Moving mailboxes from one server to another is a crucial part of an Exchange 2007 - Exchange 2010 migration.
Exchange 2010 offers "online" migration which allows the user to work in their mailbox while the migration is taking place. However, this only works going from an Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 server (not for a possible rollback in the other direction) and the migration must be initiated in the EMC (or EMS) on the Exchange 2010 side.
The process includes 3 main steps:
1. Create a mailbox database on the Exchange 2010 server.
2. Mount the database.
3. Move the mailboxes.
Once all mailboxes have been migrated, we can also remove the Exchange 2007 mailbox database itself.
1.Create a mailbox database on the Exchange 2010 server
Yes, we could use (or rename and modify) the default mailbox database created at the installation of Exchange 2010 but I will opt to create a new database with the desired database and log file paths as well as a more user friendly name. We can create the database using either the EMC or the EMS (command line). I will use the EMS.
This is the command for creating a new mailbox database:
New-MailboxDatabase -Name "MBDB1" -Server EX10C -EdbFilePath C:\EXDB1\MBDB1.edb -LogFolderPath C:\EXLOGS1
Note: the folders for the database file and the logs files should be created beforehand, either in Window Explorer (not Internet Explorer!) or with the appropriate PowerShell cmdlet, for example:
C:\>New-Item -type Directory -name EXDB1
C:\>New-Item -type Directory -name EXDB1
2. Mount the database.
We then must mount the database:
Mount-Database MBDB1
And there we go!
Note that the "RPCClientAccess" parameter designates the CAS Array created in an earlier post (Wednesday, May 1, 2015).
Get-Mailboxdatabase mbdb1 | fl *rpc*
RpcClientAccessServer : casarray-s1.mynet.lan
3. Move mailboxes to the new Exchange 2010 mailbox database (MBDB1)
We can move all mailboxes in a database with the New-MoveRequest cmdlet:
Get-Mailbox -Database OLD-MBXDB1 | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase MBDB1
We can move individual users as follows:
New-MoveRequest aisha.bhari@mynet.lan -TargetDatabase MBDB1
New-MoveRequest alannah.shaw@mynet.lan -TargetDatabase MBDB1
Another option:
'mynet.lan/Users/Alex.Heyne' | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase MBDB1
We can also designate a particular source mailbox
Get-Mailbox | where { $_.Servername -eq "EX1" } | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase MBDB1
This would move all mailboxes (still) on the Exchange 2007 server (EX1).
We can even observe the progression of the mailbox move with the Get-MoveRequest cmdlet:
Get-MoveRequest
DisplayName Status TargetDatabase
----------- ------ --------------
Alan Reid InProgress MBDB1
Alex Heyne CompletionInProgress MBDB1
Aisha Bhari Completed MBDB1
Once the mailboxes have been migrated, we can remove the mailbox database on the Exchange 2007 server. But how can we be sure that all the mailboxes have been migrated? With the Get-Mailbox cmdlet.
Note: EX10C is the Exchange 2010 server (EX1 is the Exchange 2007 server).
Get-Mailbox | ft servername,name -auto
ServerName Name
---------- ----
ex10c Alex.Heyne
ex10c Aisha.Bhari
ex10c Alan.Reid
ex10c Alannah.Shaw
ex10c Conference Room X
ex10c John.Smith
ex10c Conference Room A
But first, let's verify the name of the mailbox database to remove.:
Get-MailboxDatabase
Name Server StorageGroup Recovery
---- ------ ------------ --------
MBXDB1 ex1 SG1 False
Then we can remove the mailbox database with the Remove-MailboxDatabase cmdlet:
Remove-MailboxDatabase MBXDB1
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Removing Mailbox Database "ex1.mynet.lan\MBXDB1".
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y
WARNING: The specified database has been removed. You must remove the database file located in C:\SG1DB1\MBXDB1.edb from your computer manually if it exists. Specified database: MBXDB1
This would mark the end of the mailbox migration process.
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