How to rehome public folders

When public folders are rehomed, perform the steps below to recover the stranded data.

The standard method is to move the information in the public folder to a personal folder file, delete the public folder, and let the deletion replicate throughout the organization, then recreate the public folder on the correct home server, and move the information from the personal folder file to the public folder.

Public folders can also be rehomed using the Resource Kit utility Pfadmin version 3.0. This utility is located in the BackOffice Resource Kit 3.0, and is also available from Microsoft Product Support Services.

To rehome the public folders, perform the following steps:

1. If the home server locations cannot be determined, install Exchange Server on another server with the Pub.edb file that was backed up before the rehoming occurred. Then manually check the home server of the public folders. You can also use the Pfinfo utility to list the permissions and the home server location on the temporary server.NOTE: If you install the Exchange Server on the same network with the same organization and site name, make sure you do not select the Join an existing site option, instead, select the Create a new site option. If the site is joined, the mailboxes move to the new server. To set up this server, perform the following steps:
   
   
   1. Install a server in the domain as a backup domain controller (BDC).
   2. Disconnect the computer from the network, and promote it to a primary domain controller (PDC).
   3. Change the Computer name, and install Exchange Server with the same organization and site name. Use the same service account and password.
2. On the Exchange Server computer where the public folders have rehomed, go to the following sub-node on the administrator tool:
   Configuration\Servers\Servername\Public Information Store
   On the File menu, click Properties, and then click the Instances tab. Move the public folders from the left side to the right side to rehome the public folder.
3. For each public folder that you want to rehome, type the following command at a command prompt, and press ENTER:
   pfadmin profile rehome folder path�site\server
   where profile is a user profile that is assigned the Service Account Admin role on the source and destination servers, folder path is the path of the public folder, site is the name of the new home site, and server is the name of the new home server. Note that the Yes option specifies that subfolders below the public folder also be rehomed. If you do not want the subfolders to be rehomed, use the No option instead.
4. After all the public folders are rehomed to the original servers, allow enough time for replication to complete to the destination servers. The rehoming must be done to the previous home server. The data is still available on the previous home server. After replication occurs, the Pub.edb file on the destination server has the updated home server but the Dir.edb file does not have the updated information. If the public folder is rehomed to the wrong server, placing a replica of the public folder on the server with the "ghosted" data enables the data to be replicated back to the newly homed server.
5. On every server where a public folder is rehomed, DS/IS Consistency Adjustment must be run to populate the Dir.edb file with the updated home server name.

Reason

The data still remains on the original home of the public folder. By rehoming the public folder back to that location, the client can see the data, even before DS/IS is run on the destination server. By using Pfadmin version 3.0, the permissions (access control list [ACL]) are preserved. If the public folder is rehomed but the data is not visible, then either the data was deleted or the public folder was rehomed to the wrong server.

By going to the destination server and running PFADMIN from that server, the public folder can be rehomed to another destination server. Or if the public folder is rehomed to the wrong server, placing a replica of the public folder on the server with the "ghosted" data enables the data to be replicated back to the newly homed server.

Pfinfo can also be used to import any permissions that may be lost during the accidental public folder rehoming. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: