Three Keys to a Successful Microsoft Exchange Migration/Transition
Email systems in general can be daunting, but throw a migration or transition into the mix and it could become downright intimidating! While there are many keys to a successful Microsoft Exchange migration or transition, I’d like to highlight three that are critical.
1 – Properly assess the current environment.
Assessing the environment doesn’t include just hardware; it also includes existing software and operating system versions. For example, it would be pointless to start a migration or transition if your existing infrastructure can’t support an Exchange 2007 or 2010 installation. Some suggestions of things to look for when assessing your current environment include:
Active Directory functional level
Forest functional level
Operating system version of global catalog servers
Operating system version of Exchange servers
Security software versions
Archiving software versions
Mail backup software versions
Every environment is different so you may have fewer or more products to assess. You should always check with Microsoft and any third party software vendors to ensure that their products are supported for the version of Exchange you are moving to. Doing a proper assessment will also allow you to create an accurate timeline for the migration/transition that will have the least impact possible to the business.
2 - Testing
If you’ve done a thorough and proper assessment then you’ll know exactly what to test when you’ve executed your plan. You should test everything that has a connection to your Exchange servers such as send/receive connectors, any mail security gateways, scanners, backup software, mobile phones, email clients, mail certificates, remote access, etc… This will make your end users happy with a successful migration/transition and keep you from having to “fire fight” to resolve issues that could have been resolved during your testing phase.
3 - Lessons Learned
It would be nice if all migrations and transitions went as planned without problems but that is rarely the case. Issues happen, and it is a good practice to keep a record of all issues, what caused them and how you were able to resolve it. You can review this information for your next project and share this with the rest of your team so that they are also aware of potential issues should they be selected for a Microsoft Exchange project.
Assessing your environment, testing, and leveraging the lessons learned are key to ensuring a successful Microsoft Exchange migration/transition. Do you have any suggestions to add to this list? Please email them to us at
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, and we’ll include them in a future article!
