Yet another Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 migration question. :)

[mattski1]

I certainly appreciate this great forum! Many thanks to Jeff and others...

I've got a Unity migration question, with a slight twist. Our customer, who is using Unity 3.1.4 with licensing for UM, is planning to move off their existing Exchange 5.5 platform and move everything over to a new Exchange 2000 server.

The twist, is rather than use their existing Unity server, they plan to install Unity 3.1.5 on a brand new server - which I think changes the migration equation somewhat because the new Unity server won't have any existing user information - all users will have to be imported from the Exchange 2000 server. Right?

1. Preparing to move off the Exchange 5.5 server, should we first remove the users using the "Bulk User Logout" tool so we can remove the custom attributes before importing users in to the new Unity server? Would it be better to use the "Bulk Subscriber Delete" tool instead?

2. Would we be better served using the "Full Database Export/Import" tools to accomplish this task so we preserve more than just user info?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks...

[lindborg]

Actually, I think this is going to be easier than you're thinking... DiRT should be able to back up the 3.1(4) system and restore to a new server in a new environment and synch up no problem.

The catch is you have to restore to the same version you backed up so you will have to back up 3.1(4), install a new 3.1(4) in the new network hooked up to Exchange 2000 and restore to that. Then upgrade to 3.1(5).

Check out DiRT home page (complete with training videos and the help files) for more info on how this works:

http://www.answermonkey.net/App_DisasterRecoveryTools.htm

[mattski1]

Thanks, Jeff. I had actually wondered if DiRT was going to be the way to go, but wasn't sure.

I'd already downloaded the DiRT software and the training videos (plus the codec), but hadn't gone through all the information yet. Guess I will now!

Again, my thanks...

Matt