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Lotus Notes/Domino (or simply
“Notes”) and Microsoft Exchange migrations have traditionally been
painful processes. In nearly every migration, there is an amount of time
where running both systems is required, especially in large scale
deployments. In many cases, both systems remain indefinitely in the
environment.
Running concurrent Notes and
Exchange systems introduces many risks, as well as limited
interoperability. Microsoft provides the Notes Connector to assist with
migration but recommends the tool not be used for long-term or permanent
connectivity. In addition to Microsoft’s warnings, there are stability
and scalability issues when using this tool, even in small to mid-size
environments.
Companies are faced with
several choices when determining how best to address their
Notes-Exchange coexistence or migration:
- Convert the
applications to the Exchange environment
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Costly and Difficult |
- Migrate mail to
Exchange and web-enable the applications
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Potentially Time Consuming |
- Risk a single point of
failure with the Notes Connector
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Risky with Limited Support |
- Discontinue the use of
mail-enabled functions
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Limiting by Nature |
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Or, |
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- Migrate mail to
Exchange while keeping groupware applications in Notes using SMTP
as the message transport.
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As a development and
deployment organization, we understand the difficulty and costs
associated with each choice, and have helped companies in these areas.
In this document, we will
discuss the following topics:
- Using SMTP vs. the Notes
Connector as the message transport between Lotus Notes and Microsoft
Exchange.
- Synchronizing the Lotus
Notes and Microsoft Exchange directories.
- Providing the ability for
Microsoft Outlook users to participate more richly in mail-enabled
Notes applications without the Connector.
Understanding the goals
So let’s dive into the
requirements for just a minute. What are our goals in long-term
coexistence? Hopefully, you listed mail routing and directory updates,
as those items are clearly critical. The ability for Outlook users to
participate in mail-enabled applications might also be a strong
objective. For long-term coexistence, we suggest you focus on making
the most critical components as failsafe as possible, keeping in mind
the niceties in case time and budget allow for their incorporation. |
