How to migrate Exchange and Evault servers to new hardware

[Maria_Z_]

Hi All,

We need to migrate the Exchange and EVault servers to new hardware, but the dedicated servers are in different locations. We just have a VPN between the old environment and the new one.

We currently have Exchange 2003 and EV7.0 SP1, will keep EV7.0 SP1 on the new servers but will have Exchange 2007 installed there.

Has anybody done a migration like this? What’s the best approach so the exchange mailboxes are linked to the archives in EVault?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

Maria

[MichelZ]

Hello Maria You need to do a combination of those steps: Migrating Exchange: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/284956.htm http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/320501.htm http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/285651.htm Migrating Enterprise Vault: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293911.htm Hope this helps Cheers Michel

[John_Chisari]

 Also if you are going to use OWA in Exchange 2007 and want to access archived items - you will need to upgrade EV to at least EV2007 - as this was the first version to support it.

[Liam_Finn1]

Maria,

First of all the easiest way to perform the migration on the EV side is to install the new hardware then perform a data only restore. To make the restore easier on yourself keep the new servers the same names as the old ones.

Stop the EV services on the existing EV server
Install the new servers OS
If your servers are in a domain you will take the old server out of the domain, give it a temp name and then rename the new server to be the same name as the old server then join it to the domain
Install EV on the new server but do not run the config yet
Copy your data from the old server to the new server making sure the drive letters are the same as the old
Now perform the data only DR.

This will get your EV up and running

If you have more than one EV server I recommend you start with the server that is acting as your directory server


Thats step 1.

Step 2 is to move to the newer version of Exchange

Dont do all of the steps at the same time because it will cause you pain and trouble shooting any issues becomes hard as you will have issues tracking if the issues is due to the Exchange upgrade or the EV move.

[MichelZ]

Ah yes, you need to update to Enterprise Vault 2007! Good catch John!

[Maria_Z_]

Hi,

Thank you very much for your replies.

I think that I wasn’t very clear on my first comment about the servers. The new servers will be in a new domain in a completely new location (untrusted domains). The VPN will just let us transfer data from the old location to the new one.

So...a few things you said cannot be done...

[Wayne_Humphrey]

Maria,

If you search this forum a bit there are some other threads with nice details and plans etc. :)  would be good for you to read those too.  If you got anymore questions please ask.

[Maria_Z_]

Hi,
I have searched this forum for some help but I cannot find what I need. And right now, the migration is going to be really complicated because we don’t have any VPN at all between the old servers and the new ones.

Has anybody move the exchange mailboxes and their vaults to a different domain/servers before?

Thanks for your help!

[Wayne_Humphrey]

Yes, I have done this on a number of occasions:

In a nutshell (this is all dependent on your AD / Exchange migration plan)

1) configure Enterprise Vault in new domain
2) setup exchange in new domain
3) point Enterprise Vault to new exchange servers
4) dependent on how you move your mailboxes will depend if you need to relink your "new" mailboxes to the old archives or not.

Of course this will need testing, for your specific environment.

--wayne

[Maria_Z_]

We are thinking about exporting/importing PST files for each mailbox as we don’t have any connection at all between the 2 domains. We are not migrating the AD, we will create a new one.

Could we migrate the Enterprise Evault following this doc?
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293911.htm (we need the old archives in the new server)

After importing the PSTs into the new Exchange server, I think that we will have to relink the “new mailboxes” to the archives.
Do you know any good support doc that explains how to do this?

Thank you very much for your help!

[Wayne_Humphrey]

Maria,

The best solution for you then would be the following:

Keep your current Enterprise Vault server, just move it into the new domain. E.G. Join the new domain (dcpromo)
either manually create EVPM scripts which link the new mailbox to and old archive.
I wrote some vbs once that took a csv file and relinked mailboxes, I will look for it but cannot promise anything, it was AGES ago.

