We're in the midst of migration from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 and running into some weird issues.

The most annoying problem right now is when trying to export a mailbox to PST when the mailbox is in a 2010 database. Users in the 2013 database export without issue. Even after moving some of the users to the newer database, they still receive this error message.

Any thoughts why this is happening? Our Exchange admin hasn't come up with an answer yet...

Are you running this command from Exchange 2013 or 2010 EMS?

Simon.

Have tried from both 2010 and 2013 servers.

So it seems I was on the wrong server! While on a server with the 2010 EMS, the request goes into the queue successfully but then getting the export request statistics, it shows "Failed to communicate with the mailbox database".

• Edited by andy.brown 12 hours 27 minutes ago

Well, even though it showed an error message, the export completed successfully while using the 2010 EMS.

So it seems I was on the wrong server! While on a server with the 2010 EMS, the request goes into the queue successfully but then getting the export request statistics, it shows "Failed to communicate with the mailbox database".

• Edited by andy.brown Tuesday, August 18, 2015 7:02 PM

So it seems I was on the wrong server! While on a server with the 2010 EMS, the request goes into the queue successfully but then getting the export request statistics, it shows "Failed to communicate with the mailbox database".

• Edited by andy.brown Tuesday, August 18, 2015 7:02 PM

Well, it sounds good that you have resolved this weird issue by-self.

By the way, you might also be interested using this proficient application http://www.exchangemailboxmigration.com/ that provides a hassle-free environment and helps to migrate all users mailboxes from old server to upgraded server without having downtime or any further interruption.

I guess technically resolved in that I have to use the 2010 EMS for mailboxes that haven't been migrated yet but I'd really like to figure out why the 2013 EMS won't export mailboxes from the 2010 stores.

My techs only have access to one terminal server to perform admin duties and since we have more 2010 mailboxes than 2013, this is causing a backlog of exports for terminated users. I can't have them logging onto the 2010 server, obviously!

A lot of tools are version specific.
You have to use tools that match the version of the mailbox to carry out the tasks, otherwise you risk corrupting the user account.

Simon.

Hi,

Mailbox Export should work after applying the Service Pack and the required PermissionsPermision.

Please run Get-ExchangeServer | FL name,*version* to check the version of server, more details please refer to: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/152439

Besides, make sure the user account you are using have sufficient privilege to perform the task, user permission can be elevated using below command: New-ManagementRoleAssignment Role Mailbox Import Export User "DOMAIN\UserName"

Or open RBAC to manage permission, for your reference:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607299?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396