Move mailbox from exchange 5.5 to exchange 5.5?

[llww]

Does anyone know the best way to move a mailbox from one exchange 5.5 server to another exchange 5.5 server? I need to consolidate 2 servers down to one. We currently have about 11 exchange servers in total. What other problems might I run into int his process?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Andyleates]

Have you looked at the EXMERGE tool?

Andy Leates MCSE CCNA MCP+I

 

[llww]

No not yet. Would you be able to point me to some documentation on this tool? Or give me a brief overview of how it works?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Andyleates]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;174197&sd=tech

Andy Leates MCSE CCNA MCP+I

 

[llww]

Seems that it just exports everything to a PST file and then imports it to the new mailbox on the other server. I only have a few users to move, might be safer to just do that manually.

Thanks

 

[PBurcin]

In Exchange 5.5, you have an option within the Exchange Administrator to MOVE mailboxes from one server to another as long as the servers are both in the same Exchange organization.

Highlight the mailbox in Exchange Administrator and click Tools and then Move Mailbox. You will receive a dialog box to complete for which server to move it to.

Hope this helps.

 

[llww]

I saw that, but the only server i get as a choice to move the mailbox to is the server that it is already on....

I don't think you can move a mailbox from one site server to another.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[zbnet]

That's right, the Admin Move Mailbox tool can only move mailboxes between servers in the same site in 5.5.

Really, the only way to move a mailbox between sites in 5.5 is to delete and recreate it. This causes all sorts of issues, because the site name is part of the underlying Object Distinguished Name of the mailbox, so it breaks replies to old mail unless you also add a X.500 secondary proxy address to the new mailbox. Also you have to DirRep between the sites after the delete and before the create if you want to be able to give the new mailbox the same SMTP address(es) as the old mailbox. And then you've got the contents of the mailbox to consider, Exmerge is a very good tool for exporting the extire contents of a mailbox to PST and back again into the new mailbox - I use it even for just one mailbox, it beats messing around dragging folders in a client. Bear in mind though that it breaks single instance storage, probably not a big issue for just a handful of mailboxes.