However, if HUB_Server_A requires removong or re-installing, then these Connectors will drop off the MS Transporter Console on HUB_Server_B.   This is because, although the configuration appears as if it is shared, each Connector is “owned” by the Hub Transport Server that it is first configured.

If you break out to the Transporter Shell and run the command:

get-dominodirectoryconnector

You will see that one field shows which server is the owner.

The equivalent command for the Free Busy Connector is:

get-dominofreebusyconnector

One approach, and probably the most reliable, is to take screen shots of your configurations, and remove the Transporter Connectors from the Transporter Console off HUB_Server_A.   Then run the get-dominodirectoryconnector  and get-dominofreebusyconnector  commands from the Transporter Shell to ensure they have been cleaned up.    Then wait for AD replication to take place.  Next check in the Transporter Console on HUB_Server_B and the two Connectors should have been removed.  Also check using the Transporter Shell using the same commands as listed above to ensure that they have gone.

I have seen scenarios where the Connectors are not showing in the Transporter Console, but are showing from the Transporter Shell.   This will prevent any new Connectors from being added to the Transporter Console, as you will get an error saying an instance of the Connector already exists.  No matter how many times you remove and re-install the MS Transporter application, the situation will remain.

You will need to try the following Transporter Shell command from the Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server:  (make sure you are Enterprise Admin to do this)

remove-dominodirectoryconnector -identity “<enter name of connector here>”

remove-dominofreebusyconnector -identity “<enter name of connector here>”

Get the name of the Connector(s) from the information presented by the following Transporter Shell commands:

get-dominodirectoryconnector

get-dominofreebusyconnector

If you get really stuck then you can use the following Transporter Shell commands to set any missing attributes, such as the “Name” field.  I have seen instances where this value has become dropped, and this is preventing the Connectors removal.

set-dominodirectoryconnector -Name “<enter the name here>”

set-dominofreebusyconnector -Name “<enter the name here>”

Microsoft provide a full reference to the command parameters for the above.

This information should provide enough clues to tidy up any troublesome Transporter Suite issues.   The product works well for the DirSync and FreeBusy functions, but is certainly prone to error if you have to start removing it from a Hub Transport Server onto another, especially in a different AD Site.   Watch out for AD replication as well – always ensure it has taken place before making any further changes.

]]> http://emailmigrations.com/problems-moving-or-removing-ms-transporter-suite/feed 0 http://emailmigrations.com/free-busy-lookup-between-exchange-2007-sp2-and-domino-r8-8-0-2 http://emailmigrations.com/free-busy-lookup-between-exchange-2007-sp2-and-domino-r8-8-0-2#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 10:12:14 +0000 admin http://emailmigrations.com/?p=423 Introduction:

I have just completed the Free Busy (FreeBusy) connection between Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2 and Domino r8.0.2.  This was in combination with a customised MS Transporter Suite setup involving sub-domain routing.   And a little help from a Domino r7.0.x server.

I failed to find exact instructions on how to successfully implement this on the web – however there is plenty of related information on this topic, but no overall one solution worked for me.  So here is my implementation for those of you struggling with this seemingly complex task.  I have tried to focus on the key areas only, but can add extra steps if you ask.

This will also work in a mixed Exchange 2007 / Exchange 2010 environment, so should be useful for those people who have been waiting for Exchange 2010 before moving off Domino.   Note that if you want to use this for a migration to Exchange 2010, then you must install an Exchange 2007 server as the first Exchange Server in the Exchange Organization.  You cannot add an Exchange 2007 server into an Exchange 2010-only Organization.

Ensure you have the MS Transporter documentation and there is also a good MSExchange.org article covering this.  Just ensure you use my steps and only refer to the other docs when asked or for reference/background.

Section A – Basics:

Install Lotus Notes 8.0.2 Client on the nominated Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server, and configure it with an administrator-level ID file against Domino.

Install 64-bit Transporter Suite on the nominated Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server.

Follow the sub-domain routing model in the Microsoft Transporter documentation.  Use Exchange as the Foreign Domain name, and use mail.box as the target for mail routing and calendaring requests.   Do not attempt the Transporter Free Busy setup steps at this point.

