Migrator for Notes to Exchange 4.15.2 - Scenarios Guide

Option to show (or hide) Error Log Report button

The SSDM is configured by default to offer an Error Log Report button that lets the user view the program log file for more information about any errors that may have occurred during the program run. (The button does not appear if no errors have occurred.) From the Error Log Report, a user may also save the log file or print a copy.

This feature is enabled by default, but may be disabled (so the button does not appear in any case) by a boolean parameter in the notesdtapp.ini configuration file:

Disabling the button may be useful in some environments where accessing a large log file might cause a user desktop to hang.

Prepare SSDM scheduling and throttling

Migrator for Notes to Exchange includes an SSDM Throttling Utility that lets you control users’ execution of the SSDM, to more evenly distribute the demand on network and server resources. Each user collection is assigned a migration "window": a specific date and time period when its member users are permitted to migrate. When a user runs the SSDM, the program identifies the user by his or her login credentials, and checks the schedule to see whether the user is early, late, or "in the window" for his or her migration.

The SSDM Throttling Utility also lets you set a limit to the number of concurrent SSDM program runs, to prevent processing bottlenecks that might otherwise occur if too many users happened to run the SSDM at the same time. If a user’s SSDM run would exceed the limit, the user is offered the option of "parking" in a waiting list, so that his or her migration program would run in the next available slot.

If you want to regulate your end users’ use of the SSDM in this way, run the SSDM Throttling utility now, before you begin the migration. Chapter 14 of the Migrator for Notes to Exchange Administration Guide provides instructions for this utility.

Prepare for SSDM statistics collection

Migrator for Notes to Exchange includes an SSDM Statistics Collection Wizard that can be configured to gather migration statistics written by the SSDM, and load the data into the SQL database, so you can track the progress of a migration project. Each time a user runs the Self-Service Desktop Migrator, the program writes its run statistics to a specified directory. The Wizard gathers those statistics and adds them to the SQL Server database, so they will appear in the Project View screen of Notes Migration Manager.

For information and instructions to configure the SSDM Statistics Collection Wizard, see chapter 11 of the Migrator for Notes to Exchange Administration Guide.

Silent mode options in per-desktop migrations

Quest’s Self-Service Desktop Migrator is simple and intuitive enough that most end users will be able to run it uneventfully. Some administrators simplify the process even more by customizing the desktop program to enforce or eliminate certain choices in accordance with a particular migration strategy. For example, if you intend to migrate users’ server mail and address books in user batches, and then use the SSDM to migrate only user archives, the SSDM can be customized to migrate only archives, and to not offer the option to migrate server mail or address books.

The SSDM can be customized to skip certain screens, or even to hide all screens—to run in a true "silent mode," requiring no entries or other intervention from the end user. Whenever the program is configured to skip a screen display, the program must have some alternate method of obtaining the information it would otherwise collect from fields on the screen. The program can read and/or infer some entry values from the operating environment—from the Windows Registry and Outlook’s initialization files, etc.—and some values can be specified by parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file. Some values can also be specified by parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file, as described in the first subtopic below.

These silent-mode program customizations are optional, accomplished by manipulating certain parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file. If you leave those parameters at their default values, the SSDM simply runs in its default mode, displaying all screens and all options.

Multiple configurations can be established in advance of the migration to meet the needs of a variety of user types, and separate links can be distributed so that different users launch different configurations of the application. For details, see: