Migrator for Notes to Exchange 4.17 - Pre-Migration Planning Guide

About Notes 8.5 Compatibility Mode

Beginning with Notes version 8.5, a configuration called Compatibility Mode is offered to streamline iCalendar interoperability with other mail systems. This is accomplished by limiting the functionality within the Notes calendar to those functions that will be seamlessly supported by other mail systems. Some have wondered if Notes' Compatibility Mode might be a reasonable alternative to Quest CMN for calendar coexistence.

Quest acknowledges this configuration option may suffice for organizations that use only basic, simple calendar functions, but it will limit calendar functionality for all users. In the Notes documentation, it is conceded that, with Compatibility Mode, "you will not be able to update more than one repeating meeting instance at a time, use custom repeating meetings, or specify weekend rules for repeating meetings." A quick comparison shows Quest Coexistence Manager for Notes delivers a richer, higher-fidelity calendar coexistence without placing limitations on end users.

In addition to preserving a high level of calendar functionality, Quest CMN also processes Active Mail from Notes, converts DocLinks for use in Exchange, remediates other email incompatibilities, facilitates directory updates, and enables free/busy functionality between the two systems.

If you would like to see a more detailed comparison, please contact your Quest Sales representative.

Directory updates

If updates of coexisting directories is not a high priority, you can add and delete users and update user data in the Exchange environment (only), using Exchange administration software. Otherwise, if it is important to keep the two directories coordinated throughout the transition period, you can do that and also update the SQL Server database, as described in Appendix A of the Migrator for Notes to Exchange Administration Guide (see How Do I Update Directory Data and Update the SQL Server Database?).

Coexistence with multiple AD domains

Server access rights, email routing, and calendar coexistence will need some special attention in a coexistence when the destination environment contains multiple AD domains. In this case, your Migration Plan should note:

About Migrator for Notes to Exchange statistics

The MNE Notes Migration Manager and several of the MNE wizards report data statistics: sizes of message stores, data volumes migrated, and so on. This data can be valuable to migration administrators in planning a migration, in monitoring migration progress, and in assessing the performance of particular migration strategies and methods.

When reporting data volumes at various stages of the migration process, MNE qualifies these numbers by specifying reported values as Compressed or Uncompressed. Notes, Exchange, and MNE measure data volumes in different ways, and compress data using different methods, which makes meaningful comparisons and analysis difficult when the numbers are unqualified. For example, a 283 MB NSF file may become 2.3 GB as migrated by Migrator for Notes to Exchange, and upon migration the target Exchange mailbox can be 439 MB. Some administrators suspect data losses when the differences are entirely due to different methods of measuring data volumes at different stages of the migration process.

To eliminate much of that confusion, Migrator for Notes to Exchange notes whether its various reported values are Compressed or Uncompressed:

Migrator for Notes to Exchange logs the sizes of objects as they are exported with the Notes API, and the sizes of uncompressed file attachments. These qualified values provide a more meaningful measure of how much raw data Migrator for Notes to Exchange is reading and processing, and should help with migration time estimates. These reporting methods support good estimates derived by comparing the Compressed data rate to the size of the source NSF files.