Analyzing MRS Move Requests in Exchange and Exchange Online

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As an Exchange and Office 365 delivery consultant, I am often asked to troubleshoot mailbox migrations and help identify why move requests stall or fail.  When using the Exchange Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) for local, cross-forest, or hybrid moves the move request detail report from EAC offers some useful clues, but it is usually vague and cryptic for identifying specific issues.  As a result, I often parse the data using PowerShell or ask a customer to export the report to XML for further analysis.  Here are a couple common examples:

 Get-MoveRequestStatistics user.name -IncludeReport | fl

(Get-MoveRequestStatistics user.name -IncludeReport).Report

$r = Get-MoveRequest user.name | Get-MoveRequestStatistics -IncludeReport
$r.Report.Failures

Get-MoveRequestStatistics user.name -IncludeReport | Export-CliXml export.xml
$r = Import-CliXml export.xml
$r.Report

There is actually quite a bit of valuable logging and debug information stored in the move report, but parsing through it using PowerShell and building collections can be quite tedious.  I have tried using a generic XML browser, but found the serialized MRS data simply does not render correctly.  Therefore, I developed my own tool.

MRS Explorer is a PowerShell script which renders a graphical user interface (GUI) for retrieving, auditing, and analyzing Exchange and Exchange Online (Office 365) move request reports from serialized XML data.  As I was developing the tool, I shared it with few colleagues for field testing and it generated a surprising amount of interest and feedback.  I continued to evolve the script refining the import and export functionality, enabling retrieval of move request data directly from on-premises Exchange and O365 tenants, and adding search and filter capabilities... and its popularity continued to grow.

I use MRS Explorer nearly every day and have received countless emails from MCS, PFE, and CSS associates who also find it extremely useful.  The script is currently published to TechNet Gallery and will continue to receive updates as required: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/MRS-Explorer-for-Exchange-b55c0c67