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Title
How Microsoft Exmerge can be utilized in Exchange 2007 SP1 and Exchange 2010 migration scenarios? -
Description
Microsoft Exmerge is no longer officially supported in Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 implementations. Are there any alternatives?
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Resolution
Beginning in Exchange 2007 SP1, Microsoft introducedImport-MailboxandExport-MailboxPowerShell cmdlets that took place of Exmerge functionality in Exchange 5.5/2000/2003. They still can be effectively utilized for the troubleshooting and workarounds in the various migration scenarios such as:- Particular mailbox is very large and may become a bottleneck when migrating other mailboxes.
- There are issues migrating some mailboxes and urgent workaround needs to be implemented.
- Mailbox contains corrupted items - in this case Exmerge (Import/Export Mailbox) can be attempted as an alternative method as it relies on the different set of MAPI APIs that may handle corruption differently on the other MAPI layer.
- Mail extraction performance baseline needs to be created for the Exchange server participating in the mail migration.
IMPORTANT: Exmerge based solutions are known to cause message duplicates when mixed with Quest agents on the same mailbox. Please ensure the target mailbox is empty before exporting any messages.Import-Mailboxcmdlet can be used to import mail data residing in the mailbox or .pst file to either a mailbox folder or a .pst file.Export-Mailboxcmdlet can be used to export mail data from the mailbox or .pst file to either a mailbox folder or a .pst file. The source and target mailboxes must be on one of the following:
· Exchange 2007 server· Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) (or later versions) server· Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) (or later versions) server
PREREQUISITES:
-Export/Import to PST must be run from a 32 bit client machine with Exchange Management Tools installed (Version Exchange 2007 SP1 or later). The 32bit requirement comes from a dependency with the Outlook client.
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later versions like Outlook 2007 need to be installed on that machine.
- The user running the task must be an Exchange Organization Admin or an Exchange Server Admin on the server where the mailbox to export/import lives.
Below are few examples of using these commandlets:
Importing mail from C:\PSTFilesjohn.pst into the mailbox john@contoso.com
Import-Mailbox -Identity john@contoso.com -PSTFolderPath C:\PSTFiles\john.pst
Exporting mail from the mailbox john@contoso.com into C:\PSTFilesjohn.pst
Export-Mailbox -Identity john@contoso.com -PSTFolderPath C:\PSTFiles\john.pst
For more details please refer to the following Microsoft TechNet articles:
Import-Mailbox -http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb629586.aspxExport-Mailbox -http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998579.aspxFor Exchange 2010 please see the following:
Understanding Move Requests - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/dd298174.aspx
TechNet article - Create a Remote Legacy Move Request Where One of the Forests Doesn't Have Exchange 2010 - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/dd876952.aspx
TechNet article - Create a Remote Move Request that has Exchange 2010 in Both Forests - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/dd351280.aspx
Third Party site article - Where Is Export/Import Cmdlets In Exchange 2010? - http://www.howexchangeworks.com/2009/08/where-is-exportimport-cmdlets-in.html -
Additional Information
Please also see the following links:
Microsoft KB Article - 947391 - The contents of .pst files are not imported into Exchange Server 2007 mailboxes when you use the Import-Mailbox cmdlet - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947391
How to Export and Import mailboxes to PST files in Exchange 2007 SP1 - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/04/13/437745.aspx
Replacing ExMerge by Import-Mailbox and Export-Mailbox - http://www.exchangeinbox.com/article.aspx?i=102