Reconnecting mailboxes to different accounts

[Staro30]

Hi,

We have users whose roles change frequently. For example, user Mr
Fixit connects to his Mr Fixit mailbox. Mr Fixit leaves his role. Mr
Fixit is replaced by Mr Solveit and he needs to connect to Mr Fixit's
mailbox so he gets the old emails.
Mr Fixit meanwhile moves into Mr Solveit's role and wants to connect
to Mr Solveit's mailbox.

We can't obviously delete any mailboxes and would prefer not to create
new user accounts thus we just want to swap them over.

What is the simplest and quickest way to achieve this with Exchange
2003 and AD?

Thanks
Jon

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Staro30 wrote:

Hi,

We have users whose roles change frequently. For example, user Mr
Fixit connects to his Mr Fixit mailbox. Mr Fixit leaves his role. Mr
Fixit is replaced by Mr Solveit and he needs to connect to Mr Fixit's
mailbox so he gets the old emails.
Mr Fixit meanwhile moves into Mr Solveit's role and wants to connect
to Mr Solveit's mailbox.

We can't obviously delete any mailboxes and would prefer not to create
new user accounts thus we just want to swap them over.

What is the simplest and quickest way to achieve this with Exchange
2003 and AD?

Thanks
Jon

My preferred method is to change Mr. Fixit's password, set up a new AD
account/mailbox for Mr. Solveit, grant him rights to Mr. Fixit's mailbox so
he can open it in Outlook, and copy/move anything he needs. Also remove Mr.
Fixit's SMTP address from his mailbox if it isn't to receive new mail - you
can assign the SMTP address to Mr. Solveit if need be. When the data has
been inspected, copied/moved, etc - hide Mr. Fixit's mailbox for a bit, and
then after a time, delete the account/mailbox outright.

I find this a lot easier than renaming accounts, home directories, etc etc
etc - and don't see much advantage in doing so.