Questions about upgrading from Exchange 2010 RTM to Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3

Question

I am preparing to perform an maintenance upgrade on our current Exchange 2010 Server, to Service Pack 3 (and any post-SP3 roll ups), but I have a couple questions about the process.
Current Exchange Server details:
Exchange 2010 Standard
Version: 14.0 (Build 639.21) - from Exchange Management Console
Version: 14.0.702.4000 - from Outook client
Active Directory forest and domain levels: Windows 2008 R2 native
The questions I have are:
1.  Can I assume that because it's version 10.0.702.4000 I am on Exchange Server 2010 RTM Update Rollup 4?
2.  Can Exchange 2010 Standard RTM be patched directly to Service Pack 3, or would I need to perform incremental patches (i.e. SP1, SP2, etc.) before going to SP3?
3.  Do I need to manually perform the AD domain schema prep before applying Service Pack 3, or will the Service Pack 3 update process automatically handle the modifications of the AD schema?

Answer 1

Hi,
Here are my answers you can refer to:
1. Firstly, I’d like to explain , we can use connection status to check our Exchange server version from Outlook client:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/outlook-help/determine-the-version-of-microsoft-exchange-server-my-account-connects-to-HA010117038.aspx
And I check my version from both EMC and Outlook client. It’s same.
2. We can directly update RTM version to SP3 , and the update will take an additional 30 minutes or longer per database.
3. Since Exchange 2010 SP3 makes updates to the Active Directory schema, we need prepare AD domain schema. However, it will automatically prepare AD and the domain when you install the update.
For more information, you can refer to the following article:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj965774(v=exchg.141).aspx
If you have any question, please feel free to let me know.
Thanks,
Angela
Angela Shi
TechNet Community Support