Migrator for Notes to Exchange 4.15.2 - Scenarios Guide

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

When running the SSDM in a silent mode, the program can read and/or infer some entry values from the operating environment—from the Windows Registry and Outlook’s initialization files, etc.—and some values can be specified by 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 executed. For example:

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

Configuration of silent mode in notesdtapp.ini

When Silent Mode is configured, the migration team configures the application in advance within the notesdtapp.ini file to determine what will migrate, the target for each migrated data type, and the filters and other configuration elements for the migration. For example:

... tells SSDM to migrate only archives when launched by the end user and to place the migrated data in the user’s server-based personal archive.

Various degrees of the silent option can be configured depending on the flexibility and control you want to provide to the user community. However, it is commonly configured to run as "silently" as possible, which means users are able to complete their migrations simply by entering their Notes passwords.

Providing program entry values in notesdtapp.ini

If the Self-Service Desktop Migrator will be configured to skip certain screen displays, the program must have some alternate method of obtaining the information that would otherwise be collected from fields on those screens. The program can read and/or infer some entry values from the operating environment—from the Windows Registry and Outlook’s initialization files, for example—but some values can also be provided by parameters in the notesdtapp.ini file.

When an entry value is specified in the INI file, the value will appear as the default if the corresponding screen and option appear in the program run, or will simply be the prevailing value if the screen and option do not appear.

Any or all of the migration choices in the Specify Data for Migration screen can be specified in notesdtapp.ini by these parameters:

A parameter value of 1 sets the option to "yes" (the data type will be migrated if the screen does not appear), or sets the associated checkbox to be marked by default. A value of 0 sets the option to "no," or sets the associated checkbox to be unmarked by default. Note that if a feature is disabled by AppDoesXxxx=0 (see Hiding certain user choices on the Specify Data for Migration screen below), the corresponding INI-file parameter will be ignored.

The most common use of these parameters is to provide the necessary entry values when the program is configured to skip the Specify Data screen—by MigrateWhat=skip or MigrateWhat=silent (see Hiding entire screens from the user below).

If the program finds more than one eligible Outlook profile on the user’s computer, or doesn’t find any, the program displays a Select Profile screen to prompt the user to designate the profile. If one and only one eligible Outlook profile is found on the user’s computer, the program simply assumes it is the correct profile to use, and the Select Profile screen does not appear.

The end-user program can be configured to skip the Select Profile screen, but in that case the program must be able to determine the correct Outlook profile to use. The user’s Outlook profile can be specified in notesdtapp.ini by:

Specifying the user’s Outlook profile in the INI file will be useful only if:

Remember that the program will not need this ProfileName value if one and only one eligible profile will be found on each user’s workstation.

If the program finds more than one mailbox in the selected Outlook profile, the program displays a Select Mailbox screen to prompt the user to designate the target mailbox. If one and only one mailbox is found for the selected profile, the program simply assumes it is the correct mailbox to use, and the Select Mailbox screen does not appear.

The end-user program can be configured to skip the Select Mailbox screen, but in that case (and if more than one mailbox is associated with the selected Outlook profile) the program must be able to determine the correct mailbox to use. The user’s target mailbox can be specified in notesdtapp.ini by:

Specifying the target mailbox in the INI file will be useful only if:

Remember that the program will not need this MailboxName value if one and only one mailbox will be found in the user’s Outlook profile.

The destination folder (path) for the user’s migrated archive can be specified in the [General] section of notesdtapp.ini by:

... where <path> is the full UNC path relative to the user’s computer.

This value, if necessary in a particular program run, would otherwise be specified in the Specify Directory screen.

The default for this parameter is the Outlook Default Directory, which the program can determine from its operating environment. This parameter is therefore necessary only if you want users’ migrated archives to go somewhere other than the Outlook Default Directory.

The Self-Service Desktop Migrator lets you specify date limits and ranges for messages to be migrated—to migrate only messages timestamped on or after (or before) a certain date, or within a particular range of dates. You can also specify a maximum size limit for attachments. These date and size filters can be specified during a program run on the Select Date and Size Filters screen, but that screen is hidden by default (see next section) and the filters may instead be defined by these parameter settings in the [Filter] section of notesdtapp.ini:

The AttachSize value is numeric, in kilobytes. The two date parameter values must be entered in the eight-digit, slash-separated form shown above, with a zero preceding any single-digit month or day. The defaults for all three parameters are null, so no filtering will occur.

Hiding entire screens from the user

The Self-Service Desktop Migrator program can be customized to make some of its screen displays "silent" (invisible to the end user) or to skip a screen conditionally, making it visible only if the program cannot find the information it needs either from the operating environment or elsewhere in the notesdtapp.ini file. The display option for each screen can be set to one of these three parameter values in the notesdtapp.ini file:

The show, skip or silent mode can be applied to each of ten program screens by setting parameter values in the [Screens] section of notesdtapp.ini for:

The visibility of the Enter Password screen (occurs between the Selection Summary and Migrating Data screens) cannot be set or changed in notesdtapp.ini. This Microsoft prompt for the user’s Exchange login credentials may appear if the Outlook profile is configured to require login credentials. Since this screen may be mandatory, a completely "silent" run of the program may not be possible. Even if you set all of the other screens to silent mode, the program may still have to prompt the user for his or her Exchange login credentials.