Calendar Migration

Oracle Calendar Server to Exchange

CalMover Software• Server-side migration product that migrates data from Oracle

Calendar Server to MS Exchange 2003. CalMover also migrates Steltor CorporateTime, Netscape calendar (unison based), and HP OpenTime.

• Migrates Accounts (User and Resource) and Groups (Public, Administrative, and Members Only).

• Converts x400 e-mail addresses within the calendar database to preserve attendee and meeting linkages so they are active after the migration in an Exchange.

• Maintains Event data including Reminders, Comments, Event Description, Event Importance, Meeting Organizer, List of Attendees, and Recurrences.

• Migrates Tasks including Comments, percent completion and level of importance.

• Converts Notes.

Calendar Migration Process Overview1. Create a migration list based on an account dump from

the calendar databases and filter for accounts to be excluded.

2. Copy calendar database to Windows migration server with CalMover installed.

3. Validate migration list against the Active Directory and split list into sub-batches for parallel pipeline processing.

4. Run CalMover, which migrates the calendar data to a .pst file for each account.

5. Import each .pst file into the Exchange database using ExMerge.

What is Needed for Migration?• Migration List of accounts, preferably using AD user

ID.• AD dump, in ldifde format (this is necessary for the

address mapping to preserve meeting attendee linkages).

• Copy of calendar database, including all nodes.• Migration server(s) with CalMover installed (for

example, 2 servers are needed to migrate 3000 accounts). Number of migration machines will be determined by performance testing.

“Big Bang” migration approach• OCS/CorporateTime has no concept of free/busy as a separate map

of time from the actual calendar. Users must exist in CorporateTime. This creates coexistence issues.

• Removing a single user from CorporateTime removes all their attendee information from other user’s calendars and also removes the meetings owned by that user from the other user’s calendars.

• A “closed set” migration is a possible way to migrate less than the whole. However, a complete closed set is difficult to bound without some loss of data.

RECOMMENDATIONCurrently, users are have two clients–email and calendar. Users should continue to use two clients to do email and calendar even when Outlook is installed. Once everyone has Outlook, the migration takes place and the CorporateTime client is eliminated.

OCS/CorporateTime vs. Outlook• Recurring meetings – Exchange and OCS/CorporateTime handle recurring

meetings in a fundamentally different way. With CorporateTime, a recurring meeting is multiple meetings that are created at one time and with similar parameters. In Outlook, recurring meetings have a “parent” object that defines the recurrence pattern. In the migration, CalMover attempts to detect the pattern from the CorporateTime data, but if there are exceptions or no discernable pattern, individual meetings are created.

• Meeting organizers – In CorporateTime , meeting organizers can remove themselves from the meeting, but continue to view/change the meeting. In Outlook, the organizer must be on the attendee list.

• Tasks – CorporateTime tasks assignments do not map to Outlook task assignments and so these are migrated as simple, migratee owned tasks.

• Groups (Public/Administrative/Members Only) – CalMover migrates group information to LDIF format text files, which are later imported to the AD.

Other feature mappings are documented in separate spreadsheet.

References• HP (Germany) – 50,000 accounts. Migration performed

over 2 day weekend.

• UBS – 25,000 accounts. Migration performed over 3 day weekend.

• SWIFT (Belgium) – 3000 accounts. Simpler-Webb Consultant onsite for pilot and actual migration in Belgium

• University of Wisconsin (Whitewater) – 434 accounts• University of Akron – 2500 accounts• University of Puget Sound – 617 accounts• Northwestern Mutual – 3500 accounts

Tips for Smooth Calendar Migration• Complete mail migration prior to calendar

migration.

• Migrated all accounts over a single weekend to eliminate coexistence issues.

• Start pilot testing and customizing automated migration process about 4-6 weeks prior to migration.

• Communicate to users the differences between OCS/CorporateTime and Outlook.