Combine two Enterprise Vault setups into one

[stephan_vanheld]

Currently we have Exchange 2007. The two mailbox clusters (at separate locations) use two completely separate Enterpise Vault systems. (EV SYSTEM A archives EXCHANGE SERVER A, EV SYSTEM B archives EXCHANGE SERVER B). 

We are planning to migrate to Exchange 2010, and at the same time want to combine the two EV systems into one, but with local physical EV servers. So, EV SYSTEM A would still archive EXCHANGE SERVER A. But we would create a SECOND server for EV SYSTEM A to archive EXCHANGE SERVER B. Then, we would have to find a way to move archives from EV SYSTEM B to the new server in EV SYSTEM A.

The questions that we have in this regard:

a) How to do the actual move? Import/Export, or are there tools that can be used? Or 

b) What about co-existence? The move might take some time ... can I configure the same Exchange server as archiving target in both EV setups? Can I configure the CAS servers (for OWA) to use either EV server?

c) Would it be wiser to do the EV migration before, during after the 2007->2010 upgrade?

We are considering the following approach - would that make sense?

- stop archiving on old system (EV SYSTEM B) immediately

- export all archives

- set up new EV server to EV SYSTEM A, assign to new (Exchange 2010) mailbox server

- import archives into new EV server

- after we have moved a user's mailbox from Exchange 2007 to 2010 server, enable him on new EV

Thanks for any thoughts and ideas!

[JesusWept3 · Accepted solution]

Depending on your version of enterprise vault, there are different methods, if you're using eve sp4+ you can use Move Archive to move the archives from Site A to Site B Here is what I would do 1. Disable archive in Site A 2. move mailbox to exchange 2010 3. Enable exchange 2010 mailbox in Site B 4. Begin Move Archive from Site A to Site B 5. Give people access to their old archive via Archive Explorer (I.e. http://oldEVSite/EntepriseVault/ArchiveExplorerUI.asp) 6. Once complete, notify the user and delete the old archive

[JesusWept3]

Oh and there are other tools such as Glass Houses Archive Shuttle or Transvault or Vault Solutions but depending on how many users, it may be easier to just use move archive (it certainly is the cheapest option)

[stephan_vanheld]

Thanks! We are using the latest version of EV (9.0). But can I really move archives between the sites? The sites are setup totally independent of each other. They use own SQL servers for their configuration database, etc. (A Symantec consultant set it up that way ...)

[JesusWept3]

Yup!! You certainly can! As long as you give relevant permissions to each EVadmin account and they can access way others SQL servers and what not, but yeah going cross sites is easy!

[AndrewB]

hi stephan. if you'd like to hear more about tools you can use to automate your migration, such as TransVault like JW mentioned above, please feel free to contact me directly.

[stephan_vanheld]

Oh, thanks ... I had totally overlooked this feature.

By the way ... does it make sense at all, to combine those two sites into one? After all, there are two physical locations. Would it make more sense to keep the separate EV sites?