Hi,

We currently have one active Exchange 2010 server and an Exchange 2013 server which we were planning to use alongside the 2010 server.

We only recently discovered that we can't sync public folders between 2010 and 2013, so we plan to uninstall 2013 and have a second 2010.

The only issue with this is that the uninstall won't complete due to arbitration mailboxes and mailbox plans.

The 2013 server was never actually used, so I'm hoping I can just disable all mailboxes in the unused databse - is that right?

The error in the unistall wizard says that if there are other servers arbitration mailboxes should be moved to another DB - but does that apply when there are no more Exchange 2013 servers?

Also, running Get-MailboxPlan and Set-MailboxPlan are giving errors that they are not recognized as cmdlets!

I'd be grateful for any advice on this.

Thanks - Lawrence

• Edited by Lawrence E Marigold 17 hours 54 minutes ago Typo

Hello

try search for arbitration mailboxes and disable.
Get-Mailbox -Arbitration -Database exch2013db | Disable-Mailbox -Arbitration

Hi,

We currently have one active Exchange 2010 server and an Exchange 2013 server which we were planning to us alongside the 2010 server.

We only recently discovered that 2013 and 2010 can't work together (at least when it comes to public folders), so we plan to uninstall 2013 and have a second 2010.

The only issue with this is that the uninstall won't complete due to arbitration mailboxes and mailbox plans.

The 2013 server was never actually used, so I'm hoping I can just disable all mailboxes in the unused databse - is that right?

The error in the unistall wizard says that if there are other servers arbitration mailboxes should be moved to another DB - but does that apply when there are no more Exchange 2013 servers?

Also, running Get-MailboxPlan and Set-MailboxPlan are giving errors that they are not recognized as cmdlets!

I'd be grateful for any advice on this.

Thanks - Lawrence

Exchange 2013 works fine with Exchange 2010 Public Folders however...

Get-mailboxplan? Not familiar with that command...

If you're having issues with Public Folder coexistence, you may want to have a look at this article to make sure you have them configured properly.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2014/11/07/on-premises-legacy-public-folder-coexistence-for-exchange-2013-cumulative-update-7-and-beyond.aspx

Hi - thanks for the info.

My question is really more about being sure whether it's OK to disable these mailboxes in this situation rather than moving them to the 2010 server - not so much how to do it.

Cheers - Lawrence

• Edited by Lawrence E Marigold 18 hours 10 minutes ago

It's because we can't sync public folders between 2010 and 2013 - I'll edit the original question to be more clear on that.

Hello

why need sync?
the last step the migrate pf.
client from 2013 need access to pf without any issue.

We want to have PFs (mailbox databases too) synchronized between two servers - for safety in case one copy becomes corrupt.

Putting everything on the new server then re-installing the old one with 2013 would work in the end, but we don't want to go so long without the databases having multiple copies...

• Edited by Lawrence E Marigold 17 hours 56 minutes ago Strange small font

We want to have PFs (mailbox databases too) synchronized between two servers - for safety in case one copy becomes corrupt.

Putting everything on the new server then re-installing the old one with 2013 would work in the end, but we don't want to go so long without the databases having multiple copies...

I think you might need to research your requirements and come up with a design based on those.  You can't replicate any databases between versions of Exchange (ie 2010 and 2013) so what you want to do isn't doable.  

That being said.. how many Exchange 2010 servers do you have now in your envrionment?  Do you have any virtual infrastructure?

Hello

if install 2013 to one server and have one 2010  you cant create database copy to 2013.
you need additional server temporarily with enough hw. after install the second 2013 create dag and add db copy.
migrate all mailbox/pf to 2013 and then remove 2010 and reinstall 2013 and add to dag, and adddb copy and unsintall temporarily hw. and done.

Hi - that's all reasonable, but I don't want to go through all that procedure to upgrade our systems to 2013 and still therefore have no replication until that's done. I'd rather just stick to having two 2010 servers where we can replicate both mailbox and PF databases.

Is there any reason other than not being up to date why that's such a bad idea?

We do have some virtual server space and may start a migration to 2013 at a later date, but I really want multiple copies of our DBs sharpish.

If that is what we do, I need to know if it's safe to disable the arbitration mailboxes and mailbox plans - or if I have to move them...

Thanks

• Edited by Lawrence E Marigold 16 hours 56 minutes ago

Sure, you can do but personally, if you are still planning to upgrade to 2013 at some point in the future, I would just leave the existing 2013 server as is and it will be there for you when the time comes.

OK yes - that does make sense - thanks.

The question still remains about arbitration mailboxes and mailbox plans however. (I mean keeping the 2013 server may not be an option).

Anyone have any idea about that?

Cheers - Lawrence

• Edited by Lawrence E Marigold 16 hours 15 minutes ago

Hello

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration -Database exch2013db | Disable-Mailbox -Arbitration