Chapter 7 - Designing a Migration Plan to Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server

Chapter 7

About This Chapter

Many of the world’s largest messaging organizations rely on Microsoft Exchange Server technology, and most of them came from heterogeneous environments. Microsoft’s largest customers, for example, operate Exchange organizations with well over 100,000 mailboxes. This proves that it is technically possible to migrate any messaging network regardless of its complexity. A comprehensive set of migration tools is available in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server to facilitate the individual migration tasks. The actual migration techniques, however, do not differ much in small, medium, or large environments.

Planning a migration to Exchange 2000 Server requires an assessment of the existing e-mail network, as discussed in Chapter 4, "Assessing the Current Messaging Infrastructure." Among other things, you need to have a clear understanding of the locations of messaging systems, the message routing and directory synchronization topology, the e-mail clients and workgroup applications, and the places where messaging-related information is stored. You also must clarify how to integrate Exchange 2000 Server into the current environment according to the desired administrative and routing group topology. Administrative and routing groups are discussed in Chapter 5, "Designing a Basic Messaging Infrastructure with Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server." This chapter introduces two general techniques to migrate a messaging environment to Exchange 2000 Server: single-phase and multiphase migrations. Lesson 1 addresses important tasks that you need to accomplish to move an environment in one step. Lesson 2 explains the less risky and more popular multiphase approach, which allows you to migrate users, their e-mails, and address information gradually. The multiphase approach can be considered a series of single-step migrations.

Before You Begin

To complete the lessons in this chapter, you need to

• Be aware of the technical features of Exchange 2000 Server, as explained in Chapter 1, "Introduction to Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server"
• Have practical experience in administering PC-based messaging systems and be familiar with the concepts of directory synchronization, as discussed in Chapter 4, "Assessing the Current Messaging Infrastructure"
• Know the various design elements of Exchange 2000 Server, such as administrative and routing groups, as discussed in Chapter 5, "Designing a Basic Messaging Infrastructure with Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server"