Modify the TBL files as per my blog post on that topic, giving you addresses of type:

<firstname>.<lastname>@exchange.contuso.com to represent the Exchange mailboxes in the Domino Address Book.

And

<firstname>.<lastname>@notes.contuso.com to represent the Domino mailboxes in the Exchange Global Address Book.

Test mail routing between the two.  Do not proceed until this is working.

Ensure you have a Public Folder in Exchange 2007 and test it works within Exchange for Free Busy by using Outlook 2003 between two Exchange mailboxes.  One Public Folder is enough at this stage.  Don’t complicate matters by having more.

Ensure the native Exchange 2007 Availability Services are working by checking Free Busy between mailboxes using Outlook Web Access.

Section B – Domino:

Evidence suggests that this solution will work on a Domino 8.0.2 server.  However, I found best results with a Domino 7.0.x server as the connection point for Free Busy.  Your Notes Admin person will need to help provision one, or they may be one you can use already.

Ensure the MS Transporter steps are followed in relation to sub-domain routing on Domino, especially the provisioning of @notes.contuso.com as a valid alias address for all Notes people.  There are other vital steps covering the Rich Text formatting as well.  Do all steps carefully.

You only need one Foreign Domain Document called “Exchange”.   Do not create any additional ones.

Install the 32-bit Transporter files onto the nominated Domino 7.0.x server, and modify the NOTES.INI file as per the Transporter documentation, but use the mail.box not the Foreign Domain name in the EXCALCON string.

Example:  EXCALCON <server FQDN> MAIL.BOX 1

Then re-start the Domino service, and check the Console.  Using the “1″ adds extra logging.   You will see an error concerning the Exchange Free Busy Connector.  Don’t worry, we will configure that next, and then re-start the Domino service again later.

Section C – Exchange Free Busy Connector:

On the Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server, add the Free Busy Connector to the Transporter Connector, and add the NOTES.CONTUSO.COM and CONTUSO.COM namespaces.  Set the Cache and Timeout values on the General Tab to zero.  Set the Schedule to Every 30 minutes.   Stop the Directory Connector service, and start the Free Busy Connector service.   Then start the Directory Connector Service.  The order here is important.

Then re-start the Domino service on the Domino 7.0.x Server, and check the Domino Console.   There should be no errors in relation to the Exchange Free Busy service.

Section D – Test Free Busy

At this stage you can use any Outlook client (Outlook 2003, 2007, or OWA) to test a Free Busy look up against a Notes mail address entry in the Global Address List.   This should work, and is the easier direction to get this service working successfully.

If you test a Free Busy look-up from Domino to Exchange I expect it to fail at this point.  Many people reach this point, and no further.  This leads to the key to the solution.

Section E – The Key

I discovered that by further editing my custom TBL DirSync files to ensure that any Exchange mailbox had a Domino Person Record with a Forwarding Address of the format:

<firstname.lastname>@exchange.contuso.com@exchange

Was the key to success, and allowed successful Free Busy lookups to that Exchange mailbox.  Don’t forget to ensure there are some test appointments in the Exchange mailbox you are testing against.

Edit the ExchangeToDomino.TBL file line entry as follows:

FwdAddr = STRIP(PriSMTP, “@”, “L”, “R”) “@exchange.contuso.com@exchange”

Then, re-run a full Dir Sync in the direction of Exchange to Domino, and check that the Person Records are updated with this new address format.

Re-start your Domino client and re-test a Free Busy look up.  And check the Domino Console for signs of a look-up.  This should now magically work.

A good tip for trying to get Free/Busy lookups working from Domino to Exchange is to manually enter the Exchange mailbox address into the Notes Client when creating a new appointment, as this gives you the chance to try different target address formats without having to waste time changing the Dir Sync operation.

For example, you could enter an attendee address of:

fred.bloggs@exchange.contuso.com@exchange

and

john.smith@exchange.contuso.com

And see which one works.

Once you have hit upon a successful target address then you can retrospectively configure Dir Sync to present the required forwarding addresses on the Notes Person Records.

