29. Chapter - Migration from Microsoft Exchange

To migrate from Microsoft Exchange to the Intra2net Business Server and Groupware Client, there are 2 possibilities:

The first is offline migration, where neither of the two servers can be used during the migration. The migration must be carried out in a single step and cannot be interrupted. This variant is simpler and faster, but can usually only be implemented outside of normal business hours.

Alternatively, there is the migration during operation. This variant is somewhat more complex, but can be implemented during operation and with only very minor restrictions for the users. This moves one user at a time. This means that the migration can be extended over a period of several days.

29.1. Offline Migration

With this method of migration, neither the existing Exchange nor the new Intra2net system can be used for email and groupware, and new emails cannot be received. Therefore, make sure that the relevant users coordinate the date well in advance and schedule enough time.

Requirements:

  • Fully functional Microsoft Exchange Server

  • Intra2net Business Server in default configuration

  • Administrator rights for Exchange Server, Active Directory Domain and Intra2net Business Server

  • List of all users and their passwords in the local Active Directory

  • Access to the existing Outlook installations of all users

  • When fetching emails from an external provider via POP3: List of all logins and passwords for email retrieval.

29.1.1. Migration Step-by-step

  1. Set up the Intra2net Business Server to have at least one IP on the LAN, DNS, appropriate local SSL certificate and access to the Internet. It requires a different IP than the former Exchange Server so that both can communicate with each other during migration. The configuration of the individual points is described in the Part 2, „General Functions“.

  2. Create an account on the Intra2net system for all users. If required, create user groups. This is especially recommended to make it easier to organize sharing emails and groupware folders at a later stage.

  3. Browse each user in Active Directory and take over existing email alias addresses to "Usermanager > Users : Addresses" on the Intra2net system.

  4. Deactivate the receipt of any new emails and access via OWA. Do not allow any user to open Outlook. From this moment on, no user can make further changes to the groupware or email data.

  5. Create a backup of all emails and groupware data on the Exchange Server.

  6. Wait until the backup has been fully created and copy it to another server, for safety reasons.

  7. If it is not already done, configure and enable access to emails on the Exchange Server via IMAP protocol.

  8. Use IMAPCopy to copy the emails of all users from Exchange to the Intra2net system. A description of how to use IMAPCopy is described in 28. Chapter, „Migrating Emails with IMAPCopy“.

  9. Open the Outlook installation of the first user.

  10. Create a local Outlook data file that contains all groupware folders (not necessarily the user's email folders). To do this, use the Outlook Import/Export function.

  11. Install the Intra2net Groupware Client on the user's PC.

  12. Create a new Outlook profile for this user and configure it for use with the Intra2net Groupware Client as described in Section 18.1, „Installing the Program“ and the following sections.

  13. Transfer the groupware data from the previously created local Outlook data file as described in Section 20.2.1.2, „Importing to the Groupware Client“.

  14. Check if there are users from the local domain in the contacts folders. If so, then the email addresses of these users must be changed from internal Exchange addressing to normal email addresses.

  15. Check the Calendar and Task folders whether there are future appointments or open tasks in which other participants from the local domain are invited. These other participants are stored in the form of internal Exchange addressing and must be converted to normal email addresses.

  16. Repeat steps 9 to 15 for all users.

  17. Migrate the public folders as described in Section 29.2.3, „Shared Folders“.

  18. Disable Exchange Server completely, and permanently.

  19. Configure how to send and receive new emails in the Intra2net system as described in 14. Chapter, „Email“.