Sample Migration Scenario
In this example we will guide you through migration of large public folders from source Exchange organization to target Exchange 2013. Note that we assume that you don’t have any public folders in Exchange 2013 organization yet.
Step 1: Determining Public Folders Size
As a first step we determine the total size of public folder content and its distribution over public folders:
| Source public folder path | Public folders count | Size in GB |
|---|---|---|
| .\Transport Planning | 842 | 3.2 |
| .\Management Consulting | 271 | 5.4 |
| .\Offices | 6800 | 155,0 |
| .\Finance | 2001 | 184,9 |
| Total: | 9914 | 348.5 |
Total size is around 348GB which exceeds the Microsoft’s 100GB limit for a single public folder mailbox in Exchange 2013 organization. Therefore, we need to split source public folder hierarchy into public folder branches with size less than 100GB each. After that, branches will be migrated to target public folders residing in different Exchange 2013 public folder mailboxes.
Large public folders over 100GB that should be split up are listed in the following table.
| Source public folder path | Public folders count | Size in GB |
|---|---|---|
| .\Offices | 6800 | 155,0 |
| .\Finance | 2001 | 184,9 |
Small branches from the below table can be migrated to a single target public folder mailbox as their total size does not exceed the size limit.
| Source public folder path | Public folders count | Size in GB |
|---|---|---|
| .\Transport Planning | 842 | 3,2 |
| .\Management Consulting | 271 | 5,4 |
Step 2: Planning Public Folder Migration
Now we need to plan how to split large public folders into branches. As an example, we will start with splitting up the .\Offices branch and its subfolders. The size of its content is around 155GB which greatly exceeds the 100GB limit. Therefore, we need to split it into branches in the say way as we did for the root level public folders on step 1.
The following table contains sizes of subfolders that are located within the .\Offices branch.
| Source public folder path | Size in GB |
| .\Offices\Paris | 50,2 |
| .\Offices\London | 32,4 |
| .\Offices\Moscow | 28,7 |
| .\Offices \<all other subfolders> | 43,7 |
Now every branch is below the 100GB limit and we can start planning how to map the branches to target public folder mailboxes. To migrate a certain source branch to the target public folder residing in the specific public folder mailbox using Migration Manager for Exchange, we will need to create that target public folder manually in each public folder mailbox. This folder will act as a “target root” in Migration Manager for Exchange public folder collection.
We suggest the following public folder collection design:
- Name: Collection_01
- Description: Migration of public folders under “.\Offices”
- Members of the collection: 4 sync pairs
| Sync Pair | Source public folder | Target public folder (created manually) | Public folder mailbox where target public folder will be created |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .\Offices | .\Offices | PFMailbox01 |
| ..\Paris EXCLUDED WITH SUBFOLDERS | |||
| ..\London EXCLUDED WITH SUBFOLDERS | |||
| ..\Moscow EXCLUDED WITH SUBFOLDERS | |||
| ..\<ALL OTHER SUBFOLDERS INCLUDED> | |||
| 2 | .\Offices\Paris | .\Offices\Paris | PFMailbox02 |
| 3 | .\Offices\London | .\Offices\London | PFMailbox03 |
| 4 | .\Offices\Moscow | .\Offices\Moscow |
Step 3: Migrating Public Folders
Before configuring public folder synchronization job and collection, take the following steps:
- Create a first public folder mailbox in your Exchange organization. This mailbox will be the primary hierarchy public folder mailbox and no data will be migrated to it.
- Create PFMailbox01, PFMailbox02, and PFMailbox03 secondary public folder mailboxes and corresponding public folders in them.
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NOTE: The source branches .\Offices\London and .\Offices\Moscow can be migrated to the same target public folder mailbox PFMailbox03 as the total size which is the sum of their sizes (32,4GB and 28,7GB) is less than 100GB. |
| Target public folder | Public folder mailbox where the folder should be created |
|---|---|
| .\Offices | PFMailbox01 |
| .\Offices\Paris | PFMailbox02 |
| .\Offices\London | PFMailbox03 |
| .\Offices\Moscow | PFMailbox03 |
Now we can configure a public folder synchronization job in Migration Manager for Exchange console as follows:
- As you open the Add Public Folders Synchronization Job wizard, the target public folders created for each branch previously will be already displayed in the right pane.
- Now we add the first pair of public folders that should be migrated to the destination folder and exclude subfolders that should not.
NOTE: If you plan to utilize two-way synchronization of public folders, then corresponding target public folders should be excluded as well.
- After that we can start adding public folder pairs for remaining branches \Offices\Paris, \Offices\Moscow, and \Offices\London:
NOTE: When you select a pair of folders in the upper pane, you see which public folders are included in that migration pair. All public folders that are not included in the pair will be grayed out.
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Finally, we can complete the wizard and start actual public folder synchronization. For more information, see Public Folder Synchronization Process.
Migrating Public Folders with Replicas
If a public folder in the source organization has replica on another source server, such folder will be grayed out in tree view. The example of such public folders is the Tokyo folder. By default the Tokyo folded is included in the migration, but PFSA is not able to migrate folders that do not have local replicas.
There are to options how to migrate such public folders:
- Replicate source public folder to the Exchange server for which you configured the public folder synchronization job. As soon as folder replicates, it will be involved into synchronization process.
- Add a public folder synchronization job for the source Exchange server where local replica for that public folder resides, and synchronize the public folder using that job.