Exchange Server 2007 Migration: Look Before You Leap

By Michelle Savage

September 15, 2008 —  (Page 5 of 6)
C2C Systems CEO Dave Hunt said the storage limitations in Exchange Server 2007 make it necessary for companies to shift some of their data to a lower-cost device, but many fail to determine at the outset which data they will and will not move. “When you’re moving into a new house, you don’t just move all your old stuff to the attic and keep it there,” he said. “It’s the same thing with your data. If you’re migrating the data anyway, now is the time to implement a plan to manage it.”

Schneiderman also advises organizations that are not fully prepared for a complete setup or migration to take their time, since Exchange Server 2007 offers the flexibility to introduce server roles gradually and to support Exchange in a coexistence mode. The end-to-end process is designed to maintain messaging functionality and stability through the transition period.

“It’s not necessary to overcomplicate things,” Schneiderman said. “You can move to 2007 and keep your current environment; just introduce the 2007 server and move your mailboxes over.”

Most migrations cannot be done over a single weekend; many take several weeks or months. During that time, it is critical that messaging functionality be up and running without interruption, even when some user accounts are housed in Exchange Server 2007 and others remain in the source messaging platform. If administrators fail to establish coexistence between the messaging environments, users lose the ability to e-mail and schedule meetings with each other, share global address lists and view public folders.

To establish coexistence effectively, administrators must synchronize Active Directory and Exchange data—including directories, public folders and calendars—so that any changes made in one environment will be replicated in the other. By doing so, they can eliminate productivity losses due to interrupted workflow.

The upside to choosing a phased approach, said Schneiderman, is that if something goes wrong because of technical or human error, the organization will not have to roll back thousands of mailboxes at once.  

Related Search Term(s): Exchange Server, ITIL, migration, server management, Microsoft

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