Last Updated on December 3, 2019 by Christopher G Mendla
Aaaarrggghhhh…..
Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2007 requires a 64 bit Server OS.
I was a bit reluctant to go 64 bit with one of our clients mainly because they are running some legacy stuff. (I know, Foxpro’s gotta go)..
They were running MS Exchange 2003 on an old Acer server. The CPU fan on the server locked up. Right now, we are trying to locate a replacement and have opened up the system and have a regular desk fan blowing on the CPU.
The only trial version for Exchange is Exchange 2007 which is a 64 bit version. I’m not sure I really want to rebuild the server from the 32 bit version. I did try some of the open source, linux based alternatives but none of them worked out. We found out that the legacy system was using some API hooks into exchange which most of the Linux work alikes don’t support.
The licensing on the OEM version of Exchange won’t allow us to transfer it to the new server.
The good news is that you can still go back one version with the licensing. We are working with the folks at CDW to get an expedited purchase of MS Exchange 2003 and the necessary CALs. That approach will probably be the least risk and will allow the folks who programmed the legacy system to keep using the Exchange APIs.