Migrator for Notes to Exchange 4.17 - Scenarios Guide

Prepare SSDM scheduling and throttling

Migrator for Notes to Exchange includes an SSDM Throttling Utility that lets you control users’ run 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 limit to the number of concurrent SSDM program runs to prevent processing bottlenecks that might occur if too many users run the SSDM at the same time. If a user’s SSDM run exceeds 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 end-user use of the SSDM in this way, run the SSDM Throttling utility 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 the statistics and adds them to the SQL Server database so they appear in the Project View screen of the MNE console.

For 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

The Self-Service Desktop Migrator is simple enough that most end users can run it. 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 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, the program must have an alternate method to obtain the information it would collect from fields on the screen. The program can obtain some values from the operating environment—from the Windows Registry and the Outlook 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, described in the first topic.

The silent-mode program customizations are optional, accomplished by manipulating certain parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file. If you leave the parameters at their default values, the SSDM runs in 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:

Command-line switches for running the desktop migrator in silent mode

When the SSDM runs in a silent mode, the program can obtain some entry values from the operating environment—from the Windows Registry and Outlook initialization files—and some values can be obtained from parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file. Some values can also be provided by command-line switches appended to the program command when the Desktop Migrator is run. For example:

In this list of available switches for the notesdtapp command, the /silent switch is the only one that does not have an argument: