Mailboxes migration from one source Office 365 to another Office 365 organization in the case of a merger, acquisition, or divestments is likely the most common reason for Office 365 to Office 365 Migration. If you are planning for Office 365 migration then, make sure you do some preparation before going for the migration, as it is not a simple process; and requires a high level of dedication to manage it.
Before getting started on the migration, let’s look at the prerequisites and what all preparation needs to be done before going into the migration.
A conventional Approach for Office 365 to Office 365 Migration
Through PowerShell scripts or a third-party Office 365 migration tool, users can go for the Office 365 migration. However, a user looking for an Office 365 tenant-to-tenant migration through a manual method needs to keep in mind the pre-and post-migration checklist.
It is suggested to make a plan two weeks prior for Office 365 to Office 365 migration date.
Pre-migration Stage: –
Tenant preparation and licensing
• Make sure to increase licenses in Target Office 365; to keep all mailboxes in target Office 365 migrated from the source tenant.
• It is required to create an admin account in both source and target Office 365 to fulfill mailboxes migration from source Office 365 to another Office 365.
Need to create Room, resource, user object creation, and distribution group in the target Office 365.
• In case the Azure AD Connect tool is used, then sync all objects from the Target AD DS. And then create source tenant objects in the target tenant AD DS through consolidation.
• Need to verify that source new users and groups are synced to the target tenant through directory synchronization.
Then need to formulate a communication plan to inform about the upcoming migration to all users.
Domain preparation
• For the source email domain, begin the domain verification on the target tenant.
• Need to add source domain in the target Office 365 admin center and also; create a TXT record in DNS for verification.
• Make sure; that the domain is in use in one tenant, otherwise, it will lead to verification failure.
After accomplishing the above steps, you need to wait for around 72 hours to see the changes.
Migration Scheduling
• Begin Creation of master list of user mailboxes and need to create an a. CSV file for mailbox mapping.
• Note down the lowest value of TTL on the MX record for the primary email domain.
• From Office 365 admin center, need to disable directory sync for source tenant.
Migration Day
Stop inbound mail flow.
Change the primary MS record to the value that is not reachable unreachable or by using a third-party service to Stop inbound mail flow to the source tenant.
Source tenant preparation
• Need to remove the source primary email domain from all objects in the source tenant before moving to the target tenant.
• Using the Lync admin portal, remove all Lync licenses from the source tenant users; will result in removing the Lync Sip address connected to the Source tenant domain.
• Reset the default email addresses of source mailboxes to the initial domain on Office 365.
• On Rooms, Resources, and Distribution Lists, reset the default email addresses to the source tenant’s initial domain.
• Remove all secondary email addresses from source tenant user objects.
• Use the Windows PowerShell command, run the command Get-MsolUser -DomainName abc.com to get a list of all objects that are still using the domain and blocking the removal.
Preparation target tenant
It will involve the verification of the source domain in the target tenant. Then you to wait for 1 hour after the previous step.
• Can Configure the auto-discover CNAME.
• When you are using AD FS, then only; you need to configure a new domain in the target tenant for AD FS.
• Start the mailbox activation in the target and also assign new users with licenses.
• On the new users, set the source email domain as the primary address by using Windows PowerShell.
• Once the user mailboxes are active, adjust the mail routing and point the MX record to the new Office 365 email address.
• Need to test the mail flow in and out of the target Office 365.
Start migration
• In case you have 500 user mailboxes or less: Start Migrating all contact and calendar separately to target tenant mailboxes. You can Limit the mail migration by date if possible; for example, the data of the last six months.
• When you have 500 or more users: Use a multi-pass approach to migrate the content in multiple passes or batches.
Now, it depends on you to decide which way to go from Office 365 to Office 365 migration, either using PowerShell scripts or through a third-party Office 365 migration tool.
Office 365 to Office 365 migration using a reliable third-party tool
Shoviv’s Office 365 migration tool has proved to be a versatile tool, enabling users to migrate mailboxes from source Office 365 to Office 365 (target) with ease. This tool is easy to handle for a non-technical user. It comes with a free trial version that allows you to test the tool’s features and provide access to process the first 50 items in each folder. Let’s quickly check out its feature:
• The tool allows the migration of multiple mailboxes from the source Office 365 tenant to the target tenant.
• Using the filter option; allows users to apply filter options based on properties i.e., Process Message Class and Process Item Date.
• The tool automatically maps mailboxes of the source with the target tenant according to the mailbox owner.
• It enables users to migrate from Office 365 to Office 365 with ease.
Conclusion
The manual approach to execute Office 365 to Office 365 migration is a tedious job using PowerShell scripts as it requires a user to be superior in terms of technical knowledge. Shoviv Office 365 migration tool, on the other hand, is the best choice for performing Office 365 to Office 365 migration without technical expertise.
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