Cross Forest Migration Guide – Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010

Really informative

Sathesh,

I have a question for you. Any response is much appreciated.

We run Windows 2003 level forest with exchange 2003 org. We’ve built a new windows 2008R2 level forest and have used ADMT to make a copy of users as well as migrate servers to the new domain. Plan is to build a new exchange org (2003 or 2010 servers) in the new domain and move all the mailboxes from exchange 2003 org. Questions I have:

-can we migrate users and mailboxes over a period of time? That is some users will reside on old domain and others on new domain (both domains using the same external domain name for mails). I want to do it this way, so i can cover different offices at different times phase by phase
-Would you recommend that I install an exchange 2003 server in the new domain, migrate all mailboxes and then introduce an exchange 2010 server in the new domain?
-Any thoughts on how you might go about this?

Thanks bud this worked like a charm to move from one forest to the other 🙂

Hi – Im using your page to migrate mailboxes to new forest Exchange 2010 SP2, ADMT v3.2, Server 2008 R2.
The prepare-moverequest works and so does the ADMT to mive the account but then I get this when running the New-MoveReqest – any ideas what Im doing wrong??

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>New-MoveRequest -Identity exchangetest2@source.adapt -Remote
legacy -RemoteCredential $RemoteCredentials -TargetDeliverydomain destination.adapt -RemoteGlobalCatalog server01.source
.adapt
You must specify the RemoteTargetDatabase parameter.
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (exchangetest2@source.adapt:MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter) [New-MoveRequ
est], RecipientTaskException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : BFBB2023,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.NewMoveRequest

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>New-MoveRequest -Identity exchangetest2@source.adapt -Remote
legacy -RemoteCredential $RemoteCredentials -TargetDeliverydomain destination.adapt -RemoteGlobalCatalog server01.source
.adapt -remotetargetdatabase “Mailbox Database 1383349785”
Source user ‘exchange test2’ doesn’t have a primary mailbox.
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (exchangetest2@source.adapt:MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter) [New-MoveRequ
est], RecipientTaskException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : 9118ED9D,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.NewMoveRequest

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>

Same error I’m afraid… but thanks for quick response…!

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>New-MoveRequest -Identity exchangetest2@source.adapt -Remote
legacy -RemoteCredential $RemoteCredentials -TargetDeliverydomain destination.adapt -RemoteGlobalCatalog server01.source
.adapt -targetdatabase “Mailbox Database 1383349785”
You must specify the RemoteTargetDatabase parameter.
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (exchangetest2@source.adapt:MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter) [New-MoveRequ
est], RecipientTaskException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : BFBB2023,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.NewMoveRequest

Im running this from the target domain – just for the record.

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>.\Prepare-MoveRequest.Ps1 -Identity “exchange test3” -Remote
ForestDomainController server01.source.adapt -RemoteForestCredential $RemoteCredentials -LocalForestDomainController ser
ver02.destination.adapt -LocalForestCredential $LocalCredentials -TargetMailUserOU “OU=TargetUsers,DC=destination,DC=ada
pt” -UseLocalObject -verbose
VERBOSE: Setting displayName to exchange test3
VERBOSE: Setting Mail to exchangetest3@source.adapt
VERBOSE: Setting mailNickName to exchangetest3
VERBOSE: Setting msExchMailboxGuid to a09a99d3-4ec3-49c2-ab0b-9ee5a0512948
VERBOSE: Setting proxyAddresses to SMTP:exchangetest3@source.adapt
VERBOSE: Setting userAccountControl to 514
VERBOSE: Setting userPrincipalName to exchangetest3@source.adapt
VERBOSE: Setting samaccountname to exchangetest3
VERBOSE: Setting msExchVersion to 44220983382016
VERBOSE: Setting msExchRecipientDisplayType to -2147483642
VERBOSE: Setting msExchRecipientTypeDetails to 128
Appending x500:/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=exchange test38
3f to proxyAddresses of New Object in Local forest.
VERBOSE: Setting targetAddress to SMTP:exchangetest3@source.adapt
VERBOSE: Setting countryCode to 0
VERBOSE: Setting givenName to exchange
VERBOSE: Setting Sn to test3
VERBOSE: Setting msExchMDBRulesQuota to 64
VERBOSE: Invoke Update-Recipient to Update LegacyExchangeDN.
Appending x500:/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=exchange test39
23 to proxyAddresses of Object(CN=exchange test3,CN=Users,DC=source,DC=adapt) in Source forest.
Preparation for exchange test3 done.
1 mailbox(s) ready to move.

