moving mailboxes 2003 - 2007

[people3]

Hi All,

Long shot but hopefully an easy solution.

We are about to replace all our servers and PC, to make this easier the whole new network is going to be built and tested at another site.

The only stumbling block is moving our mailboxes off exchange 2003 to 2007.

Having done this in the past we simply exported the mailboxes to PST then manually imported them (long process).

To make this easier this time I would like to backup all the mailboxes on the 2003 and restore them into the new server (2007).

The domain names will be the same so will the usernames.

Also the servers will never be on the same network so I cannot transfer mailboxes.

Any suggestions?

 

[58sniper]

Why aren't they being migrated the "normal" way, with the new servers being brought into the domain and stuff moved over? That would certainly save a lot of work.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[people3]

We have upgrade and upgraded our domain, made lots of chages added \ removed sites ect and we feel that now would be a good time to start from scratch moving to 2008 \ exchange 2007.

We will be replacing all servers \ laptops and desktops over one weekend (about 100 users)

Hence why the domain (whole network) is being built and tested off site to be droped in.

Data backup and restore is fine the only time consuming aspect is the Exchange - and i'm looking at a easy way to do this.

 

[markdmac]

Use ExMerge on the 2003 domain to export mailboxes en-mas to PST.

Then on the new network use PowerShell to import the PST files into existing mailboxes.

Importing using PowerShell will require some setup.

1. You need an x86 OS (XP or Vista)
2. Install Outlook 2003 or 2007
3. Install PowerShell 1.0
4. Install Exchange Tools using the free x86 download of Exchange 2007.
5. The user running the task must be an Exchange Organization Admin or an Exchange Server Admin on the server where the mailbox to export/import lives.

You can then execute the PowerShell command to import the PST files. This command will loop through all existing mailboxes and look for a PST to import. If none is found that mailbox is simply skipped.

Get-Mailbox -Database 'MDB' | Import-Mailbox -PSTFolderPath D:\PSTs

For ongoing maintenance and the ability to export mailboxes, I recommend you use a virtual machine on the server for this task so you don't have to tie up a workstation.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[people3]

Hi Mark,

That could be just what i'm after, thak you

I assume it goes of the name of the PST to know where to import to.

eg PSt file john.smith.pst imports to john.smith mailbox

(will it matter that when we exmerge the mailboxes it will contain a 'dot' in the file name as logins are firstname.lastname)

this will produce john.smith.pst

 

[58sniper]

The file names should match the alias in Exchange

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[people3]

fantastic, just what i was after.

 

[Zelandakh]

You can also do this using XP, the 2003 Windows Admin Pak, XP's IIS and the Exchange 2003 management tools onto the workstation then use exmerge itself on the w/s to throw the PSTs into Exchange 2007.

 

[people3]

HI,

Thanks for the replies,

I assume that if i do this, users will not be able to reply to any messages in the inbox from internal users?

The domain and server name will be the same.

Many Thanks

 

[58sniper]

Not without setting the legacyDN. MarkDMac has a script for that....

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[markdmac]

faq1582-7225

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[SilviaS]

Pat
Can you confirm that the legacyDN is still needed in 2007, i am working on another post and need to understand (confirm) its purpose in 2007
Thanks

 

[markdmac]

Yes it is still needed. It is used to allow a user to reply to an old (internal) email after the Exchange site has changed.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[SilviaS]

thanks Mark
Just what i needed to know.