Is that possible to virtualize MS Exchange Server 2007 without stopping it's services? In particular I'm interested in using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client for that purpose.
Asked
Active
Viewed 170 times
2 Answers
4
Yes it is but online conversations are generally not as good as offline ones due the potential/inevitability of there being open files, you end up with transactionally-broken data relationships. It this were for say a fairly static web server I'd be happier but I think your data in this case deserves the time to do this offline if possible.
Chopper3
- 100,240
- 9
- 106
- 238
1
As Chopper3 pointed out in his answer, this is possible, but not ideal for an actual migration. Since he didn't mention it, I feel like I should point out that (I've found) an online virtualization to be useful as a proof-of-concept and initial test to help me plan out and improve the eventual "real" migration.
I've done so many Exchange migrations that I really don't have any need to do a test on a virtualized dummy anymore, but I wasn't always that way, and it's much better to make your mistakes and get your practice in on a throw-away virtual machine than on a mail server people are actually using, so I'd advise you to do an online virtualization as a test-case or practice-environment, even though you want to take the Exchange server offline when it comes to doing the actual migration.
HopelessN00b
- 53,385
- 32
- 133
- 208