Exchange Notes Connector Mail Flow

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Migration of Lotus Notes to MS Outlook is quite a common phenomenon and is carried out to either cut IT administrative costs or ease communication. But before coming to the conclusion of migration, it's important to know about mail flow when Exchange Notes Connector is used for migration. The knowledge of Mail flow helps user in understanding this process when you are attempting to troubleshoot mail flow issues.
Mail Flow from Notes to Exchange
1.Lotus Notes/Domino user sends mail that is addressed to an Exchange mailbox owner. Notes system needs to be configured to recognize Exchange system as a Foreign Domain. Lotus Notes Mail Router should deposit the mail to Exchange.box (default name) database on Lotus Notes Server
2.Lsntsmex.exe fetched mail from the Notes' Exchange.box and converts them from Notes format to Exchange MAPI format by using Lotus Notes API and then puts the same in Notes Mail Connector's READY-IN MAPI folder.
3.Lsmexin.exe performs address translation and Active Directory lookup for intended recipient. Then it moves the mail from READY-IN folder to the MTS-IN folder.
4.Store.exe ...
... (MSExchangeIS service) moves the mail to Message Transfer Agent (MTA, Emsmta.exe) and then MTS puts the mail on the MTA's SMTP queue, viewable under the server's X400 Queues in Exchange System Manager (ESM).
5.Store.exe picks up the mail from MTA and puts it on the SMTP Service's MTS-OUT queue. (This queue is viewable in Performance Monitor/System Monitor).
6.SMTP categorizes and routes mail to the target recipients.
Mail Flow from Exchange to Notes
1.Exchange mailbox owner sends mail addressed to Notes/Domino user
2.Message is categorized and routed to MS Exchange Connector for Lotus Notes
3.The store driver moves the message into SMTP Service's MTS-IN folder
4.Store.exe submits the mail to MTA
5.MTA makes another call to the routing engine and determines that the apt queue is the connector's X400 Queue in MTA
6.Store.exe picks the mail from MTA and puts it in MTS-OUT folder of Exchange Notes Connector
7.Lsmexout.exe performs address translation and moves the mail from MTS-OUT to READY-OUT
8.Lsmexnts.exe performs message body translation from Exchange MAPI to Notes format and moves the mail by use of Lotus Notes API calls to Mail.cox on the Notes system. Lotus Notes Mail Router is responsible for delivery to apt Notes mailbox on apt Notes server
This is how the Mail flow from Notes to Exchange and vice-versa takes place. This entire process of mail flow is important to understand as it helps you to troubleshoot mail flow issues while migrating from lotus to outlook. However, if you don't want to get into so much of details and descriptions, then migration using third party tool is the best bet. These tools are devised for performing migration only and therefore, you don't have to worry anymore for data loss issues.