Guidelines to Migrate Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox to Exchange Version 2013

It is quite understandable that due to increase in mailbox content and enhanced business venture technology up-gradation is mandatory process. Hence same is the case in MS Exchange Server which needs to be updated in-order to enjoy more advance and business friendly features. Microsoft Exchange Server generally connects all the mailboxes in an organization with a specific domain. Hence with the due course of time due to data congestion in mailboxes the MS Exchange server becomes sluggish and unstable after getting over with prescribed storage limit. Therefore it can be observed that with the launch of every latest version Microsoft Exchange is expanding the storage capacity of the mailboxes. Mounting mailboxes of former Exchange server on to the latest version not only benefits in storage prospective but also in security aspect.

Let us consider a particle scenario where user is using Exchange server 2007 for information sharing. He plans to migrate to higher version say 2013 so that he can accommodate new users and can also safeguard his data from cyber threats due to the availability of enhanced security features. But many a times, we have seen user getting confused about accessing his old EDB data into advance versions of Exchange Server. Most of the user assumes that they can access old EDB data from former version of Exchange into latest or higher versions directly. But it is not possible to do so; for that purpose the Exchange Management Shell is used. The Exchange Management Shell is a feature of MS Exchange Server 2007 Management Console. The Management Console consists of a set of Powershell scripts or cmdlets and using move-mailbox cmdlet one can export mailboxes of Exchange 2007 over different domains of a network. However user must consider below mentioned scenarios before migrating Exchange Server 2007 mailboxes into Exchange Server 2013.

• The user must hold administrative authority on both target and source servers.
• The source and destination Exchange servers must be listed in Active Directory list.
• The Exchange Server 2007 and 2013 must be part of the same network.
• Exchange Server on the both ends must be running in an online mode.

The move-mailbox cmdlet of Exchange Management cmdlet is:-

get-mailbox –database <old database> | move-mailbox –targetdatabase <new database> -configurationonly:$true

The abovementioned utility is a staunch option for migrating old version Exchange data into latest version of Exchange Server. However if user finds it bit complex then there is another simple and reliable solution available for the same task. By using third party EDB to PST converter tool user can convert the old EDB data into PST format and can easily access it into targeted Exchange Server. However user has to focus on a fact that there are large numbers of such tools available in the market. It is bit tough task to dig out the most suitable option as it is matter of user’s crucial data. The best way to find out the functionality and user-friendliness of the tool is to try the free demo version. Most of the third party tool developers provide free demo version of their tool in-order to give user fair chance to analyze the tool.