Migration Step Seven: Checking Exchange is ready to go

We're back on our Migration blog post series (hint all of the Migration blog posts are tagged with "Migration" for easy reference).
And now we're going to check and make sure our Exchange is ready to go:

I.  In the source domain, check for the existence of an account named Postmaster.

SBS setup tries to create a Distribution List with the SAM account name of Postmaster. If it already exists, you will receive the following errors at the end of setup.

Setup errors due to an existing Postmaster account:

  • The e-mail distribution groups cannot be created.
  • Incoming and outgoing e-mail for Windows SharePoint Services are not configured.
  • Incoming and outgoing e-mail for Windows SharePoint Services are not configured.

To fix this, you will need to restore the source server, rename the Postmaster account and start the migration all over again.  Alternatively you can complete the steps listed in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc626214(WS.10).aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc626120(WS.10).aspx.

Now while I have postmaster@domain.com addresses underneath the Administrator account, these are not what this tip is talking about.  They are looking for a specific Postmaster user account, not the Postmaster email account. 

J.  Check Exchange 2003 policies:

  • Existing Mailbox Management policies
  • Duplicate SMTP addresses in recipient policies
  • Invalid SMTP addresses in recipient policies

If any of these are present during the migration to SBS 2008, the setup will finish with the following errors:

Setup errors due to mailbox management policies or duplicate/invalid SMTP addresses in recipient policies:

  • The Exchange E-mail address policy cannot be configured.
  • Incoming and outgoing e-mail for Windows SharePoint Services are not configured.
  • Incoming and outgoing e-mail for Windows SharePoint Services are not configured.

How to check for Mailbox Management policies:

If you have Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 recipient policies that are ONLY Mailbox Manager policies and do not define e-mail addresses (they do not have an E-mail Addresses (Policy) tab), perform the following steps to delete the policies:

  1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Recipients, and then select Recipient Policies.
  2. To verify that a policy is only a Mailbox Manager policy, right-click the policy, and then select Properties. The Properties page must not have an E-Mail Addresses (Policy) tab.
  3. To delete the policy, right-click the policy, and then select Delete. Click OK and then click Yes.

If you have Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 policies that are BOTH E-mail Addresses and Mailbox Manager policies (they have both the Mailbox Manager Settings (Policy) tab and the E-mail Addresses (Policy) tab), perform the following steps to remove the mailbox manager portion of the policy:

  1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Recipients, and then select Recipient Policies.
  2. Right-click the policy, and then select Change property pages.
  3. Clear the Mailbox Manager Settings check box, and then click OK.

How to check for duplicate/invalid SMTP addresses in recipient policies:

  1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Recipients, and then select Recipient Policies.
  2. Right-click the policy, and then select E-Mail Addresses (Policy) tab.
  3. Inspect the SMTP Addresses for any that are unchecked. If you find any, place a check in the box or remove that address.
  4. Inspect the SMTP Addresses for any that have an IP address. For instance, @192.168.1.1. If you find any, remove those addresses that contain an IP address.
  5. Click OK.

c  Remove Mailbox Management policies. Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 used Mailbox Management policies for some types of e-mail. If these policies exist on the server running SBS 2003, setup will generate errors that will prevent you from completing the migration. Exchange BPA 2.8 checks for this condition. Remove Mailbox Management policies from the server running SBS 2003. For more information on how to do this, see the Keys to Success blog post.

Remove duplicate or incorrect SMTP addresses. Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 may have duplicate or incorrect SMTP addresses in recipient policies. If these addresses exist on the server running SBS 2003, setup will generate errors that will prevent you from completing the migration. The SBS 2003 BPA with the latest updates checks for this condition. Remove the duplicate or incorrect SMTP addresses from Exchange. For more information on how to do this, see the Keys to Success blog post.

I already ran the SBS bpa and didn't get any warnings, but I'm also going to run the Exchange BPA just to make sure:

Download details: Exchange Best Practices Analyzer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DBAB201F-4BEE-4943-AC22-E2DDBD258DF3&displaylang=en

And I'm going to run the "are you ready for Exchange 2007" test

And it reminds me that I've yet to flip the AD to the right levels... but it doesn't find any mailbox policies that I need to worry about.

Read the complete post at http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2009/11/07/migration-step-seven-checking-exchange-is-ready-to-go.aspx

Published Sat, Nov 7 2009 22:34 by THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"
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