How to Set Up the Migration Wizard

This article discusses some migration concepts and describes how to set up the Migration Wizard and how to migrate users.

You can use the Migration Wizard to extract users and their data from several messaging systems, such as Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, Lotus cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, and others. This article discusses:

• One-step migrations versus two-step migrations
• Intermediate File Format
• Co-existence between old mail systems and new mail systems
• System requirements
• Migration Wizard instructions

One-step migrations vs. two-step migrations

The Migration Wizard gives you the option to perform your migration in either one or two steps. If you choose to migrate in one step, data is extracted and imported to the Exchange Server organization during one session of the Migration Wizard. If you choose to migrate in two steps, you will use two sessions of the Migration Wizard.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Internet Message Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4) migration functions work in conjunction with each other. The first step is to extract a user list from the LDAP directory. Then run the wizard a second time and use the list you extracted in the first step to extract the IMAP4 mail data.

The Migration Wizard contains a list that shows you what type of mail systems the wizard can migrate from. Most of the procedures that are true for migrating from one type of mail system are true for another. However, there is an important exception when you are performing a two-step migration from Microsoft Mail for PC Networks. In most two-step migrations, you use the Import from Migration Files function for the second step. However, in a two-step migration from MS Mail, you must use the MS Mail for PC Networks function for both the first and second step. In the first step, MS Mail migration extracts only the directory to an Intermediate File Format (IFF) file and none of the mail data. When you import, the MS Mail data is written directly to Exchange by means of a direct MAPI interface. For all other mail systems that the Migration Wizard extracts from, the wizard first writes the user and mail data to IFF files, and then imports it to Exchange from the IFF files.

Intermediate File Format

The Migration Wizard uses Intermediate File Format (IFF) files in all kinds of migrations that it performs. The data is written to these IFF files as it is extracted from the source mail system. If you are extracting a large post office that contains gigabytes of data, your IFF files will also be gigabytes in size. Except for MS Mail, every byte of information you extract is written to an IFF (MS Mail only writes user information to IFF; mail information is written directly to the Exchange information store without ever being written to an IFF file).

There are three types of IFF files, and you can tell the difference between them by their file extensions: Packing List or .pkl files, Primary or .pri files, and Secondary or .sec files. IFF files are comma-separated-value (CSV) files that you can view in a plain text editor, such as Notepad, or in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel.

The .pkl file is a list or inventory of all the other IFF files. The wizard uses this list as a database about all the IFF files that are involved in the migration. When you perform the second step of a two-step migration, the Migration Wizard requires the .pkl file to start.

There is one .pri file for each user and one .pri file for the directory information of all users. If you are migrating five users, six .pri files are created. The Directory.pri file is a list of the users and their properties (such as display name, alias, and addressing). The other .pri files contain the user's mail messages and are named in numbered sequence such as 00000001.pri, 00000002.pri, and so on.

The .sec files are used to hold large amounts of data, such as the body of a message or message attachments. The .pri files contain pointers to data in the .sec file. In other words, a user's .pri file contains message properties such as To, From, Cc, Subject, Date, and Time. It also has a pointer that says to look in this .sec file beginning at this byte to obtain the body for this message. Any data amount in a message that exceeds 256 bytes is put in the .sec file, and a pointer to this data takes its place in the .pri file (some parts of messages, such as the body, are always put in the .sec file, even if they are shorter then 256 bytes).

Co-existence between old and new mail systems

If you have many accounts that have to be migrated to Exchange, Microsoft recommends that you migrate in phases. This means that there will be a period of co-existence when part of the company uses the old mail system and another part of the company uses Exchange. Exchange includes several mail gateways, also called connectors, that allow these mail systems to co-exist with Exchange. The connectors also support directory synchronization. This means that Exchange users are represented in the address book of your other mail system, and users of the other mail system have objects that represent them in the Exchange address book (Active Directory). The Migration Wizard permits you to view the Active Directory objects that are going to be converted before you start the process. It also permits you to change the pairing of migrated users to Active Directory objects.

System requirements

Hardware and software requirements

• A Windows 2000-based server that is a member of a domain.
• An Exchange server with Exchange System Manager installed.
  
  Note When you install Exchange System Manager, the Migration Wizard is automatically installed.
• A minimum of 50 megabytes (MB) of free disk space on the Exchange server system drive. If you are migrating a lot of data, you may require more space.

Migration Wizard instructions

The following migration instructions are for a two-step migration of a Lotus cc:Mail post office. Step I provides the steps that you use to extract data from a cc:Mail post office. Step II provides the steps that you use to import the data to Exchange. The steps for migrating different foreign post offices to Exchange are similar to the steps that are outlined below.

Step I--How to extract data from Lotus cc:Mail

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click Migration Wizard.
2. In the Exchange Server Migration Wizard box, click Next.
3. In the Migration box, select Migrate From Lotus cc:Mail, and then click Next.
4. Click Next to acknowledge the coexistence of a connector.
5. Click to select the Extract migration files only check box, and then click Browse.
6. Locate the folder where you want the extracted data to be stored, and then click Next.
7. In the Access Information box, click Browse.
8. Specify the location of your cc:Mail files, and then click OK.
9. Fill in the Path, Name, and Address boxes with the appropriate information, and then click Next.
10. In the Migration Information box, select the options that you want, and then click Next.
11. In the Account Migration box, select the accounts that you want to migrate, and then click Next. You can select multiple accounts to migrate or you can click to select the Select All check box to migrate all users in the post office.
12. The Migration Process box displays the extraction of users and their mail data. When the migration is complete, click Finish.
13. When you receive the message advising you to check the application event log for additional information, click OK.

Step II--How to import data to Exchange

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click Migration Wizard.
2. In the Exchange Server Migration Wizard box, click Next.
3. Click to select the Import from Migration Files check box, and then click Next. Note If you were performing a two-step migration from MS Mail, at this point, you would click to select the MS Mail for PC Networks check box.
4. Click Next to acknowledge the coexistence of a connector.
5. In the Migration Destination box, select the options you want, and then click Next.
6. In the File Location box, specify the location of the file that you chose earlier, click the .pkl file, click Open, and then click Next.
7. In the Container for New Windows Accounts box, expand the directory tree, and then click the Users container.
8. Select the option you want for password generation, and then click Next.
9. In the Windows Account Creation and Association, the mail accounts that you selected earlier are displayed. Click Next.
10. The Migration Process box displays the importation of users and their mail data. When the migration is complete, click Finish.
11. When you receive the message advising you to check the application event log for additional information, click OK.

To view a Microsoft Support WebCast about how to set up the Exchange 2000 Migration Wizard, visit the following Microsoft Web site: