ISP Mail to Exchange 2003 migration

Hi,

Here's the scenario. About 20 users on W2K3 AD, POPping in to ISP to
retreive email.
Added Exchange 2k3, and am trying to plan out migration. Currently,
user mail is stored locally in PST files on user computers.
Exchange is setup (installed and ready to take on accounts), but
wondering what the best way would be to proceed. Couldn't find anything
for this on MS site.
Here are some of the steps that will be looked at.
1 - Friday night, "import" users current pst files in to exchange store
(I believe I can do this with exmerge(?))
2 - Change ISP MX record to point to new exchange server.
3 - reconfigure client Outlook and entourage to point to new mail
server.
4 - Monday morning, all is well and time for a drink.

Boy, I'm making it sound obvious, but I gather it more complicated than
that (and scarier too).

Please advise if I'm on right track or totally lost.

Thanks,

Al

Ed
Wed Nov 01 16:01:50 CST 2006

Step 1 is a bad idea. Instead, tell your users to copy any mail they want
to keep to the store themselves by drag-and-drop. Your store will be much
smaller to begin with because the users will decide that they don't need
most of their crap online. They'll just leave it in the PST where it will
in effect age away. If they want everything, they can use Outlook's File >
Import and Export feature.
--
Ed Crowley
MVP - Exchange
"Protecting the world from PSTs and brick backups!"

<cyberal72@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1162413350.476444.62840@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> Here's the scenario. About 20 users on W2K3 AD, POPping in to ISP to
> retreive email.
> Added Exchange 2k3, and am trying to plan out migration. Currently,
> user mail is stored locally in PST files on user computers.
> Exchange is setup (installed and ready to take on accounts), but
> wondering what the best way would be to proceed. Couldn't find anything
> for this on MS site.
> Here are some of the steps that will be looked at.
> 1 - Friday night, "import" users current pst files in to exchange store
> (I believe I can do this with exmerge(?))
> 2 - Change ISP MX record to point to new exchange server.
> 3 - reconfigure client Outlook and entourage to point to new mail
> server.
> 4 - Monday morning, all is well and time for a drink.
>
> Boy, I'm making it sound obvious, but I gather it more complicated than
> that (and scarier too).
>
> Please advise if I'm on right track or totally lost.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Al
>

cyberal72
Thu Nov 02 17:07:13 CST 2006

Cool,
That makes sense for the message transition.
Any suggestions regarding the MX record change, and how to proceed with
the change?
I have read that changing the "weight" of the server may be a good idea
(i.e. from 10 to 20 or such).

I don't mind downtime, as long as it's less than a day, but i would
like to make it as flawless as possible before the weekend is over.


Thanks,

A.

Ed Crowley [MVP] wrote:
> Step 1 is a bad idea. Instead, tell your users to copy any mail they want
> to keep to the store themselves by drag-and-drop. Your store will be much
> smaller to begin with because the users will decide that they don't need
> most of their crap online. They'll just leave it in the PST where it will
> in effect age away. If they want everything, they can use Outlook's File >
> Import and Export feature.
> --
> Ed Crowley
> MVP - Exchange
> "Protecting the world from PSTs and brick backups!"
>
> <cyberal72@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1162413350.476444.62840@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Here's the scenario. About 20 users on W2K3 AD, POPping in to ISP to
> > retreive email.
> > Added Exchange 2k3, and am trying to plan out migration. Currently,
> > user mail is stored locally in PST files on user computers.
> > Exchange is setup (installed and ready to take on accounts), but
> > wondering what the best way would be to proceed. Couldn't find anything
> > for this on MS site.
> > Here are some of the steps that will be looked at.
> > 1 - Friday night, "import" users current pst files in to exchange store
> > (I believe I can do this with exmerge(?))
> > 2 - Change ISP MX record to point to new exchange server.
> > 3 - reconfigure client Outlook and entourage to point to new mail
> > server.
> > 4 - Monday morning, all is well and time for a drink.
> >
> > Boy, I'm making it sound obvious, but I gather it more complicated than
> > that (and scarier too).
> >
> > Please advise if I'm on right track or totally lost.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Al
> >

Ed
Fri Nov 03 01:09:51 CST 2006

Can't say on the MX record because I don't know how your DNS records
translate into addresses in your internal network. You might not have to
change the MX record at all--it may be easier to change your NAT mapping in
your firewall.
--
Ed Crowley
MVP - Exchange
"Protecting the world from PSTs and brick backups!"

<cyberal72@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1162508833.530971.68410@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Cool,
> That makes sense for the message transition.
> Any suggestions regarding the MX record change, and how to proceed with
> the change?
> I have read that changing the "weight" of the server may be a good idea
> (i.e. from 10 to 20 or such).
>
> I don't mind downtime, as long as it's less than a day, but i would
> like to make it as flawless as possible before the weekend is over.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> A.
>
> Ed Crowley [MVP] wrote:
>> Step 1 is a bad idea. Instead, tell your users to copy any mail they
>> want
>> to keep to the store themselves by drag-and-drop. Your store will be
>> much
>> smaller to begin with because the users will decide that they don't need
>> most of their crap online. They'll just leave it in the PST where it
>> will
>> in effect age away. If they want everything, they can use Outlook's File
>> >
>> Import and Export feature.
>> --
>> Ed Crowley
>> MVP - Exchange
>> "Protecting the world from PSTs and brick backups!"
>>
>> <cyberal72@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1162413350.476444.62840@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > Here's the scenario. About 20 users on W2K3 AD, POPping in to ISP to
>> > retreive email.
>> > Added Exchange 2k3, and am trying to plan out migration. Currently,
>> > user mail is stored locally in PST files on user computers.
>> > Exchange is setup (installed and ready to take on accounts), but
>> > wondering what the best way would be to proceed. Couldn't find anything
>> > for this on MS site.
>> > Here are some of the steps that will be looked at.
>> > 1 - Friday night, "import" users current pst files in to exchange store
>> > (I believe I can do this with exmerge(?))
>> > 2 - Change ISP MX record to point to new exchange server.
>> > 3 - reconfigure client Outlook and entourage to point to new mail
>> > server.
>> > 4 - Monday morning, all is well and time for a drink.
>> >
>> > Boy, I'm making it sound obvious, but I gather it more complicated than
>> > that (and scarier too).
>> >
>> > Please advise if I'm on right track or totally lost.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Al
>> >
>