Migration from Exchange to Scalix

[itsdave101]

I am going crazy here. I cant be the only one with this problem...

what is the prefered method of migrating users from exchange to scalix.

every method I have tried so far has failed to get the reply addresses right.

it seems related to a header "Sender: " that is in many emails, seems like it may be only emails sent from one exchange user to another.

if i can just do an imap copy and strip out the "Sender: " header in the process, that would probably solve my problem.

any ideas?

Thanks,
David

[ScalixSupport]

What exactly are you trying to?

The preferred method of migrating users from Exchange to Scalix is the method that works for your organization - not trying to be sarcastic.

This typically involves several steps....

1) Build/integrate the Scalix environment
2) Test basic access to the Scalix environment (Outlook, SAC, SWA, etc).
3) Integrate Scalix into the message routing architecture (smarthost configuration, any MX records, forwards from perminter MTA's, etc.)
4) Load test users on Scalix with appropriate internet addresses
5) Test routing to/from Scalix users
6) Load all users on Scalix, optionally load auto-forwards withing mailboxes on Scalid
7) Migrate legacy mail data

Which step are you on?

[itsdave101]

I am on step 7, migrating legacy mail data, and the main problem I am having is when I click reply on messages which I have imported, it does not have the proper address in the To: form.

when I transfer mail data via imap, it works fine to reply via swa, but not via outlook with outlook connector.

it seems like some messages have a "Sender" header in addition to the "From" header, and they do not match eachother, swa seems to use the "From" header when replying, but Outlook with connector seems to use the "Sender" header when replying.

[ScalixSupport]

What was your method of migrating data into the Scalix mailboxes?

1) Did you use export from Exchange to .PST files, and then import into Scalix (or simply attach to the profile)?

2) Did you use the Exchange 5.5 to Scalix option with the Stellar Technologies tools?

Karl

[itsdave101]

I exported from exchange to .PST, the i imported into scalix

[ScalixSupport]

OK, well that explains it.

Welcome to the proprietary world of Redmond. So when you export to a .PST from Microsoft Exchange, rather than morph the headers on the messages to standard internet addresses - they leave them in the proprietary X.400 cannonical address style.

Unfortunatly Scalix or any other mail system for that matter, can't read these headers, so the reply wiil fail.

When you used an IMAP tool to pull the data - of course the message header is morphed into an internet address, no X.400 proprietary garbage, hence it's fully replyable. In fact in the .PST method you used - I would bet any message that user received from someone external to Exchange, is fully replyable within Scalix (because it became a mime message at some point).

There's a few options you can do...

1) Access the Exchange mailbox with POP or IMAP via Outlook, and thent it into a .PST, this should then force the headers to be standards-based, and subsequently replyable if you link it to a Scalix MAPI profile.

2) Retrain the user community. The simplest solution is to simply link the .PSTs into the Scalix MAPI profile (within Outlook do a File, Open, Outlook data file...etc.), and then instruct all users to Forward instead of Reply when acting on the messages in their .PSTs.

Are you using the Community Edition? Reason I ask, is if you purchased Enterprise Edition, some of the services packages we offer will include license for the Stellar Technologies tool - which provides a way to modify these message headers (basically resolve them to the internet addresses) before they are imported into Scalix.

Karl

[itsdave101]

Thank you for your help. I am using the community edition for about 6 people. the license for that migration tool is too much for our budget, i have found a solution using imapsync and I will post it here for people in the future.

download and install imapsync:
http://www.linux-france.org/prj/imapsync/dist/imapsync-1.149.tgz

here is the header that was causing the problem..

Code: Select all


X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5.7226.0
Received: by ex08.mail03.exchange.example

   id <01C62BA6.D0EA6CCC@ex08.mail03.exchange.example>; Tue, 7 Feb 2006 00:24:49 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

   boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C62BA6.D0EA6CCC"
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
Subject: RE: Example Email.
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 00:24:34 -0500
Message-ID: <ECAECEEE34227C468C70FB49FF946EA63BE7BB@mail03.exchange.example>
X-MS-Has-Attach:
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
Thread-Topic: Example Email.
Thread-Index: AcYrn5KB07Y/GMmyT0CVBHfE1HytVgABzV6l
From: "Doe, John" <jdoe@example.com>
Sender: "John Wayne" <IMCEAOPENMAIL-John+20Wayne+20_exchange+2Cexample_cn=John+5C+20Wayne@mail03.exchange.example>
To: "John Wayne" <jwayne@example.com>



this is the main problem:

Code: Select all

Sender: "John Wayne" <IMCEAOPENMAIL-John+20Wayne+20_exchange+2Cexample_cn=John+5C+20Wayne@mail03.exchange.example>

The Sender header causes a problem when connecting to scalix with the outlook connector. Outlook uses this header rather than the From header in replies.

imapsync supports a replacing a string in the message using regex. i used this.

Code: Select all

--regexmess s/\\bSender:/X-Sender:/

now:

Code: Select all

Sender: "John Wayne" <IMCEAOPENMAIL-John+20Wayne+20_exchange+2Cexample_cn=John+5C+20Wayne@mail03.exchange.example>

looks like:

Code: Select all

X-Sender: "John Wayne" <IMCEAOPENMAIL-John+20Wayne+20_exchange+2Cexample_cn=John+5C+20Wayne@mail03.exchange.example>

and outlook ignores it.

exchange stores calendar and contact items in an imap folder, and imapsync didn't seem to do the best with these so i skipped them like this...

Code: Select all

 --exclude '^(Calendar|Contacts)$'

i suggest importing calendar and contacts via the PST as that still works fine.

here is my complete command to migrate one mailbox

Code: Select all


imapsync \
   --host1 exchange.example.com   \
   --user1 jdoe  \
   --password1 xxxxxxxx  \
   --host2 scalix.example.com  \
   --user2 jdoe@scalix.example.com  \
   --password2 xxxxxxxx  \
   --noauthmd5  \
   --regexmess s/\\bSender:/X-Sender:/  \
   --exclude '^(Calendar|Contacts)$'  \
   --delete  \
   --expunge



the --delete and --expunge are to remove the messages from the source server after they are transfered. it will only mark the messages for deletion the first time you run it, and the second time it will expunge the messages deleted.

I hope you find this useful.

[itsdave101]

another note. i have found that imapsync ignores folders that have a forward slash in its name, so if you have any such folders, you should rename them before following the steps outlines above.