SuspendWhenReadyToComplete Exchange

What is the SuspendWhenreadyToComplete switch in Exchange? Why should you use it, and how do you use it in a migration? In this article, we will cover the New-MoveRequest cmdlet and Resume-MoveRequest cmdlet, including the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch.

What is the SuspendWhenreadyToComplete switch in Exchange

The SuspendWhenreadyToComplete switch prevents automatic completion of mailbox migrations. It will move the mailbox to 95% and then suspend until you manually trigger the MoveRequest at a later point in time.

For example, you can trigger it during off-business hours. You can use it if you want to move mailboxes to a new mailbox database, and you don’t want users to get any notification in their Outlook application. If that’s what you want, then start using the switch.

How to use SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch in Exchange

1. Start mailbox migration with New-MoveRequest cmdlet, including the -SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch.
2. Verify mailbox migration with Get-MoveRequest cmdlet.
3. Finish mailbox migration with Resume MoveRequest cmdlet.

Find the user mailbox to migrate

Run Exchange Management Shell as administrator. Check which mailbox database the user is currently on.

[PS] C:\>Get-Mailbox "john.doe@alitajran.com" | Format-Table Database

Database
--------
DB1-2016

After running the cmdlet, we can see that the user is on the mailbox database: DB1-2016.

Migrate mailbox with New-MoveRequest cmdlet including SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch

We want to move the user to the database DB3-2016 with a manual completion. That’s when we make use of the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch in Exchange Server.

[PS] C:\>New-MoveRequest "john.doe@alitajran.com" -TargetDatabase DB3-2016 -SuspendWhenReadyToComplete

DisplayName StatusDetail        TotalMailboxSize               TotalArchiveSize PercentComplete
----------- ------------        ----------------               ---------------- ---------------
Doe John    WaitingForJobPickup 4.891 GB (5,251,716,383 bytes)                  0

Get the move request statistics. The mailbox that we moved with the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch in Exchange shows Autosuspended in the column StatusDetail and 95 in the column PercentComplete.

[PS] C:\>Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics

DisplayName   StatusDetail  TotalMailboxSize                TotalArchiveSize PercentComplete
-----------   ------------  ----------------                ---------------- ---------------
Doe John      AutoSuspended 4.891 GB (5,251,716,383 bytes)                   95
Choate Elise  Completed     12.31 GB (13,219,296,270 bytes)                  100
Folkers Justa Completed     6.258 GB (6,719,474,461 bytes)                   100
Cesar Carson  Completed     15.35 GB (16,481,936,963 bytes)                  100
Rotunno Alita Completed     2.943 GB (3,160,022,128 bytes)                   100

In the next part, we will complete the mailbox move. That’s the remaining 5%.

Read more: Migrate Exchange mailboxes through text file »

Manual finalize mailbox completion with Resume-MoveRequest

Initialize the manual completion of the mailbox move.

[PS] C:\>Resume-MoveRequest "john.doe@alitajran.com"

Do you have more than one mailbox with the status AutoSuspended? Resume and complete all the mailboxes.

[PS] C:\>Get-MoveRequest -MoveStatus AutoSuspended | Resume-MoveRequest

Check if the mailbox move is started and finished.

[PS] C:\>Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics
 
DisplayName   StatusDetail   TotalMailboxSize                TotalArchiveSize PercentComplete
-----------   ------------   ----------------                ---------------- ---------------
Doe John      InitialSeeding 4.891 GB (5,251,716,383 bytes)                   95
Choate Elise  Completed      12.31 GB (13,219,296,270 bytes)                  100
Folkers Justa Completed      6.258 GB (6,719,474,461 bytes)                   100
Cesar Carson  Completed      15.35 GB (16,481,936,963 bytes)                  100
Rotunno Alita Completed      2.943 GB (3,160,022,128 bytes)                   100

The status InitialSeeding in the column StatusDetail is showing that the mailbox is started. Let’s check again.

[PS] C:\>Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics

DisplayName   StatusDetail TotalMailboxSize                TotalArchiveSize PercentComplete
-----------   ------------ ----------------                ---------------- ---------------
Doe John      Completed    4.891 GB (5,251,716,383 bytes)                   100
Choate Elise  Completed    12.31 GB (13,219,296,270 bytes)                  100
Folkers Justa Completed    6.258 GB (6,719,474,461 bytes)                   100
Cesar Carson  Completed    15.35 GB (16,481,936,963 bytes)                  100
Rotunno Alita Completed    2.943 GB (3,160,022,128 bytes)                   100

The mailbox move is finished. It’s showing StatusDetail Completed and PercentComplete 100.

Check if the user is on DB3-2016.

[PS] C:\>Get-Mailbox "john.doe@alitajran.com" | Format-List Database
 
 
Database : DB3-2016

The user is on DB3-2016. The move and manual completion of the mailbox went successfully. Thanks to the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch and Resume-MoveRequest cmdlet in Exchange.

Keep reading: Outlook not connecting to Exchange after migration »

Thoughts

In this article, you learned how to use the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch. Now that you have a good understanding of the SuspendWhenReadyToComplete switch in Exchange Server, are you going to use it?

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