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Move Entire Databases Instead of Mailboxes

maj82 1 Reputation point
2021-06-28T17:04:31.957+00:00

We are migrating our Exchange 2016 servers that are on Windows Server 2012 R2 to servers on Windows Server 2016 (was hoping to get up to 2019 but Exchange 2016 isn't compatible).

Is there a way to dismount the databases on the 2012 R2 servers and mount them on the Windows 2016 Servers? They are all Exchange 2016.

We have the current servers in a DAG but the server OS has to be the same so I can't just add the new ones to the DAG.

I know I can do individual mailbox moves but that takes forever and is a pain. Anyway to just copy the DBs and mount them on a new server? I feel like I could knock that out in an afternoon instead of weeks of migrating mailboxes if it's possible.

Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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Windows Server Migration
Windows Server Migration
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Migration: The process of making existing applications and data work on a different computer or operating system.
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  1. Xzsssss 8,861 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-06-29T07:32:59.413+00:00

    Hi @maj82 ,

    We could move mailbox database to another volume, folder, location, or path on one server by using either the EAC or EMS, but unfortunately we cannot directly move the database to another server.

    Currently moving the entire database to another Exchange server requires the servers to be in one DAG. And it is achieved by switching the mailbox database copy on another server to be in active mode. But as you know, Exchange servers on different Windows servers could not join one DAG, that is to say for a cross server migration, we could not move the entire database like how DAG does.

    Kindly suggest you could do the migration on your weekends to reduce the impact of migrating users.

    Best regards,
    Lou

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