Hello, I'm in the process of migrating my Exchange 2003 deployment to Exchange 2010 SP1, below is a breakdown of the Ex2003 setup, and the Ex2010 setup. Exchange 2003: Dell PowerEdge 2950 - 8GB of Ram, Windows Server 2003 x86 - Exchange SP2 (Backend Mail Store) * 690 Mailboxes spread across 6 databases. Sizes of Mailboxes range from 500mb to 18GB Dell PowerEdge 2850 - 4GB of RAM, Windows Server 2003 x86 - Exchange SP2 (Frontend Server) All Exchange 2003 Servers have Intel 1000 NICs plugged int a 6509 on Blade 7 Exchange 2010 - Dell PowerEdge R720 - 64GB Ram - Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 SP1 (CAS/HT) Dell PowerEdge R720 - 64GB Ram - Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 SP1 (Mailbox Server 1) Dell PowerEdge R720 - 64GB Ram - Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 SP1 (Mailbox Server 2) All Exchange 2010 Servers have Broadcom NetExtreme Gbit NICs, plugged into a Cisco 6509 on Blade 1 Everything went swimmingly during coexistence except for migrating mailboxes. When trying to move a mailbox 4.5GB in size, with 80k items, I noticed that after 5 minutes, the log reported it had only transferred 156mb (roughly 30 meg a minute, which is fairly slow) The Exchange 2003 Backend, and the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Servers are in the same vlan, in the same data center, in racks right next to each other. I went so far as to turn off RSS on the broadcom and intel nics, as well as TCP Offloading, but it did not seem to make a difference. Nothing in any error logs as an indication of why it's slow either, it's just painfully slow. Verified my NIC drivers on all servers are on the latest and greatest, but it's still not making a difference. In comparison, about 7 months ago, I had to move some mailboxes from one mail store to another on my Exchange 2003 server, and I was able to move a 4GB mailbox in under an hour. So at this point, I don't think it's a disk issue on the Ex2003 server, it's got to be something related to network. Looking for some guidance here because I am out of ideas. Thanks! Chris

Check out this article http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010/thread/9daa2ecd-d95c-4248-832f-c3bed7d7cf2f/ Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com Search, Recover, & Extract Mailboxes, Folders, & Email Items from Offline EDB's and Live Exchange Servers or Import/Migrate direct from Offline EDB to Any Production Exchange Server, even cross version i.e. 2003 --> 2007 --> 2010 with Lucid8's DigiScope

Oh and here is another one that could prove to be handy as well http://edmckinzie.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/how-to-speed-up-a-large-exchange-2010-migration/Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com Search, Recover, & Extract Mailboxes, Folders, & Email Items from Offline EDB's and Live Exchange Servers or Import/Migrate direct from Offline EDB to Any Production Exchange Server, even cross version i.e. 2003 --> 2007 --> 2010 with Lucid8's DigiScope

Any special reason why you are migrating/transitioning to a non supported version of Exchange (Read: EX2010 with SP1)? The first thing I would do before a migration/transition is to bring the server up to a supported level. SP3 has been out since Feb 2013.Martina Miskovic

Well, I wasn't sure if SP3 was supported when doing a migration from 2003. My plan was to get everyone moved over, then migrate up to SP3.

Ok, thanks for the information. It is definitely supported and I can only recommend you to bring your server up to a supported level before you move any mailboxes over. Troy gave some good advice on how to change the MRS Configuration. Also a good thing to do.Martina Miskovic

Excellent! I appreciate the information. What's the best practice for upgrading to SP3? CAS/HT first, then Mailbox Servers? And it looks like all the SP2 fixes are in SP3 so I can skip that. I've already made the MRS Configuration changes, so I'll give SP3 a shot in my maintenance window tomorrow night. Thank you! Chris

Yes, the installation order should be CAS,HUB and then Mailbox. There was a new requirement in SP2 (=IIS WMI Compatibility) and it is of course also needed for SP3 and the installation can add that feature for you during install. Example: Setup.com /m:upgrade /InstallWindowsComponents Happy SP3 Patching!Martina Miskovic

Yes, the installation order should be CAS,HUB and then Mailbox. There was a new requirement in SP2 (=IIS WMI Compatibility) and it is of course also needed for SP3 and the installation can add that feature for you during install. Example: Setup.com /m:upgrade /InstallWindowsComponents Happy SP3 Patching!Martina Miskovic