When Exchange Server 2007 was released it surprised some people to learn that there was no way to perform an in-place upgrade from earlier versions of Exchange Server. Instead organizations went through a complex process to transition from either Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007.
At the time most customers I spoke with were content with this based on two main reasons:
- Exchange Server 2007 was a 64-bit product, and so it required a new 64-bit server be deployed for it
- The new server roles architecture made it impractical to directly upgrade from earlier Exchange Server versions
However, when Exchange Server 2010 was released some customers assumed that the similarities between Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 would allow in-place upgrades to occur again. This was an incorrect assumption.
The Exchange Server team at Microsoft have released a new video explaining why in-place upgrades are not allowed with Exchange Server 2010. Watch the video below or click here to view it on Youtube.
