Wanted: Reliable GroupWise Export and Migration 1

[GravyFace]

Hello,

We've tried unsuccessfully to use the GroupWise for Outlook2k plugin to create PSTs for our migration to Windows Small Business server 2003 project. The mail came across at one location successfully but the calendar items did not. At the other location, they were using the Document Library features and none of these items showed up in the PSTs. This location was also using Frequent Contacts that did not export either; only the Groupwise Address Book worked. Lastly, this second location's mail appeared to be in the PST but the message body is missing along with the from field.
The Exchange Groupwise connector was not consistently porting over the data so we gave up on it and started looking elsewhere. We've tried some Cool Solutions like the Document Exporter for the library items but it creates obtuse file names (10_1.doc, 11_2.xls, etc.) and didn't seem to recurse through all of the directories nor did it grab non-attachment items stored. We've also tried a few other freeware ones on the 'Net but nothing seems to be working reliably. Quest Software wants $1500 USD for their Groupwise Migrator software but requires a ridiculous 100 mailboxes per location (don't get me started on this) license -- they wouldn't even give me a trial license for their demo. Anyways, I have several unhappy locations who need their data -- does anyone have a tried-and-true method of migrating this data to Exchange or at least exporting to a text-based/human readable format?

Thanks

 

[terry712]

i would ask in the exchange forum

to be truthful - quest etc is the best option. this is limitations on outlook and exchange - well 2nd best option - but i cant understand why anyone would use exchange

 

[marvhuffaker]

So it's not as easy as the Microsoft guy said it was? I can't believe that. Completely incomprehensible!

I also suspect that if $1500 is too much, then most other solutions will be too. Realistically, most Exchange migrations cost MUCH more than that. $1500 is pretty cheap.

What is your motivation for migrating? What version of GroupWise are you on?

Marvin




Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

See me speak at GWAVACON Jan 21-23 in Dallas.

http://www.redjuju.com/company/events.htm

 

[marvhuffaker]

I just realized something from your title.. You want a reliable export tool. Yet you already have a reliable mail system. But you are migrating to an unreliable email platform. It's not quite, but almost an oxymoron.

Have you tried the GroupWise 7 Gateway for Exchange?

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

See me speak at GWAVACON Jan 21-23 in Dallas.

http://www.redjuju.com/company/events.htm

 

[GravyFace]

I have no experience with Novell GroupWise; I'm sure it is a fine product and I'm really not looking to start a religious war here. Quest won't sell me the product unless I have 100 mailboxes. I told them I had 26 and they flat-out said no. I said I'm fine with paying for 100, just let me buy your software. Again, no. Why? Who knows. Probably some obtuse marketing decision that I can't fathom right now.

Now that we have "Exchange sux/GroupWise rulez" and Quest out of the way, has anyone been able to export Library items into something useful? We used a different version of Outlook and the mail seems to be working ok, its just the library items that are not coming across.

TIA

 

[terry712]

serious - the library etc is a totally encrypt BLOB
you aint gonna get it out without using quest or groupwise

unless you spend the time to extract the docs etc - so they are files again rather than objects in a blob


remember the library is a dm system

 

[GravyFace]

Thanks Terry and by "without using...groupwise", you mean using the GroupWise client to "save as" each Library item right?

 

[terry712]

yep thats excatly what i mean

 

[marvhuffaker]

I don't have a problem with exchange. I just love their white papers that tell you what an easy 5 step process it is to rip out Groupwise and put in their lovely product. What they forget to mention is how difficult it is to actually get usable data from one to the other. But then again, Microsoft is a rip and replace kind of company, so you have to expect that. It's even that way within their own product lines.

When we do migrations the other way, we like to take into account the very things that you are trying to make happen. Actually migrating data without losing the very stuff that people rely on. Making the process smooth and not as painful. stuff like that.

So your only motivation is that you don't have experience? I just like to know, for my own sake, why people migrate.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

See me speak at GWAVACON Jan 21-23 in Dallas.

http://www.redjuju.com/company/events.htm

 

[GravyFace]

No, our consulting shop was asked to migrate these three locations and while we have alot of Microsoft experience, we do not have much Novell experience in-house. Unfortunately there isn't much Novell experience left in the area and the few colleagues with some Novell experience we were speaking to weren't able/not interested in taking on this portion of the project. Trust me: we would've gladly sub-contracted.
I think that this support issue itself is a good indication of why people are moving off of GroupWise: there's just not enough support any more and not everyone can afford big Novell corporate support (if there even is such a thing for version 5.5).
I was never under the impression that this was going to be easy but I did not suspect that the mail/data itself would be locked away in an encrypted binary format -- even old stalwart mail systems like sendmail make heavy use of textual formats. Microsoft products are no better, and I would suspect that if something else comes along, Exchange-to-some-new-product migrations will be just as much of a pain.

 

[marvhuffaker]

I did not suspect that the mail/data itself would be locked away in an encrypted binary format

Welcome to a concept called 'security'.

Unfortunately there isn't much Novell experience left in the area

Must not have looked too hard.. There are hundreds of Novell partners around the country:

http://www.novell.com/partnerlocator

My company supports GroupWise like there is no tomorrow. Gwavacon is an international GroupWise conference. GroupWise experts from around the world are there. I'm sure you could have got one of them to help (maybe with a little resistance, just for the sake of principle).

Anyway, good luck. GW5.5 is several years old and hasn't been supported for quite a while. You're trying to take an 8 year old product that isn't even supported and cram it into a legacy 4 year old product from Microsoft. It's probably never had maintenance or health checks, and who knows what condition or state of neglect it was in when you guys got there. If nothing else, you'd probably be better off cleaning it up really good, upgrading it to GW7 first, then making the migration. You can do this with the 90 day demo (assuming you can get it done in 90 days), and then you could use some of the tools made for this century.

Otherwise, since you are the consulting company, make your client pay for the $1500 software. That's the price of a migration.

is a good indication of why people are moving off of GroupWise

It's true people migrate to different platforms, email systems, etc. But we see just as many new installations of groupwise or migrations from other platforms TO GroupWise as we see people migrating away. I think if anything, it's a wash.


Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

See me speak at GWAVACON Jan 21-23 in Dallas.

http://www.redjuju.com/company/events.htm

 

[GravyFace]

Anyways, as I've stated twice now, we can't buy Quest and paying for a GroupWise 7 upgrade just to move the data seems rather silly, doesn't it? As Terry stated, doing this by hand is our only option.