Using ExMerge against a 5.5 server

[4jtaylor]

I am getting ready to upgrade from Unity 2.4.6 (on an NT 4 server) to Unity 3.2.

I read the posts about using ExMerge to export the messages and can't seem to get it to work. I am running the ExMerge that comes on the Exchange 2000 CD. I keep getting an error message that says I don't have adequate permissions on the private information store databases, but I do. I gave my user account Service Account Admin privileges at the Organization, site and configuration levels. From within the Exchange Admin 5.5 program I have the adequate permissions to do everything to the private info stores. I am running ExMerge from a Win2k Pro box if that is significant to my problem. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I should post the log file. Thanks in advance...

[lindborg]

If you can open an Outlook client running on that box with this account and then use the "file | open | Other Users Folder" and open someone else's inbox - you should have sufficient rights. You can try this for a single mailbox and then run ExMerge to create a PST file from that same mailbox and see if it still fails.

BTW, why aren't you running ExMerge on the Exchange 5.5 server in question? Presumably you've installed the Exchange 5.5 admin files on this 2K pro server and it SHOULD work - however I normally run ExMerge directly on an Exchange server for such things... I've never had a problem.

[4jtaylor]

I can open outlook and access all of the mailboxes from my pc, so I have sufficient rights. When I run ExMerge, I get the permissions error before it lists the mailboxes on the server, so I can't see or select any mailboxes to backup.

I am not running ExMerge on the 5.5 server because it is an NT 4.0 server...

[m.balastik]

I was wondering if you were able to move forward with your upgrade. I am in the same situation with trying to export the exchange mailboxes off of my NT 4.0 / Ex55 / Unity 2.4.6.135 system.

Monica

[5mgagnon]

I hope this will help folks !

First of all :

- Should NOT use ExMerge 2000 for Exporting a Ex55 mailbox (MS Recommandation on "How to use ExMerge"), Use ExMerge 3.71 instead, can be found on the net or at MS Tech Support.

- If you run ExMerge from a Workstation, you SHOULD had the Systems Administration tool of 5.5 and/or Ex2K

- To Reimport on Ex2K : you SHOULD use ExMerge 2000

- Insure on Ex2k that you "remove" all "Deny" permisson for ALL Groups or User that you plan to use to execute ExMerge !

Ex. : Remove "Deny" for Receive as and Send as permission for Administrator account, doesn't give you the required rigth to "ExMerge"... since, Domains Administrator Groups and Enterprise Groups, are "Deny" access to .

Deny a permission on an object in 2K Server will overide any other permission !

Good Luck !

Martin

[lindborg]

for the send as / recieve as rights issue, I find it easier to apply an explicit allow on all the mailstores that home one or more subscribers on them for the account I'm running as - with all the security patches and hot fixes applying denies to various groups this is the only way to ensure you have what you need - running down all the possible inheritied denies is a nightmare... This is, in fact, what the updated Permissions Wizard will be doing with the message store facing account for Unity 4.x installs - we've been burned too many times by group X getting an explicit deny slapped on it and taking us out at the knees.

Interesting note about backing up Ex55 with 3.71 - we've done a number of tests here with the Ex2K version of ExMerge backing up Ex55 without incident, I'll have to double check on that - are you sure the article you read wasn't written before the release of Ex2K or the like?

[5mgagnon]

Hi Jeff,

I found that information on MS Support Site :

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 327304

Last Reviewed: 10/26/2002

But, I saw few other article that told about using ExMerge 2000 for Ex55 . (Dated April 2001)

, maybe that in 327304, they were expecting that ExMerge 2000 wasn't support on a NT Box (before Ex55 Sp3 and NT Sp6a)

Martin