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Create a Local Move Request

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

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.

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1), mailboxes and personal archive mailboxes can reside on separate databases. Using the move request functionality, you can move the primary mailbox and the associated archive to the same database or to separate ones. For more information about personal archive mailboxes, see Understanding Personal Archives.

Note

If you're moving a mailbox from an Exchange 2003 database, the mailbox move will be offline.

Note

To view all move requests in a multiple-domain environment in the Exchange Management Console, the recipient scope needs to be modified to view the entire forest. For more information, see Change the Recipient Scope.

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 a local move request

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 mailbox database to which you want to move the mailboxes. Click OK to return to the wizard.

      If the mailbox has an archive associated with it, the following options are displayed:

      Move only the user mailbox   Click this button if you want to move only the user's primary mailbox to the new database. This is selected by default.

      Move only the archive mailbox   Click this button if you want to move only the user's archive mailbox to the new database.

      Move both the mailbox and the archive   Click this button if you want to move both the user's primary mailbox and the associated archive mailbox to the new database.

  5. On the Move Settings page, specify how you want to manage corrupted messages:

    • Skip the mailbox   Click this button to specify that mailboxes containing corrupted messages won't be moved. We recommend selecting this option.

    • Skip the corrupted messages   Click this button to move the mailbox, but not to move any corrupted messages. If you select this option, you need to set the Maximum number of messages to skip. We recommend selecting this option only if the move request 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 from 1 through 50.

      Note

      If you specify a value higher than 50, the task will fail, and you need to use the Shell to create the move request. For details, see Move a user's primary mailbox and allow a large bad item limit later in this topic.

    • Suspend this move when it is ready to complete   Select this check box to suspend the move request before the completion stage begins. You can resume the move request at a later time. For details, see Complete or Resume a Move Request.

    Note

    You can use this feature only for online mailbox moves and when moving mailboxes from Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 mailbox databases. You can’t use this feature for offline moves or when moving from Exchange 2003 mailbox databases.

  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.

Use the Shell 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.

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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Create a local move request

This example moves Tony Smith's mailbox to the new database DB01. If Tony's mailbox has an associated archive, it's also moved to the same database.

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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

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"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Mailbox and New-MoveRequest.

Create a move request that suspends before completion

This example creates a move request that's suspended after 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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Create a move request processed by a specific server

This example creates a move request processed by the 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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Create a suspended move requests

This example creates a batch move request that's suspended for all mailboxes on database DB01. Run this command if you want to create the move request during business hours, and then resume at a later time, when e-mail traffic is low.

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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Mailbox and New-MoveRequest.

Move only a user's primary mailbox

This example moves only Tony Smith's primary mailbox to DB01. The archive isn't moved.

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

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Move only an archive mailbox

This example moves only Tony Smith's archive mailbox to DB03. The primary mailbox isn't moved.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'tony@alpineskihouse.com' -ArchiveOnly -ArchiveTargetDatabase "DB03"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Move a user's primary mailbox and archive mailbox to separate databases

This example moves Ayla's primary mailbox and archive mailbox to separate databases. The primary database is moved to DB01, and the archive is moved to DB03.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'ayla@humongousinsurance.com' -TargetDatabase DB01 -ArchiveTargetDatabase -DB03

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Move a user's primary mailbox and allow a large bad item limit

This example moves Kweku's primary mailbox to mailbox database DB01 and sets the bad item limit to 100. To set a large bad item limit, you must use the AcceptLargeDataLoss parameter.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'Kweku' -PrimaryOnly -TargetDatabase "DB01" -BadItemLimit 100 -AcceptLargeDataLoss

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-MoveRequest.

Other Tasks

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

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