Overview of the Public Folder Migration tool

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Summary

The Microsoft Exchange Public Folder Migration (pfMigrate.wsf) tool is a command-line script that administrators can use to create replicas of system folders and public folders.

To obtain the Public Folder Migration tool, use either of the following methods:

Open the Support\ExDeploy folder on the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 CD-ROM.
Visit the following Microsoft Web site to download the most recent version of the Exchange Server Deployment Tools installation:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288488.aspx

The Exchange Server Deployment Tools installation is designed to permit administrators to easily move or replicate public folders from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 to a newly created Exchange 2003 computer.

Note An Exchange Server 5.5, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange Server 2003 computer may be a target server for public folder replicas, but an Exchange Server 2003 computer must exist in the topology to be specified in the command line by using the /WMI switch for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) services.

Additionally, the source computer can be running Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange Server 2003. You can use the pfMigrate tool to migrate public folders from a computer that is running any one of the following versions of Exchange Server:

Exchange Server 5.5
Exchange 2000 Server
Exchange Server 2003

In other words, you can move public folder replicas from an Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange Server 2003 server to an Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange Server 2003 server for public folder replicas. However, to do this, an Exchange Server 2003 server must exist in the topology to be specified in the command line by using the /WMI switch for WMI services.

After the system folders and the public folders have replicated, you can use the pfMigrate tool to remove replicas from the source server. Unlike in Exchange Server 5.5, you do not have to set a home server for a public folder in Exchange Server 2003. Any replica acts as the primary replica of the data that it holds, and you can remove any public folder server from the replica list.

To use the pfMigrate tool, the source server and the target server that you specify must be in the same routing group. The pfMigrate tool does not permit you to create replicas of your system folders and public folders across routing groups, because in mixed mode, moving folders across routing groups may prevent e-mail delivery to public folders.

To determine how many folders you must replicate, you can use the pfMigrate tool to generate a report before you replicate the folders. To determine whether the folders have replicated successfully, you can generate the same report after you replicate the folders.

To use the pfMigrate tool, make sure that you are logged on to the new Exchange server with an account that has the following administrative credentials:

Exchange Administrator credentials in Exchange Server 2003
Exchange Administrator credentials in the Exchange 5.5 site
Administrator permissions on the Exchange public folders that you want to move

Note After you use the pfMigrate tool to create system folder replicas and public folder replicas on the new server, allow sufficient time for the folders to replicate before you remove replicas on the source server. To make sure that all replicas have been created, use the /R command option to generate a report.

Note The security and authentication model for incoming e-mail from outside the Exchange organization has changed since Exchange Server 5.5. E-mail that is destined to mail-enabled public folders from outside the organization is considered to be from "anonymous" users. Therefore, the "default" user setting of "contributor" will not allow messages from the Internet to be sent to public folders. Folders that are migrated to Exchange 2000 Server and to Exchange Server 2003 will have to have the "anonymous" user rights changed to at least "contributor" to enable them to receive mail from external systems.

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More information

The pfMigrate tool works only for the MAPI top-level hierarchy (TLH); you cannot use the pfMigrate tool to migrate application TLH public folders. For pfMigrate to work correctly, each public folder server must be running on Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later. Note that the pfMigrate tool works only with servers that reside in the same routing group.

When you add replicas to the target server, you must include the number of folders to process in the command line. There is no way to display a list of the public folders that will be added to the replica list when you use the add command. You cannot replicate only certain public folders but not others, because there is no option for replicating a specific public folder. You can specify only a total number of folders, nothing else.

If you want to view the progress of the pfMigrate tool and log it to a file, run pfMigrate with the following syntax:

Cscript pfMigrate.wsf /S:Exch55Srv /T:Ex2003Serv /A /N:100 /F:c:\PF01.log

The pfMigrate Tool Command Options

You can obtain a list of the pfMigrate tool command options if you run the pfmigrate /? command. The following shows the output of the pfmigrate /? command:

Microsoft Exchange Public Folder Migration Tool

Migrates public folders from one Exchange server to another by updating the
replica list.

Usage: pfmigrate.wsf /S:value /T:value [/WMI:value] [/N:value] [/A] [/D] [/R] [/
F:value] [/NNTP] [/Y] [/SYNC] [/SF]

Options:

S:      Name of the Exchange server where folders are currently replicated.
        Only folders with SOURCE on the replica list will be affected.

T:      Name of the Exchange server where folders will be replicated to.
        Only folders without TARGET on the replica list will be affected.

WMI:    Name of the Exchange 2003 server that will provide WMI services.
        If not specified, the local machine will be used.

N:      Number of public folders to modify.
        This option limits the number of public folders updated by the script.
        If not specified, all affected folders will be updated.
        This is required in Add mode but optional in Delete mode.

A:      Adds the TARGET server to the replica list of folders where the
        SOURCE server is also a replica.

D:      Deletes the SOURCE server from the replica list of folders where
        the TARGET server is also a replica.

R:      Run a report on the current status of the SOURCE server.
        Sample Output (to screen and log):

        Exchange Public Folder Migration Report - Thu 01/24/2002 4:16 PM
        Public Folders on SOURCE:
        XXXX total
        YYYY of those Folders have a replica on SOURCE and no replica on TARGET
        ZZZZ of those Folders have a replica on both SOURCE and TARGET

NOTE: /A, /D and /R can not be specified together.

F:      File where log information should be appended.
        If not specified the default is pfmigrate.log on the current directory.

NNTP:   When specified, the script will not modify any of the folders in the
        Internet Newsgroups hierarchy of folders.

Y:      When specified the script will not prompt for confirmation when running
        in Delete mode.

SYNC:   Executes the WMI query in synchronous mode.

SF:     Migrate System Folders: 'OFFLINE ADDRESS BOOOK', 'EFORMS REGISTRY' and '
SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY'.