Question : New Groupwise server

Hello Experts!

At my company we are running Groupwise 7.0.3 on Netware 6.5.  My company is moving off of Netware and the final piece is Groupwise.  Because of budget concerns an upgrade or migration to another email system is not an option.

I need help migrating the Groupwise server to new hardware running Windows.  I have already installed eDir in the Widnows environment and it is running great.

I have found detail instructions on doing this all in one shot by shutting down group wise and copying the data.  I am dealing with several hundred GB of data on old hardware with a low through put, and it would take days to copy the data.  So that is not an option.  I would like to do a phased migration.

I cannot find any documentation on how to add a new server to a existing Groupwise system so that the users can be copied over in batches.  I have done this with Exchange many times.

When you run installation it asks to install a "new" system or "upgrade"  I don't want to damage the existing running system so both choices scare me a little.

Is there anyone who has done this and can provide some instructions?

Thank you in advance.

Answer : New Groupwise server

Note 1: No two systems are exact, so these are general terms, and not intended to be exact specs.

Note 2: The GW domain is neither like a MS domain, nor an Internet domain name. It is simply the name of your GW domain.

Note 3: Be careful when creating your new Software Distribution directory. You will want the new SDD to be located on the new box.

You do not want to create a NEW system. You want to create a new Domain in your existing system. As long as you are UPGRADING to a new box, you will not effect your existing server. Once you have the new domain, add an MTA and Post Office. You can actually build a running Domain and create a few test users without effecting the old domain. You should then be able to send email between users of each domain.

When installing, you WILL point to your old GW system, and it is a bit scary, but if you read the screens and keep in mind that you are adding a domain to the existing system, you will begin to see what the screens are asking for.

Once you are convinced that the new domain is working, you can copy users over a few at a time. After all of your users are copied to the new domain, you can easily delete the old domain from eDir.

Hope this helps.