The user account appears in target AD.

Then doing the ADMT v3.2 for server 2008 R2 which by default copies all the attributes to the target domain and merges with the account just created in previous step.

Then tried running New-MoveRequest and started getting the errors. I read here that you can do Prepare, ADMT and then Move the mailbox:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/08/10/3410619.aspx
—-
Important Note: Our recommendation on working with ADMT is to rely on the PrepareMoveRequest script to create the local user object for mailbox move, and then use ADMT to migrate SIDHistory and password and merge this into the MEU created by PrepareMoveRequest.ps1 script.
—-

Ok good news. It was my fault. I needed to stop ADMT v3.2 bringing over ALL the attributes (presumably because this was done by the prepare script?)
I now have the mailbox in target domain with the new email address as default and the legacy address there too.

Many thanks for your help and I’m sorry if I wasted your time.
Regards
Nathan

Hi Sathesh,

I am in the progress of migrating a Widows 2003 SP2 Domain and Exchange 2003 to a New Server with
Windows 2008 SP2 and Exchange 2010 SP1.

The Domain and Exchange are installed on the same server.

Appreciate your advice and steps I should follow in this process.

Hi

I am using the information here to migrate from Exchange 2003 to Echange 2010 Cross Forest. When I run the .\Prepare-MoveRequest.Ps1 -Identity “….. etc command, nothing happens, the Powershell prompt simply changes to “>>” do you have any troubleshooting advise?

Much appreciated.

Derek

Hi Sathesh,
Great work and good compilation for the most complicated scenario. Now, question for you. We are using Exchange 2003 in Forest A and Exchange 2010 in Forest B. We have many Mail Enabled Distribution Groups in Source Forest (Exchange 2003).
We have moved mailboxes to Target Forest and are in the process of migrating AD Accounts too. I want to know how to proceed with these Mail Enabled Distribution Groups? If we create DG’s in Target using ADMT it won’t have all the Exchange Attributes.
So I wanted your suggestions in this matter.

Thanks,
Kamlesh
kamllesh@gmail.com

Hi,

I would like to know that your steps will migrate mailbox permission such Full access, Send as, Send on behalf, Share calandar or not?

If not how can we do that on cross forest – Exchange 2003 to 2010?

Thank you.

One more question, after going through the whole migration step by step I can log into the client machines using the new domain credentials and all my Documents/Desktop Icons etc are present but when I open Outlook it is still pointing to the old exchange 2003 server, how do I point the client to the new exchange 2010 server?

Kind Regards

I am running the command below from the management shell “as administrator”:

Import-Csv “c:\test\users.txt” | “.\Prepare-MoveRequest.ps1” -RemoteForestDomainController “OldForest.local” -RemoteForestCredential $RemoteCredentials -LocalDomainController “NewForest.local” -LocalForestCredential $LocalCredentials -TargrtMailUserOU “OU=User Accounts,DC=NewForest,DC=Local -UseLocalObject -OverWriteLocalObject -Verbose

I am then receiving the following error:

You must provide a value expression on the right-hand side of the ‘-‘ operator.
At line:1 char:63
+ Import-Csv “c:\test\users.txt” | “.\Prepare-MoveRequest.ps1” – <<<<RemoteForestDomainController "OldForest.local" -RemoteForestCredential $RemoteCredentials -LocalDomainController "NewForest.local" -LocalForestCredential $LocalCredentials -TargrtMailUserOU "OU=User Accounts,DC=NewForest,DC=Local -UseLocalObject -OverWriteLocalObject -Verbose
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExpectedValueExpression

Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Bill

Try changing “-LocalDomainController” to “LocalForestDomainController”

Hope this helps.

Derek

Thanks Derek,

I caught that too. Unfortunately that didn’t resolve the error the error is occuring prior to this point in the command.

I placed the csv in the same directory as the script so I didn’t need to input the path any longer. I change the typo in “Target…” and still received the same error. I was instructed on another forum to put the & before the script as below and that worked like a charm.

Import-Csv users.csv | &”.\Prepare-MoveRequest.ps1″ -RemoteForestDomainController “OldForest.local” -RemoteForestCredential $RemoteCredentials -LocalDomainController “NewForest.local” -LocalForestCredential $LocalCredentials -TargetMailUserOU “OU=User Accounts,OU=API,DC=NewForest,DC=Local” -UseLocalObject -OverWriteLocalObject -Verbose

Thanks all!

Great tutorial by the way, very helpful!

I was able to run through the whole process, however when I run the New-MoveRequest command I get an error that “The critical property ‘LegacyExchangeDN’ is missing in the MailUser object ‘username’. I beleive this is due to the user in the target domain not being mail enabled prior to the mailbox move, is this correct if so how do I correct this? I have read that if I simply add the attribute it will still fail. I assumed that through the entire process the user would become mail enabled from the attributes moved during the ADMT migration.

Hi Sathesh,

thank you for this valuable article?
can I do the same for the migration from exchange 2007(old forest) to exchange 2010 (new forest) without having to install a CAS 2010 in the old forest.
what about rollback for the crossforest migration?
thank you

Hi Satish,

First of all thanks for the information and Good luck for your career. After all Sharing is caring .

I am unable to find the .\prepare-moverequest.ps1 in my scripts folder ? am i doing wrong some where

Hi Satish/Nathan,

I am getting error looking up local ou, error message: $” when i run .\prepare-moverequest cmd.

By mistake i ran admt first , so i uninstalled the admt and run the prepare-moverequest, still the same error.

Nathan , how did u fix your ? Can you help

First of all ,Thanks a lot for this wonderful post.It’s really informative …

In my environment we are going to migrate from exchange 2007 to exchange 2013 (cross forest migration).

Do i follow and execute the above steps for exchange 2007 to exchange 2013 migration or else i need to change anything in your steps ?please advise …

On your steps i have noted one parameter which is called as -localuseobject. Could you please tell me what is the use of that parameter? what will happen if we do not use that ?

While using the prepare script we are using one target ou and during the admt migartion we are using one target ou ,just i wanted to know that the target ou needs to be same or it can be different ?

Thanks
S.Nithyanandham

Hi Sathesh ,
Thanks a lot for your immediate response.

I have followed your above steps for cross forest migration between exchange 2007 to exchange 2013 and it worked fine in my test environment and also i need to clarify one of my error .

Environment Details:

Source forest: abc.ad

Accepted domain: abc.ad – Authoritative ,test.com – internal relay

Email address policy: mailbox users in abc.ad will get email address with suffix @test.com as primary smtp address (that means for test.com we have created one email address policy and that is having high priority and the default email address policy for abc.ad is having lowest priority)

Target Forest: xyz.ad

Accepted domain: test.com – internal relay

Email address policy: mailbox users in xyz.ad will get email address with suffix @test.com as primary smtp address (that means for test.com we have created one email address policy and that is having high priority and the default email address policy for xyz.ad is having lowest priority)

The only error what i have faced is mentioned below and that error is coming while at the time using the shared SMTP namespace and also by having the above mentioned email adddress policy between two forest.

[Ps] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Scripts>New-MoveRequest –Identity rpctest@test.com -Remotelegacy -RemoteCredential $RemoteCredentials -TargetDeliverydomain xyz.ad –RemoteGlobalCatlog pdc3.abc.ad –targetdatabase “Mailbox Database 1386789346”

The target mail user ‘xyz.ad/2007users/rpctest’ doesn’t have an SMTP address that matches the target delivery domain ‘xyz.ad’ .

The above error is coming when performing the new move request from source to target forest by having an shared smtp namespace and also by having above mentioned email address policy in both the forest

Note : If we are not using the shared smtp namespace and above email address policy ,New move request gets completed successfully without errors .

Please suggest me to resolve this issue .

Thanks
S.Nithyanandham

Hello Satesh, I have read several articles and yours is very, very straighforward but I have 1 additional variable. Both Exchange environments (2003 and 2010) are installed in “on-premise” mode. Will this procedure work or is there any difference?

