I am completing my Exchange2003 to Exchange2010 transition and I am unable to remove the public folder database as there are two public folder calendars listed in the Public Folder Instances on the 2003 ESM.  I have one Exchange2003 SP2 server and one Exchange 2010 SP2 UR5v2 server.  All mailboxes and public folders are located on the Exchange2010 server.

I have a situation where the two PF calendars will not remove themselves.  I have ran "move all replicas" but noticed afterwards that I had forgotten to add the IP address of Exchange2010 to the Exchange2003 SMTP virtual server after swapping the two IP addresses during transition (Ex2003 IP was given to EX2010).  Once I added the Ex2010 IP address to Ex2003 granting access, all public folder instances were removed except for these two pesky calendars that do not want to go away.  I have been patient, but I still receive backfill messages from EX2003. 

Does anyone know if adding a replica of these two calendars back to the Ex2003 server and then removing them will correct this issue thus removing the public folder instances and allowing me to remove the PF Database?

Thanks.

I'm not sure this is what you're asking, but I've often added back replicas, waited a while, then removed them again to try to get a balky public folder instance to go away, and it sometime works.

Thank-you for your response.  Yes, this is exactly what I am asking.  Can you tell me how long to wait after re-adding the replica (to EX2003) before removing it again?  Did you need to re-issue "Move all replicas" again after the removal?  Also, any suggestions as to the next course of action if this does not work?  Again, thanks!

Maybe an hour.

I don't like the "Move all replicas" script; I prefer AddReplicaToPfRecursive.ps1 and RemoveReplicaFromPfRecursive.ps1.

For one folder, it's a lot easier just to update the replicas in the folder properties or by use of Set-PublicFolder -Identity "<folder path>" -Replicas.

Again, thanks for your help.

I have turned up PF replication logging on both my EX03 and EX10 servers.  I added replica's using my EX10 server back to my EX03 server.  I saw incoming and outgoing 0x2 (hierarchy) messages on both servers, which I think is a good thing!  No messages are queued up.  I will wait over night and remove the replicas from EX03 in the morning.

Do you know if I should R/Click (EX03) and "Move all replicas" again after removing the replicas from EX03?

I gave you my opinion about that script; I don't use it.

In any case, that script and the ones I use only remove replicas and add replicas to the folder properties.  Just look at the properties of the folder and if the folder doesn't show the replica being there, then running the script won't do anything.  For a single folder, you can add and remove replicas yourself.  I usually use PowerShell:

Set-PublicFolder -Identity "\Operations\Cash Handling\Bribery" -Replicas NEW_PF_SERVER

This is how I resolved this problem. 

1. Manually added replicas back to the Exchange2003 using the public folder tools in the EMC of Exchange 2010

2.  Increased logging on both the Exchange2003 and the Exchange2010 servers.

3.  Increased the save and time alloted to the Backfill messages.

4.  Waited and the public folder instances finally emptied.

I was then able to continue with the process of removing the Exchange2003 server from my organization.