Different versions of Domino seen to demand different settings to make Free Busy work, so it pays to be familiar with the information presented here, and to experiment to get a result.

Let me know if this worked for you, or any updates required to this article.

]]> http://emailmigrations.com/free-busy-lookup-between-exchange-2007-sp2-and-domino-r8-8-0-2/feed 0 http://emailmigrations.com/transporter-directory-synchronisation-between-exchange-2007-2010-and-lotus-notes-r8 http://emailmigrations.com/transporter-directory-synchronisation-between-exchange-2007-2010-and-lotus-notes-r8#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:02:57 +0000 admin http://emailmigrations.com/?p=360 This post covers some of the challenges faced when using the Microsoft Transporter Suite to perform Directory Synchronisation (Synchronization for US citizens!) between Exchange 2007 and Lotus Domino (Lotus Notes), and then introducing a sub-domain routing topology during the migration period.    Detailed technical documentation is hard to come by for this.

The version of Lotus Notes in my example is r8.   I mention Exchange 2010 in the post title, as Microsoft current advise deploying certain Exchange 2007 technologies (eg- Transporter Suite) to facilitate a migration from Lotus Notes to Exchange 2010.

By following the detailed Transporter documentation (free download alongside the Transporter binaries) a basic Directory Synchronisation can be achieved, with Lotus Notes addresses represented in Active Directory, and Exchange addresses represented in Domino.

Things get interesting when you try and implement a sub-domain routing topology to allow for a single domain name-space to be used for both Domino and Exchange.      For example, if  CONTUSO.COM was being migrated from Domino to Exchange 2007, then best-practice dictates you implement Transporter Suite DirSync,  an SMTP connector between the two environments,  and route all inbound internet email via Exchange.  Then start migrating mailboxes.  This, of course, is trivialising a complex operation.

However, a key aspect of this situation is the ability to use sub-domains for email routing.

For emails from Exchange to Domino, you could use the namespace:   @NOTES.CONTUSO.COM

For emails from Domino to Exchange, you could use the namespace:   @EXCHANGE.CONTUSO.COM

There are two aspects to this:

1)  Internet email needs to be go via Exchange to Domino.   It would be great if we could get all Domino addresses into AD with an accurate relay address to get the emails onto Domino.  In reality this is rarely the case, and to mitigate the issue, Exchange 2007 allows for an SMTP connector to forward all mail it cannot match to AD, onto a Smart Host (Domino).  So no real issue here.

2) During the migration there will be users on both Domino and Exchange.   The Exchange users need to be able to email Domino users from the Global Address Book (GAL).   Therefore the Windows Contact objects need to contain a valid Target Address (relay) field.

This is where the main reason for this post appears….

The default Target Address generated by Transporter to represent a Domino user would be as follows:

Fred_Bloggs/CONTUSO%CONTUSO@notes.contuso.com

The problem is that the FULL NAME field in the Notes Person Record for this user = “Fred Bloggs”, with no underscore character.   Mail to this address may not be delivered and generate a Non Delivery Report (NDR).   Transporter has inserted the underscore character to replace the space character, as that is not valid in an SMTP address.

If your Domino environment is small, maybe you manually (or via an Agent) add an additional address for each user with the underscore.  But if there is a large number of users this may not be possible.

All is not lost though.   In the Transporter application Windows folder structure, there are a set of configuration files that are used by Transporter.   This can be manipulated to help with this situation.

Typically the files are under   c:\program files\microsoft transporter tools\config\connector\*

The file you are after is dominotoexchangerules.tbl

Backup all files in this folder before you start making any changes, and do all your tests in a lab environment before committing to production.

