We have an Exchange 2003 environment with 2 servers, one in Chicago and one in London. Our London server is down and we're working with a tech support firm to fix it but in the meantime I'd like to figure out what my current options are to restore some basic operations.
In our current environment all mail comes in to the Chicago server (our MX host) and for the London users the mail is then sent to the London server. With the London server down the London users have no ability to send or receive email.
What is the best way to give them the ability to send/receive in the short term? Can I just move their mail accounts to the Chicago server? What will be the repurcussions of doing so once the London server comes back online? There are only 3 users in London but they all have mailboxes in the 3-4 GB range and I don't want the entire contents of those mailboxes coming back to Chicago over the T-1 line when that server comes back up.
The worst case scenario is the server is shot and I have to perform a recovery to a new server in our Chicago office. That scenario is documented but it's my immediate options that I'm curious about.
When the server comes back up again, let it is replicate those changes back. Run cleanup wizard and their old mailboxes should be disconnected.
Exmerge out the new email in to a pst file, then repeat the procedure of removing the Exchange attributes and reconnect to the old mailboxes. Finally import the pst file in to their live mailbox.
Simon.