Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Moving Mailboxes

Administrators need to move mailboxes between databases for a variety of reasons such as a user being transferred to a different department or location or receiving a promotion (or demotion).

Additionally, mailboxes might need to be moved from one database to another to improve the load balancing of users across multiple Exchange servers (moving mailboxes from an overutilized server to an underutilized one).

Mailbox moves can also be extremely useful when implementing new Exchange Server hardware. The new server can be built in the existing environment, mailboxes can be moved to the new location, and the old server hardware can be decommissioned, all with minimal impact on the user community.

One other situation when the ability to move multiple mailboxes is helpful is during an upgrade to a newer version of Exchange Server; for example, when migrating your organization from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2010. Administrators can install the new Exchange Server 2010 server, move all user mailboxes from your old environment to your new one, and then decommission your older Exchange servers when they are no longer needed.

Mailboxes are moved from a source mailbox database to a target mailbox database. The target mailbox database can be on the same server, on a different server, in a different domain, in a different active directory site, or in another forest.

New in Exchange Server 2010 is the concept of asynchronous mailbox moves. Asynchronous moves enable the user's mailbox to be kept online during the move. Mailbox moves between Exchange Server 2010 servers are asynchronous, but mailbox moves from previous versions (Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007) to Exchange Server 2010 are NOT. In nonasynchronous moves, the user cannot access his mailbox during the move.

When moving from one Exchange Server 2010 database to another, a new cmdlet (New- MoveRequest) is used. The cmdlet can perform an asynchronous move because it is not actually performing the move. The action move is performed by the Mailbox Replication Service (MRS), which is a new service running on Exchange Server 2010 client access servers.

The old cmdlet used for mailbox moves, Move-Mailbox, operates differently, logging into both the source and target databases and moving the contents from the source to the destination. Administrators must keep the Shell open during the move or the process will fail.

Which cmdlet should an administrator use? This depends on the version of Exchange Server housing the source and destination mailboxes. This is explained in Table-1.

TABLE-1 Supported Mailbox Move Scenarios for Single-Forest Moves

Moving From	Moving To	New-MoveRequest Cmdlet	Move-Mailbox Cmdlet
E2010	E2010	Supported in the Exchange Management Shell and used by the Exchange Management Console	Not needed
E2007	E2010	Not supported	Supported
E2010	E2007	Not supported	Supported
E2003	E2010	Not supported	Supported
E2010	E2003	Not supported	Supported

Preparing for Mailbox Moves

Before moving mailboxes, some standard tasks should be completed in advance to minimize the potential for data loss and to streamline the process. These two primary tasks are as follows:

• Backing Up Exchange Mailboxes-Before performing any major work on a messaging system, it is a good practice to back up the message store. In the event of serious problems, you can always recover to your last known good backup.
• Performing Mailbox Cleanup-User mailboxes can grow rather large in size over time. Storing important messages, especially when there are attachments included, can take up a significant amount of disk space. Because moving larger mailboxes takes longer than smaller ones, it is always a good idea to have users clean up their mailboxes prior to moving them. One easy way to accomplish this is with the Mailbox Cleanup utility in Outlook. With this tool, users can view their current mailbox size, search for items older than, or larger than, a specified date and size, or run the autoarchive utility. Users can also empty their deleted items permanently because there is no need to waste time and bandwidth to move unwanted messages with the mailbox. Lastly, the utility enables users to delete all alternative versions of items in their mailbox. By cleaning up user mailboxes prior to moving them, you can significantly decrease the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish the task.

Performing the Mailbox Move

The following section discusses a mailbox move from one Exchange Server 2010 database to another using the Exchange Management Console. This process will, as previously described, utilize the New-MoveRequest cmdlet.

Mailbox moves are performed in the EMC using the Mailbox Move wizard. This process is so self-explanatory that we will bypass the step-by-step procedures and discuss, instead, the theory of what is happening.

When a new mailbox move request is generated by the Move Mailbox wizard, the source and target databases are selected. If both are on Exchange Server 2010 servers, the new cmdlet New-MoveRequest is utilized. If either the source or destination is on a legacy Exchange server, the Move-Mailbox cmdlet is used.

After a move request is started, the request and the current status can be viewed in the Recipient Configuration \ Move Request node in the EMC. Anytime between the time the move is requested and the time it is completed, the request can be canceled by selecting the request in this node and clicking Remove Move Request. This performs the EMS cmdlet Remove-MoveRequest.

When a Move Request has been completed, it can still be viewed in the Move Requests node until the administrator clears the move request. Mailboxes that have been moved have a different icon in the EMC, differentiating them from other mailboxes. This unique icon, remains in place until the move request has been cleared at which point it reverts to a normal icon.

This custom icon enables administrators to identify which mailboxes have recently been moved to prevent accidentally moving them a second time.