But its pritty simple :)

--wayne

[Maria_Z_]

I wish I could do that, the new servers are located in different places (different cities). We don’t have any VPN or anything at all connecting these 2 locations :(. So...what can we do?

[Wayne_Humphrey · Accepted solution]

Ahh, sorry :) forgot that part.

Its still easy don't worry ;)

1) place current server in read-only mode (no changes can happen)
2) backup SQL
3) backup indexes and Vault Stores
3) setup new server - same name
4) Restore SQL
5) Restore indexes and Vault Stores
6) Follow instructions to "Procedure for Renamed Servers" - http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293911.htm
7) Setup Exchange, add new mailboxes
8) relink new mailboxes to old archives using GUI or EVPM

you could alternatively look at ArchiveShuttle if you have the budget. http://www.vcare-it.com/

How much Vault Store Data do you have?

[Maria_Z_]

We only have around 200GB of Vault Store data.

Do you have any link/doc about step 8? Or could you tell me more about it?

Thanks!

[Wayne_Humphrey]

I will find you something, if not ill get something done. Ill try my best for tomorrow. Had a very busy day :p

[Paul_Grimshaw]

Information about relinking is as follows (which I think Wayne was referring to):-

Appendix B– Ensuring Mailbox / Archive Association
Definitions:
• Mailbox GUID – This is the unique ID for the mailbox, used by Exchange and stored in Active Directory.

• Hidden Message – This is a MAPI document placed in the users mailbox (in the root and hidden from a normal users view) that contains, amongst other information, that mailbox’s archive ID, its Enterprise Vault home server, the archiving policy applied to the mailbox and which archiving
buttons and functionality to show the user. This document is updated every time the mailbox is synchronized.

When moving a mailbox between Exchange environments that are serviced by the same Enterprise Vault archiving infrastructure, Enterprise Vault will attempt one of a number of actions on the newly migrated mailbox in order to re-link it with its existing archive. The successful action depends on
whether the migration process (and tools used in the process) allowed the mailbox to keep the same GUID and /or the same Enterprise Vault hidden message. Table below summarizes the options:

Mailbox GUID              Legacy MailboxDN                    Re-link behavior
Preserved                    Preserved                                   Mailbox automatically re-linked by the provisioning task
Preserved                    Not Preserved                            Mailbox automatically re-linked by the provisioning task
Not Preserved             Preserved                                   Admin intervention required. Use of the SynchInMigrationMode registry value (see below)
Not Preserved             Not Preserved                            Admin intervention required. Manually specify the archive to use for each migrated mailbox.

SynchinMigrationMode registry key:

Name: SynchinMigrationMode
Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Agents
Value:
0 (Issue Warnings for migrated mailboxes, but do nothing)
1 (Assigned newly migrated mailboxes to existing archives based on matching their LegacyMailboxDN)
2 (Do not assign newly migrated mailboxes to existing archives, instead create new archives).

[Wayne_Humphrey]

I am not convinced 100% that Maria can use SynchinMigrationMode, as she is going to be using a new clean exchange environment, and am assuming the GUID will change.  As for the hidden message I have seen mixed results with that and exporting data from Exchange.

Again assuming you going to use ExMerge, as you said you exporting Exchange mailboxes to PST 

When using ExMerge make sure you select "Associated folder messages." under the Data Tab

Associated messages are special, hidden messages that are used to store user settings, such as folder rules and folder views.

But you will need to test this and see that the hidden message is taken across, before you attempt to use SynchinMigrationMode, that would be the easiest way. If you loose the hidden message, you will need to script i

[Paul_Grimshaw]

Agreed :)

[Maria_Z_]

Hi,

we were going to start working on the migration and saw that the A5 queue has more than 1,600 messages. If I try to purge the queue I get a message saying "Are you sure you want to delete all messages in the queue?" :S

Are the messages really deleted? How can I purge the queue properly? Thanks!

[Wayne_Humphrey]

Stop the Task Controller Service.
Check out MSMQ, if there is messages on there purge them.

That's it really.