GroupWise to Exchange 2007
What a while!
After a brief Sabbatical, our team rushed straight into AD deployment phase. The initial deployment phase consists of migration of servers, followed by user migration including e-mail. And here lies the Crux!
With Exchange 2007 (E12) on the doorstep, a plan to migrate from GroupWise 6.5 to Exchange 2007 is needed. While the roadmap is indeed quite similar to Exchange 2003 (E65), a solution to a problem during migration is handled by the Edge Services role, more specfically the SMTP Rewrite function.
So in a Test Lab, I have scaled-down replicas of the Current and To-Be scenarios. While mail-flow using the connectors is no rocket surgery, overlapping authoritative domains plays a role in preventing simple SMTP design. Both GroupWise and Exchange are authoritative for companydomain.com, yielding a power struggle of sorts (Exchange being at the Edge, is of course not quelled :)
Since SMTP Rewrite does not allow rewrites to the GWISE:address connector-space, another method is sought. This is a battle for tomorrow. Indeed, the construction of the City of Rome was not complete within one revolution of the Earth.*
While Microsoft Exchange Shell (or rather the functions necessary for configuration of an Exchange 2007 system) is not a major stumbling block, it is indeed a welcome change for those of us who consider ourselves Keyboard Cowboys. Scripting days are here again!
More on this as it unfolds; The road ahead seems long for now!
XeeRz,
Strauß