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Alexey Shatygin
Asked: 2012-09-21 00:06:42 +0800 CST

MS Exchange p2v process

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Is that possible to virtualize MS Exchange Server 2007 without stopping it's services? In particular I'm interested in using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client for that purpose.

exchange

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Yes it is but online conversations are generally not as good as offline ones due the potential/inevitability of there being open files, you end up with transactionally-broken data relationships. It this were for say a fairly static web server I'd be happier but I think your data in this case deserves the time to do this offline if possible.

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  2. As Chopper3 pointed out in his answer, this is possible, but not ideal for an actual migration. Since he didn't mention it, I feel like I should point out that (I've found) an online virtualization to be useful as a proof-of-concept and initial test to help me plan out and improve the eventual "real" migration.

    I've done so many Exchange migrations that I really don't have any need to do a test on a virtualized dummy anymore, but I wasn't always that way, and it's much better to make your mistakes and get your practice in on a throw-away virtual machine than on a mail server people are actually using, so I'd advise you to do an online virtualization as a test-case or practice-environment, even though you want to take the Exchange server offline when it comes to doing the actual migration.

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