The last several years have seen an exponential increase in businesses moving all or part of their network operations to the cloud – primarily due to the vast expansion of a remote workforce. This means a migration is in your future. How you handle it will make all the difference between a migration and a migraine. We at ITFirm.com offer up a few tips to keep that aspirin bottle from rattling.
Once you have made the decision to move to the cloud, the heavy lifting begins – the migration itself. Take Microsoft 365 – especially the ‘data-heavy’ Office 365: now you must migrate all your data. The type of migration tool you use depends on several factors – the tool you use for documents may not work as well for an email migration. Plus, depending on how many mailboxes and the type of mailboxes there are, you need to look at your options.
The first thing you must consider is how much data you need to migrate and how much time the migration will take to complete. You need to ensure that the budget you have allotted for the migration is adequate to the task. You need to establish which version of Exchange Server you use, and which email system are you migrating from. Go no further until you have addressed these issues and have arrived at solid answers.
4 Types of migrations for Office 365:
1) IMAP migration to Office 365
IMAP (Internet Protocol Message Access) is the one method for migrating emails from sources other than a Microsoft Exchange server, such as gmail, yahoo, or any email system that allows for IMAP migration. Administrators use the Exchange Administration Center (EAC) or the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to initiate the migration process.
Unlike the 3 migration types below which in effect are a Microsoft to Microsoft migration, IMAP requires the creation of a new mailbox for each end user before migration can begin.
2) Cutover Migration
This is the quickest method for an immediate migration from Exchange to Office 365, as it migrates ALL your data and resources, but it must be ‘all or nothing’ to use this method. There will be no choosing who or what gets migrated. If you were moving your residence, it’s like putting the entire house on a huge flatbed tractor-trailer and settling it back down in a new location. With the ease of this migration, it may well be worth doing your house cleaning after the migration – unless you want to do the clean up before migrating.
3) Staged Migration
As the name implies, the migration is performed in stages or batches. Schedules for what goes in each stag and the time frames involved need to be determined beforehand. It is similar to an orderly evacuation: this group first, then this group – and so on. For Microsoft users, this method is only available for Exchange 2003 or 2007. It cannot be used to:
* Migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365
* Migrate Exchange 2013 to Office 365
4) Hybrid Migration
The hybrid method lets you to move mailboxes in and out of Exchange Online, allowing for synchronization and management of user accounts – all of which will remain operable during the migration. This works with Exchange 2010 or later versions. If you have 2003 or 2007, you must install at least one on-premises Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3 (SP3) server to enable hybrid deployment connectivity.
NOTE: To use Hybrid Migration, you must have a minimum of 2,000 mailboxes to transfer.
Office 365 migration services
There are plenty of companies that offer Office 365 services – just as ITFirm.com does. We perform these migrations routinely - both for clients as well as in-house IT people who either don’t have the time or the expertise to do it themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I find out what my Exchange Server is?
A: You first need to look up your settings:
1) Using Outlook Web App, sign into your Microsoft account. For any help signing in, Microsoft guides you through the steps HERE.
2) In the Outlook Web App, select Settings from the toolbar. Proceed to Mail, and then to POP and IMAP.
3) On the POP and IMAP page, you will find the settings you need - POP3, IMAP4 and your SMPT server name.
Now you are ready to execute your migration.
Q: How do I transfer my email to Office 365?
A: Once you are ready, there will be different procedures involved depending on your current email provider (Outlook, Gmail or other). Again, Microsoft provides detailed instructions for migration from any email provider HERE.
Q: Can I use my existing email with Office 365?
A: No. You cannot use the same email address for a commercial Microsoft 365 email account and a consumer Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account. But you can create a personalized email address for your commercial Outlook.com mailbox. For example: ‘YourName@YourCompany.com’. Once you sign into premium features settings in Outlook, go to Personalized email address and click on ‘Get Started.’ The rest is self-explanatory and easy to maneuver through.
Q: How can I speed up my Office 365 migration?
A: The migration is not as slow as a glacier, but they share similar properties – they take time. Here are a few things you can do to speed up the process:
1) Plan it out. This is a project - it requires strategic project management. For example: Migrate older emails first, allowing your users access to their more current and pressing emails, then migrating the current emails last.
2) Migrate less data – maybe you only need the last 12 months of emails., This won’t be a viable option for businesses that needs to keep every email since email began.
3) Spread the migration out over multiple migration servers. If you are using a 3rd party migration tool or one of the many migration services, this is a workable option. Several servers moving data simultaneously will certainly accelerate the process.
4) Increase your Bandwidth. Check your internet settings and call your internet provider to see if you can increase your speed for the migration.
5) Use PST migration. It adds a step but saves time if you migrate your mail to PST files first. There are tools and services available for this, but if you plan on doing it yourself, Microsoft shows what this is all about HERE. If you have qualified IT people on hand, hand this ball off to them.
6) Use Microsoft Support. You can do this through your Office 365 Portal. Log a support request and ask Microsoft to relax throttling and latency during the migration.
How secure is your network?
As a longstanding, reputable member of the Charlotte IT Support community, ITFirm.com offers a FREE, no-risk network and Cybersecurity assessment. We perform a non-intrusive scan that allows us to deliver a comprehensive report of the state of your system and its vulnerabilities that is yours to keep. There are no strings attached, and you are under no obligation to ever use our Managed IT Services.
The two best defenses are next-generation Cybersecurity to protect your data from theft, and a top-notch Managed Services Provider to ensure continued reliability and defenses against newly emerging threats.
We put our 100% Money Back Guarantee in writing, so there is no risk in trying us out. Because we do not require a ‘hard’ contract, our clients can fire us at any time with 30 days’ notice. We have to be good.
Among the Managed IT Services we provide:
IT HelpDesk Service
Onsite IT Support
Cybersecurity
Cloud migration and management
Email migration services
Backup and disaster recovery
VoIP phone systems
IT disposition and recycling
Office moves
White label services (IT to IT)
For more information, or to receive your FREE no-risk network and security assessment, just fill out the form on this page or call us at:
704-565-9705
