OK, I've only been onsight at the client for one day and this is my first shot at migrating GroupWise 6.5 to Exchange 2000. I'm having some different experiences with 6.5 than my experiences with other GW 6.x migrations to Exchange and I'm having some different experiences than what Microsoft documentation indicates as well.
Here's what I've found out so far, I'll fill in more of the specific details tomorrow or Friday. ENVIRONMENT - Newly installed GW6.5 system running on NetWare servers. System is less than 6 months old. The client recently moved from Exchange 5.5 to GW6.5 and are now migrating to Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000. Not sure about the version or patch levels for the NetWare OS. They are using eDirectory. Also not positive about the SP levels on the Windows 2000 OS or the Exchange 2000 system. The GW6.5 PO was configured to not have a required minimum client and to support both DIRECT and CLIENT/SERVER client connections. LESSONS LEARNED - 5.2.6 client works against the 6.5 PO if you copy the client's "ofviews\win" files from the 5.2.6 client to the PO. Just copy the ".vew" and ".ini" files that do not already exist into the "ofviews\win" directory on the 6.5 PO. Now, the extraction of messages works in this configuration but it is painfully slow, to the tune of over 2 hours to extract about 450 messages. This is a pretty typical mailbox, these are not overly large messages. So, something is wrong with this configuration and mix of clients, PO, etc. I was able to get this to work in both DIRECT and CLIENT/SERVER (TCP/IP) mode and it was painfully slow with both. - The Exchange Migration Wizard DOES work for extracting messages with the 6.5 client installed. Now, to be specific, I had the GW 5.2.6 client installed on the migration server and then installed the GW6.5 client over top of it. Not sure if this makes a difference. Anecdotal evidence from the client suggest that it does not. Testing was done in CLIENT/SERVER mode and it was so fast, just a few minutes on that same 450 message mailbox, that I probably won't test it in DIRECT mode. Previous experience has shown me that DIRECT mode is roughly 20% faster than CLIENT/SERVER mode for extracting GW mailboxes but I would be amazed if there was any real performance gain from what I have seen. - There is a "Checklist" folder in the 6.5 client and that folder and its contents are not migrated using the 5.2.6 client for the extraction. I'll have to verify if it is migrated using the 6.5 client. Intuition says no, but, then again, intuition said that the 6.5 client wouldn't work with the migration wizard so who knows. - I successfully extracted messages from a mailbox using the user's NetWare account versus a "Migration" account that was granted proxy rights using the 6.5 client. Again, to be specific, the user's GW mailbox had the "Migration" user setup for proxy access but not the user's own account. Now, I have had this work as a fluke before in previous migrations with older versions of GW but it never seemed to be very consistent and was very temperamental. This *appears* to work consistently but I have only had a chance to test with a couple mailboxes thus far. More on this to follow in the next couple days. My test mailboxes were IT folk's mailboxes with certain NetWare administrative rights so I need to do further testing on this. Even if it works, I'm still not sure that I would really trust it. Luckily, Rocket can be easily configured to support either scenario so this is not a pressing issue although it would be nice not to have to reset passwords and set up proxy access for everyone. - GBMT works against 6.5 PO to extract users from the PO to a file. This was with the 5.2.6 GW client installed and working against the 6.5 PO. It was nice and speedy. Tomorrow I'll continue testing this to ensure that the other GBMT functionality works like resetting passwords and setting proxy access rights. That's where I am right now. I'll forward on more details tomorrow night once I go through another day of testing. I'm putting my test plan together now for tomorrow. If anyone can think of something specific to include in that testing, please let me know and if it makes sense for the client to run through that test I'll work it in. I only get three days with the client to get all of their migration systems installed and configured and migration processes created and automated. Today was day one and I was able to get the bulk of the systems installed and configured. That means: 1. A migration control workstation installed with Windows 2000 Professional, Access 2000, VB6, Terminal Services Client, Outlook 2000, GroupWise 5.2.6 client, GBMT and Rocket (my own personal migration toolset that controls and automates the entire migration process). 2. A migration workstation installed with Windows 2000 Server, Terminal Services in Application mode, Outlook 2000, GroupWise 6.5 Client, Exchange 2000 Administrative Tools and Rocket. 3. Installed Exchange's Novell Groupwise Connector for the GW Email Address Generator and configured the GW Proxy Addresses via a Recipient Policy in Exchange. 4. The testing detailed above. Tomorrow I still need to do the following: 1. Test the GBMT tool to verify functionality. This may take some time if things do not work well. I'm going to see how this works with the GW 5.2.6 client and then maybe with the GW 6.5 client. 2. Work on some details regarding GW NAB migrations. Not a huge concern because I have some time before I come back to actual perform the migration after Christmas. Other than that, things are pretty well wrapped up. My goal is to eventually get this down to where I can come in and install and configure an entire migration from to Exchange, from scratch, in a day. Closing in on that goal. I've done it, with training, in 4.5 days for a 1,000 seat GW system to Exchange 2000. The tests I hope to run tomorrow but also have Friday to run if things do not go so well include: 1. Continue testing currently installed migration workstation (GW 6.5 client) against additional mailboxes. 2. Run some more tests with using mailboxes that have no proxy access rights defined by using the user's account to migrate them versus a single "Migration" account. That's it. Again, any suggestions on additional tests are welcome. If they would benefit the customer, are not too overly involved and I have time, I'll see what I can do to run them. Any questions or comments, drop me an email. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
