The root cause of the problem was a USN rollback situation. Fixing the problem turned to to not be very nice. I had to forcibly remove Active Directory from the system, cleanup metadata on the other servers and then DC promo the box back into the domain. This all took the better part of a day to ensure that all is well and well done.
The bigger issue turned out to be Outlook Web Access. Through the process it totally messed up OWA on the system. We had a new VM setup to move it onto. This was the needed "nudge" to get the system moved. We had some problems with our wildcard certificate, which was mostly my problem of not installing it properly.
So after several days of Server 2003 and Exchange 2007 work all is well with Active Directory and Exchange's OWA front end.
Why plan? Well, a little research would have shown that there are steps and procedures to make sure that the move was successful. I don't like down time on any system. I have learned over the years that most of the work that I've done on servers has been done by someone else, so learn from their mistakes. This is a lesson that I've learned from being a pilot. We read accident reports and learn what our fellow (and less fortunate) pilots have done. Learn from their mistakes so we don't make the same blunders. All accidents -- and server problems -- can be related to some chain of events. Break one of the links and the problem won't happen.
Coming from an aircraft manufacturing background, two primary things were emphasized: Project Management and Six Sigma. Sure, some could argue that Six Sigma doesn't apply to IT work, but I would argue that it does. Well written procedures will result in good results. Same with making parts. Also, Project Management will force one to think and to plan their work.
Think, plan, execute and learn from one's mistakes. This will result in better service for the customers and make you look like a hero.
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