Migrator for Notes to Exchange 4.16.1 - Pre-Migration Planning Guide

Other strategic planning issues

Desktop considerations

If Outlook is to be installed or upgraded on user workstations, you must determine how to accomplish the installations or upgrades before the first users are migrated. In most organizations, users have the native Notes client and must have Outlook installed. However some organizations might have a MAPI service that permits Microsoft Outlook to access Domino.

To install Outlook, you need administrator privileges on the end user computers. You could use a configuration management program to distribute and install Outlook at sites where necessary. New profiles can be defined during or after the Outlook installation.

Batch vs. per-desktop migration

Both the MNE Data Migration Wizard and the Self-Service Desktop Migrator (SSDM) can migrate the same types of data. Migration is usually more efficient if an administrator can use the Data Migration Wizard to migrate all or most users in batches called user collections. A user collection typically contains a hundred or so users all migrated together in a single run. Your migration plan should specify whether you will migrate users in batches, one at a time, or using some combination of the two.

The Data Migration Wizard can migrate the user archives only if they reside in a single centralized location, or if the archive locations are specified (per user) in the SQL Server database. Batch migration can require that users copy their archives to a central location if the archives are not currently stored on a network drive, or an administrator can manually add the per-user archive locations to the Migrator for Notes to Exchange SQL database before running the Data Migration Wizard.

Alternatively, the Self-Service Desktop Migrator (SSDM) can be used to migrate archives, one user at a time, after the Data Migration Wizard has migrated the server-based data for a user collection. If user archives are not centrally accessible, or if some other local circumstance makes batch migration impractical, the SSDM is simple enough that most end users can run it.

Some administrators prefer to visit select desktops personally, running the SSDM on behalf of end users to ensure a smooth transition for executives or for users who are uncomfortable running the tasks themselves.

If you intend to migrate any user data using user collections, your Migration Plan should list the requirements and preferences for the following aspects of user grouping:

NOTE: The first few collections should be smaller than your expected optimum size since the first groups will likely expose any problems before a larger collection might generate correspondingly larger consequences.

Location of Notes user data

The Notes Data Locator Wizard can locate data files in the Notes source for a particular user collection, and can be set to locate data by type (mail vs. PABs vs. archives) in any combination. The wizard can find data in a variety of locations in the Notes/Domino source environment, and prompts you to specify which locations to include in its search:

The Data Migration Wizard also offers this fourth option for PABs (only):

The Data Migration Wizard can read source mail files from multiple paths in a single program run. The exported user data from Notes Person Documents include fields that identify the server and path where each mail file resides.

Since the various location options carry different prerequisites and implications for migration strategy, consider the implications and make your choices before you run the Notes Data Locator Wizard.