, I tested sending an email from an external account (comcast) to my 2007 test account. I was able to send/receive. My question is that I don't have all the pieces in place yet (no Edge Server) and I know I don't have everything configured under 2007 correctly at this point so when I sent the test message is it working b/c it's using my Ex 2003 as a relay for messages to 2007? I did not expect the inbound from outside to work at this time. I'm trying to determine what parts I need to configure the Mailbox, Client and Hub roles but it's kind of confusing and I'm still reading. Can I send/receive inbound/outbound messages via 2007 just by installing the product? I didn't think so. Thanks in advance for your input and your time.

correction to my above, my 2007 test email to comcast outbound did not work. comcast to 2007 account did come in. Hmm.

Hi To clarify this.. Your Exchange 2003 server is acting as receiving and sending server (bridgehead), you can have it like this if you want. When you are done with the migration of users and public folders, it's time to change the mailflow. In this case you have to check the accepted domains in Exchange 2007, and also the receive connector needs to accept anonymous connections, because the internet senders (external) can't authenticate to you. You can achieve this by either editing the default connector or creating a new one Check the link below for more info http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Exchange-Server-2007-Email-Routing-Part1.html Also when changing the mailflow you need to delete the send connector from Exchange 2003 server and create a new one from Exchange 2007. You can read about this also in the link I posted. After these changes, make sure that you also change the firewall rules so the apply to the configuration of your Exchange environmentJonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

Hi MG8616, I think you also want to know the mail flow in a Coexistence Environment. More information: Message Routing in a Coexistence Environment http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125223(EXCHG.80).aspx Frank Wang

After adding a connector it appears that all of my messages are trying to go through the Ex2007 server now. The connector is still not delivering emails to external receipients and now somehow I've messed up my Ex2003. Is there something in partiuclar I need to do to tell both system to router all mail through EX 2003 until 2007 is working? Thanks for your input and your time.

Hi MG8616, When the first Exchange 2007 server is installed in an existing Exchange organization, you are prompted to select a bridgehead server in the existing organization. How many exchange 2003 servers do you have? Did you select one of Exchange 2003 front end server as bridgehead? Please run two cmdlet and post results here. Get-RoutingGroupConnector | fl Get-SendConnector | flFrank Wang

sorry for the delay. things got so botched up, I had to reinstall the Exchange server from scratch so I'm back to the beginning. I did discover that when I set up the outgoing connector in Exchange 2007, I incorrectly set the address space to * so all email from 2003 and 2007 would attempt to go out via 2007. Dumb mistake since 2007 is not ready/configured for send email. Is there a way for me to force all email to continue to go out through my Ex 2003 server until 2007 is fully operational? There is so much information out there and it's hard to know where to begin and what steps to take with this project. Can these two systems truely co-exist while you slowly convert from 2003 to 2007. It seems that every time I make a change in 2007, I cause problems ith my 2003 environment. Thanks to everyone for their responses thus far, I'm still muddling through the maze.

Hi MG8616, If you want to force all email to continue to go out through Ex 2003 server, you don't need to do anything(including Outgoing connector) on Exchange 2007 after you install your first Exchange 2007 server. Suppose you have Front/End server, when you install first Exchange 2007, you need to select bridgehead server(Exchange 2003 front back server). Thus, there is a link(routing group connector) between exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007,and vice versa, so the mail flow between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 established. And you can find there is a SMPT send connector(Exchange 2003 SMTP connector) established in the Organization Configuation->Hub transport->Send Connector. The mails from Exchange 2007 server will be route to Exchange 2003(through routing group connector), then send to outside(Exchange 2003 SMTP connector)Frank Wang

Hi MG8616, How about your question? Any updates?Frank Wang

Yes, both Ex 2003 and Ex 2007 are currently working. Thank you for taking the time to help answer my questions.