Create a Local Move Request

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

A move request is the process of moving a mailbox from one mailbox database to another. A local move request is a mailbox move that occurs within a single forest. For more information, see Understanding Move Requests.

Looking for other management tasks related to move requests? Check out Managing Move Requests.

What Do You Want to Do?

• Use the EMC to create a local move request
• Use the Shell to create local move requests

Use the EMC to create a local move request

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox moves" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Mailbox.
2. In the result pane, select one or more mailboxes that you want to move.
3. In the action pane, click New Local Move Request.
4. On the Introduction page, configure the following settings:
   • A new move request will be placed for the following mailboxes   This box displays the mailboxes that you selected in the result pane. If you want to add or remove mailboxes, click Cancel, and then make the changes in the result pane.
   • Target mailbox database   Click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Database dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the target mailbox database to which you want to move the mailboxes. Click OK to return to the wizard.
5. On the Move Options page, specify how you want to manage corrupted messages if they are found.
   • Skip the mailbox   Click this button to specify that mailboxes containing corrupted messages will not be moved. We recommend selecting this option. Only select Skip the corrupted messages if the move request failed in a previous attempt.
   • Skip the corrupted messages   Click this button to move the mailbox, but not to move any corrupted messages. If you select this option, you'll need to set the Maximum number of messages to skip. We recommend that you select the Skip the mailbox option unless the mailbox move failed in a previous attempt.
   • Maximum number of messages to skip   If you select Skip the corrupted messages, use this list to specify a number between -1 and 2,147,483,647. Use -1 to skip an unlimited number of corrupted messages.
6. On the New Local Move Request page, review your configuration settings. Click New to create the move request. Click Back to make changes.
7. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:
   • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.
   • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.
8. Click Finish to close the wizard.

Use the Shell to create local mailbox moves

Before you move a mailbox, you can test whether it's ready to move by using the WhatIf parameter.

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox moves" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Test whether a mailbox is ready to move

This example uses the WhatIf switch to test whether Tony Smith's mailbox is ready to move to the new database DB01 and if there are any errors within the command. When you use the WhatIf switch, the system performs checks on the mailbox. If the mailbox isn't ready to move, you receive an error.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'tony@alpineskihouse.com' -TargetDatabase DB01 -WhatIf

Create a local move request

This example moves Tony Smith's mailbox to the new database DB01.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'tony@alpineskihouse.com' -TargetDatabase DB01

Create a batch move request

This example creates a batch move request for all mailboxes on the database DB01 and moves them to the database DB02 with the BatchName parameter value DB01ToDB02.

Get-Mailbox -Database DB01 | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase DB02 -BatchName "DB01toDB02"

Create a move request that suspends before completion

This example creates a move request that is suspended after all the initial content is moved, but before the mailbox is locked down and switched over to the new location.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'tony@alpineskihouse.com' -TargetDatabase DB01 -SuspendWhenReadyToComplete

Create a move request that is processed by a specific server

This example creates a move request that is processed by the specific Client Access server CAS1.contoso.com, which has the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service installed.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'tony@alpineskihouse.com' -TargetDatabase DB01 -MRSServer CAS1.Contoso.com

Create a suspended move requests

This example creates a batch move request that is suspended for all mailboxes on database DB01. You may want to run this command if want to create the move request now and then resume it in the evening, when e-mail traffic is low.

Get-Mailbox -Database DB01 | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase DB02 -BatchName "26August"

Other Tasks

After you move the mailboxes, you may also want to:

• View Move Request Properties
• Create a Remote Legacy Move Request Where One of the Forests Doesn't Have Exchange 2010
• Complete a Move Request