The section in the dominotoexchangerules.tbl file you need is:

Alias = ISEQUAL( Alias, “”, ISEQUAL( InetAddr, “”, SecALIAS, Strip( InetAddr, “@”, “L”, “R” ) ), Alias )
DispName = ISEQUAL( Resource, “”, X500( FullName, “CN” ), Strip( FullName, “;”, “L”, “R” ) )
Name = Strip( FullName, “;”, “L”, “R” )
LastName = ISEQUAL( LastName, “”, ISEQUAL( FirstName, “”, X500( FullName, “CN”), “” ) , LastName)
NOTESADDR = NotesLocal “@” MailDomain
TA = ISEQUAL( FwdAddr, “”, ISEQUAL( CFGPARM(“DominoSmtpDomain”), Strip( InetAddr, “@”, “L” ), InetAddr, ISEQUAL(SmtpLocal, “”, SmtpLocEsc, SmtpLocal) “%” MailDomain “@” CFGPARM(“DominoSmtpDomain”)), FwdAddr )

For details on the syntax used do a search on Google for “Exchange 2003 Lotus Notes Connector TBL”.   The syntax used for Exchange 2007 is similar, but not the same.

The trick is to edit the file so it looks like this:

Alias = ISEQUAL( Alias, “”, ISEQUAL( InetAddr, “”, SecALIAS, Strip( InetAddr, “@”, “L”, “R” ) ), Alias )
DispName = ISEQUAL( Resource, “”, X500( FullName, “CN” ), Strip( FullName, “;”, “L”, “R” ) )
Name = Strip( FullName, “;”, “L”, “R” )
LastName = ISEQUAL( LastName, “”, ISEQUAL( FirstName, “”, X500( FullName, “CN”), “” ) , LastName)
NOTESADDR = NotesLocal “@” MailDomain
;TA = ISEQUAL( FwdAddr, “”, ISEQUAL( CFGPARM(“DominoSmtpDomain”), Strip( InetAddr, “@”, “L” ), InetAddr, ISEQUAL(SmtpLocal, “”, SmtpLocEsc, SmtpLocal) “%” MailDomain “@” CFGPARM(“DominoSmtpDomain”)), FwdAddr )
TA = STRIP(PriSMTP, “@”, “L”, “R”) “@notes.contuso.com”

This has placed a semi-colon at the front of the original line starting with TA = , and then added a new line for this parameter, which will generate a Target Address using the left-hand side of the internet address and the SMTP sub-domain name-space used to route mail to Domino.

There is an entry in the GUI config of the Transporter to specify the Domino SMTP domain also – good idea to put in the same sub-domain value here.    This is what was used to generate the default TA value, and is overridden by the change I suggest.    However, I advise setting it anyway as a reference.

Note:  if you wish, you can use an alternate naming format based on the alias value.  You just use this line instead:   TA = Alias “@notes.contuso.com”

The reason I do not generally recommend the use of the Alias@notes.contuso.com   name format is that in Domino your Resources and Mail-In Databases do not have an Alias value set, and have no Alias field that can be populated.   However, they do have an internet address field set.   Therefore, you can include them in Dir Sync by populating them all with a valid internet address.  This will allow them to appear in the Exchange GAL via Dir Sync.  If they have a blank internet address field in Domino, they will not appear in the Exchange GAL via DirSync.

Once you have made the change, you need to remove all the Lotus Notes Windows Contacts from AD, restart the Transporter Directory Sync Windows Service, and force a Full Sync from Domino to Exchange.

(Don’t forget, you can always go back to the original configuration if this produces results you do not expect.)

In Exchange 2007 Management Console (EMC), check the Target Address fields after the Sync has completed.  You should see the new format of   firstname.lastname@notes.contuso.com .    This is now a valid Target Address for Domino user mailboxes.   Domino is tolerant of receiving emails that are not an exact match – it will perform a series of look-ups to try and get a match.

The new Target Address for the example user will now be:

Fred.Bloggs@notes.contuso.com

Now you need to edit the exchangetodominorules.tbl file in a similar way.  For this file you need to comment out the line starting with “FwdAddr ……” and replace it with this line.

FwdAddr = STRIP(PriSMTP, “@”, “L”, “R”) “@exchange.contuso.com”

This will generate an address entry in the Domino Address Book for any new Exchange mailboxes, and will stamp a forwarding address of format:

John.Bloggs@exchange.contuso.com

You have a successful sub-domain routing mechanism for mail flow and DirSync setup between Domino and Exchange 2007.  You can start looking at Free/Busy, and at the actual migration.

