Internet mail to Exchange (Full Version)

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pbryant75 -> Internet mail to Exchange (2.Jul.2008 3:07:11 PM)

I am planning an Exchange implementation plan for a company with two sites and about 60 users.  The sites are 14 miles apart and have a dedicated ethernet connection between them (probably not relevent).   We currently are using an ISP to host the company's email as well as our domain.  All users are on outlook 2002.  I need to transition from the pop3 email to Exchange with as little downtime as possible.  What is the best method to phase out the pop3 mail and migrate the pst files into Exchange?   Because their are two sites, it will be difficult for me configure and support 60 workstations at the same time.  Thanks



Jesper Bernle -> RE: Internet mail to Exchange (2.Jul.2008 4:06:03 PM)

Well I´d guess something along these lines:
  1. Setup an Exchange Server internally
  2. Add a second MX-record inside your public domain name space (with a higher preference value (maybe 20) 
  3. Wait a couple of days (minimun 2 days) for Internet replication of the new MX-record.
  4. Verify that you can send & receive mail (manual telnet session) to the new Exchange Server
  5. Change the MX-records preference values to make the Exchange Server number one (lowest preferense - normally 10)
  6. Either remove the ISP (your original MX-record) MX-record or leave it as a backup service if you lose connectivity to your own Exchange Server for what ever reason.
For the old mail data. Well you can easily import the PST-files into the new (empty) Exchange mailboxes: Exchange 2007 SP1 Mailbox Management Features - Part 1: Importing and Exporting Mailbox data to and from PST files

Something like that.

Edit: Just found an interesting tool for connectivity checks: https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/Default.aspx



pbryant75 -> RE: Internet mail to Exchange (2.Jul.2008 11:06:18 PM)

Thanks Jesper.  So, once I change the priority of the MX records, users will start sending and receiving email through exchange?  Should I do the pst migration before I have the MX records switch?  Since I have so many workstations to migrate and config, how do I execute the switch with minimum downtime?  Thanks for you help. 



Jesper Bernle -> RE: Internet mail to Exchange (3.Jul.2008 2:26:31 AM)

Well, you also have to change their Outlook Profile to connect to your new Exchange Server. I´m not sure but maybe autodiscover.xml takes care of this if you are using Outlook 2007. I think it will ask you if you permit autodiscover to alter you Outlook settings when you start Outlook. Try it out in a lab - I´m not 100% on that. If not, read and follow: Create an Outlook Profile File (*.PRF)

You should migrate your PST-files after you start receiving mail in your Exchange Server otherwise you´ll run the risk of loosing mail that has arrived after you exported the PST-file.

So first focus on getting Exchange up and running as if it was your only solution, then alter mailflow, change Outlook Profiles and migrate data. 



pbryant75 -> RE: Internet mail to Exchange (3.Jul.2008 9:30:46 AM)

Thanks Jesper.  My organazation is running outlook 2002 until next year.  I have a good understanding about configuring the outlook accts and the migration.  I'm just not sure what deployment plan I should follow for switching over mail flow that will result in little to no downtime.  I would like to make it as transparent as possible to the user.  Thanks again.



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