Thanks in advance for your help

Hi Satheshwaran, am getting error “The critical property ‘LegacyExchangeDN’ is missing in the MailUser object ‘username’” when trying New-MoveRequest.

Please advise.

Hi,

Satheshwaran Manoharan do you have a steps also for cross forest migration in Exchange 2003 – Exchange 2010 using Windows Server 2012?

Hi,

First of all,Thanks a lot for this wonderful post. It’s really informative and helpful.

The scenario: ex2003 (windows servers 2003) to ex2010 (windows servers 2008r2) cross forest migration with same smtp address. We´re changing the infrastructure at all.

I follow your procedure but I found detail I would like to share and know your opinion about ir. After I execute the prepare-moverequest.ps1 everything appears to be ok on the exchange 2010. I can see the mailbox on the recipient’s configuration (entire Forest) in the EMC. However, after migrate again the user with the ADMT, the user disappears from the recipient´s configuration, and user become on invalid state.

Get-user respond say´s:
[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\v14\Scripts>Get-user XXXpruebas
Name RecipientType
—- ————-
Pruebas Migracion XXX UserMailbox

WARNING: The object XXX.local/GROUP/323YU/SPECIAL/Pruebas Migracion XXX has been corrupted, and it’s in an inconsistent state. The following validation errors happened:
WARNING: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox.
WARNING: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox.

I was looking on the blogs and I found the problem could be the default excluded attributes on the ADMT (http://jaxelos.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/interforest-migration-with-admt-3-2-and-exchange-2010-interforest-migration-2/ and http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/08/10/3410619.aspx ) . I append to the list of ADMT excluded attributes ” HomeMDB,HomeMTA,showInAddressBook,msExchHomeServerName,mail, proxyAddresses, msExch*” like the second post says, and now it´s working fine, the users doesn´t have any errors and I can perform the new-moverequest without problems.

My questions are: The scenario is working on lab environment, but before go live, I would like to known if there is another attribute I need to considerate for exclude/include on ADMT ?, or There is anonther way to resolve this issue ?

Thanks so much for your help

Regards,

Horacio

Hi Satheshwaran,

Can you please guide in the below scenario.
The company has 2 different Active Directory Forests with exchange 2003 and 2007 respectively. I need to merge the active directory to a new forest and exchange mailboxes to exchange 2013. Is it possible.

Well describe thanks for sharing this informative post,
I found really good solution related to this topic from http://www.lepide.com/exchangemigrator/ which provides an effective way to migrate between exchange server.

Hi Satheshwaran,

First of all thanks for the useful document.
Can you please guide me for this scenario

My environment is like, Source is exchange server 2003 and Target is exchange 2010.
I got this error after running Prepare-MoveRequest.ps1 on target exchange 2010
Error looking up Local OU, Error msg: Cannot find specified OU or Container:CN=Myuser1,CN=Users,DC=dchpc3,DC=com At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts\Prepare-MoveRequest.ps1:1188 char:14
throw<<<< "Error looking up local OU,Error msg: $($Error[0])"
CategoryInfo :Operationstopped: ————–

Please guide me to resolve this error.

I got the bellow for while moving from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2010

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts\Preapre -MoveRequest.pas1 : Cannot bind argument to parameter ‘RemoteForestCredential’ beacuse it is null.

Please help me to solve this bug.

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Hi, do we need to GAL sync? and send/receive connectors? And don’t we have to enable MRS Proxy?

Hi

Thankyou for sharing the details steps, But I have one query with regard to the workstations do I need to migrate this prior to the users and mailboxes or after

please advice.

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Hi,

My question is for cross-forest migration. Source is Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010, Target is Exchange 2010.

We use GalSync to import users from the Source sides into the Target side as contacts. This creates a contact on the Target side as you know. Users on the Target side will use these contacts to email the users on the source side.

Now when it comes time to do the cross-forest migration, these contacts need to be deleted so Mail Enabled Users (MEU) can be created with the same email address. The issue will arise when the target users try to email these users from their outlook clients, which cache those contacts that they used before and create NDR’s, as it looks for those contacts.

What we need to do is add the LegacyExchangeDN from those contacts to the MEU, is there a way to do that easily with the migration or Exchange scripts?