As always, test this to your own satisfaction in a private lab scenario.

How do you do this ?   There are many ways you can retain some sort of Exchange 2003 infrastructure for restore purposes.   This could involve a lab setup, or leaving all your Exchange 2003 production mailbox servers in operation.

The most efficient solution I have found involves a little know trick using ADSIEdit and GUID swapping.  It will allow you to retain only one Exchange 2003 Server for your entire enterprise.  The assumption is that your production tape silo is not available for the lab, so you have to maintain the Exchange 2003 footprint in production to do those restores.

It is vital that you have kept a record of which Exchange 2003 Mail Store every user was on before the migration.  Use the CSVDE tool to achieve this via an export from Active Directory (be careful with this tool, and only do an export).

The trick is to run ADSIEdit  on the legacy Exchange 2003 Server and follow the below procedure to replace the msExchOrigMDB value on the RSG with the distinguishedName value on the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Store where the user mailbox currently resides.   Without doing this key step, ExMerge will not allow you to extract the mailbox contents to a PST, as it is expecting to find the user’s mailbox on the original legacy Mail Store.

Step 1:

After the mail migration, shrink down your Exchange 2003 environment so you have one of the mailbox servers left over.  Ensure it maintains access to suitable disk/SAN/tape drive.

Step 2:

Find out user’s current Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server, Storage Group and Mailbox Store

Find out user’s legacy Exchange 2003 Mailbox Server, Storage Group and Mailbox Store

On the Exchange 2003 Server create a Recovery Storage Group(RSG) that links to the legacy Exchange 2003 Mail Store that the user mailbox used to be homed on.

Prepare your backup media so you are ready for the restore.

Step 3:

Follow this procedure:

1. Start ADSI Edit.
2. Locate the mailbox store that you moved the mailbox to. To do so, expand Configuration Container [YourServerName.YourDomainName.YourTopLevelDomain], expand CN=Configuration,DC=YourDomainName,DC=YourTopLevelDomain, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN=YourOrganizationName, expand CN=Administrative Groups, expand CN=Your Administrative Group, where Your Administrative Group is the administrative group that contains the storage group that you want to modify), expand CN=Servers, expand CN=YourServerName, expand CN=InformationStore, and then click CN=YourStorageGroup.
3. In the right pane, right-click the database object, and then click Properties.
4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both.
5. In the Select a property to view list, click distinguishedName.
6. Right-click the value that is in the Value(s) box, and then click Copy.
7. Click Cancel.
8. Locate and then click the Recovery Storage Group database object in the CN=Configuration,DC=YourDomainName,DC=YourTopLevelDomain container.
9. In the right pane, right-click the Recovery Storage Group database object, and then click Properties.
10. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both.
11. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchOrigMDB.
12. Click Clear.
13. Right-click an empty area of the Edit Attributes box, and then click Paste.
14. Click Set, and then click OK.
15. Quit ADSI Edit.

Examples:

Example RSG msExchOrigMDB value before it is modified on Exchange 2003 Server

CN=StoreA,CN=SGA,CN=InformationStore,CN=2003SERVER,CN=Servers,CN=First Administrative Group,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=Exchange,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=contuso,DC=com

Example RSG msExchOrigMDB value after it is modified on Exchange 2003 Server

CN=StoreZ,CN=SGZ,CN=InformationStore,CN=2007SERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=Exchange,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=contuso,DC=com

ExMerge:

Then use ExMerge to extract the mailbox required to a PST file.   Make sure the RSG is mounted.  The original Exchange 2003 mail store also needs to be mounted, even though the ADSIEDIT change was made earlier.  On the legacy Exchange 2003 server, make sure that the Mail Store containing the System Attendant Mailbox is also mounted.

Notes:

It will be possible to use the one Exchange 2003 Server to restore mailbox data that was originally homed on a different Exchange 2003 Server.  As long as your backup software allows you to restore to an RSG on a different server then Microsoft support this scenario.

New content will be added to the website as I progress through this project.

The Design phase is due to start.