First Exchange2k migration help needed...

[FredUG]

I've inherited an exchange 5.5 box on NT4 and I'm wondering what the easiest way to move to Exchange2000 would be. It was the PDC and they had no BDC so I build a BDC and promoted it to PDC, upgraded it to win2k and installed Active Directory. Shortly after, that old 5.5 box died and I've rebuilt the nt4 server (not a bdc) and Exchange 5.5. Everyting seems to be running fine.

Now I'd like to build a new win2k box and move the mail over. I suppose I could use the ADC and the wizards or I could exmerge the old mailboxes and recreate them manually via AD and exmerge the mail back in but I don't know enough about either proccess to make that decision. Which would be easier? Faster? Most reliable? Tips? FAQ? KB?

Thanks in advance,

FredUG

 

[quell]

faq858-3483

 

[mtraversMSFT]

The move mailbox method is the recommended method

See the following KB article

316886 HOW TO: Migrate from Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Server

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316886

Hope this helps

--
Melissa Travers, MCSE
Microsoft Exchange Support

Please do not send email directly to this alias. This alias is for newsgroup purposes only.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Benjaminle]

It all depends on how many users you are supporting. I just finished a project of migrating from NT to 2K and 5.5 to 2K just like what you are having. I had about 100 users. Below is the estimated time of work.

Exmerge mailboxes : 2 hours
Recreate users logon and email accounts: 30 minutes
Import individual email: 2 hours

For Exchange 5.5 running on NT, you have to use Exmerge 3.65 or higher. I used 3.71. Worked like a charm. You can download it. Just do a search on google for download Exmerge 3.71.

By installing brand new Exchange and W2K domain, you are guaranteed that your new domain is clean.

Here are the steps:
-Use Exmerge to export all emails to PST
-Log on to 5.5 as admin and Export public folders to a PST
-Use Ideal Administration (download free) to get the list of groups and users in Excel file
-Recreate user accounts and email accounts in AD
-on one workstation, log on as administrator and import users email one by one. Don't need to log on as users. Just create profile to import then delete and create other profiles.

If all this is too tiring, download the new version of Microsoft Active Directory Migration Tool which will finish the job in less then 2 hours. Have fun

ITS,
Ben

 

[FredUG]

I used Exmerge2000 from sp3 to migrate teh mailboxes after installing a fresh E-2k box to a new org/site. After fighting with inbound mail for a while it's now all fine except I still need to install anti-virus and anti-spam apps. All that's left, on the Exchange side, is moving the public folders.

Thanks for the help,

FredUG