Monitoring an Exchange Move Request

by

tracking an exchange move request

When migrating user mailboxes from Exchange 2007 to 2010, you can either use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) or the Exchange Management Shell. However, when moving from 2003 to 2010, you are supposed to specifically use the shell. For more information, you can link to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638187.aspx which goes into the details.

Calendar items seem to be easily corrupted and not be able to make the transition. Unfortunately, corrupted calendar items can make an entire move fail, because the default is that if any item fails, the entire move fails. To avoid this, set the move limit to something reasonable under 50 items. For instance, this command sets the limit to 10 and requests a move:

New-MoveRequest -Identity ‘jmorgan@abc.com’ -TargetDatabase MailboxDB -BadItemLimit 10

If a move fails, you can remove the move request with the following command in the shell:

Remove-MoveRequest -Identity ‘jmorgan@abc.com’

So, how do you know when a move has failed? There are two ways to know. The first is to run the command Get-MoveRequest which lists the status of all moves. The second way is to use the EMC and do the following:

  1. Add the Percent Complete column:
    • Navigate to Microsoft Exchange | Microsoft Exchange On-Premises | Recipient Configuration | Move Request
      (Note: shows a screen of all move requests and their status of Complete, Failed, or Moving)
    • In the Action Pane, click View | Add/Remove Columns
    • Add the Percent Complete column
      (Note: you can change the order of the columns)
    • Click the OK button to close the dialog box
    • Click the Refresh link in the Action pane to get current results
  2. Get details about the Move Request:
    • Highlight the move request, e.g. Test User in the screen shot
    • Click the Properties link in the Action Pane
    • Goto the Log tab
    • Click the View button
    • Click the OK button to close the dialog box

You can initiate multiple move requests at the same time. In other words, you do not have to wait for the first to complete because initiating the second move request.