More and more business enterprises these days are switching their current on-premise messaging environment to Office 365. If you have not done it yet, do it now. In this article, I will help you understand how to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365 using Hybrid Migration.
Office 365 provided by Microsoft, is a smart solution that enables everyone to be creative and work together in a secure way. Being a cloud-based platform, it allows users to access organizational data securely from any device at any time, anywhere. If your organization is looking for a complete cloud-based platform that supports content creation and sharing, Microsoft Office 365 best suits your needs. We have already discussed Office 365 benefits in the previous article.
Migrate Exchange Server to Office 365
There are various reasons why one wants to switch to Office 365. To reduce the capital costs for running Exchange Server, ensure easy manageability, and enhance management overhead are a few most common reasons. If your organization is also planning to move to Office 365 from an on-premise messaging environment like Exchange Server, you have come to the right place. But it is not easy. For any Exchange administrator, one of the most tedious and challenging tasks is to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365.
Microsoft Exchange Server stores all your emails and other data into an EDB (Exchange database) file. Since Office 365 does not support this file format, you just cannot import EDB file directly to Office 365. In such a situation, most of the users recommend a professional solution to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365. There are many vendors in the online marketplace that provide you 3rd party Exchange Migration tool. If you do not want to use any paid software, you can try a free solution, called Hybrid Migration.
What is Exchange Hybrid Migration?
There are several methods that can help you migrate Exchange Server to Office 365. Hybrid migration is one of the most efficient and recommended methods. If you are not familiar with it, let me help you. The Exchange Hybrid Migration method enables you to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365. It creates a relationship between on-premise and on-site platforms, i.e. Exchange Server and Office 365. If you need to migrate a lot of data, the process may take a lot of time.
In such a situation, this migration solution is extremely useful for you. It is the only solution that can easily migrate over 2000 mailboxes. In fact, it is strongly recommended to use Hybrid if there are 150 mailboxes or more to migrate. While using the Hybrid Migration method, you do not need to create a new mailbox and import information. Before you can use the Hybrid Migration method, make sure:
- You have proper permissions prior to migration.
- The Hybrid deployment between on-premises and Exchange Online organizations should be configured.
- The Mailbox Replication Proxy Service should be enabled on the on-premise platform.
Now let us start the Hybrid migration process to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365.
Use Hybrid Migration to Migrate Exchange Server to Office 365
To migrate Exchange Server to Office 365 using the Hybrid Migration method, you need to follow the below steps one by one:
- Create Endpoint
- Enable Proxy Service
- Use EAC (Exchange Administration Center)
- Remove Batches
- Re-enable OWA
Now we will discuss each of the above steps in detail:
Create Endpoint
Before you can do anything here, you should create the Exchange migration endpoints. This is the very first step. The endpoint you create will include a connection setting for the on-premise Exchange Server that runs the MRS (mailbox replication service) proxy service. The MRS proxy service helps you execute remote migration from and to Exchange Online.
Enable Proxy Service
Once you have successfully created the Exchange migration endpoints, you need to enable the proxy service. If the MRS Proxy service is not enabled on the on-premises Exchange Server, you need to enable it manually. Follow the steps given below to enable Proxy Service:
- Go to the Exchange Administration Center (EAC) and open the Proxy Service.
- Navigate to the Servers, and select Virtual Directories.
- Now choose the Client Access Server, and select the EWS virtual directory.
- Click the Edit option, and click the “Enable MRS Proxy endpoint” checkbox.
- Click Save, and then click OK.
Once you have enabled the MRS proxy service, please move to the next step.
Use the Exchange Admin Center
The third step of the Hybrid Migration process is to move the mailboxes by using EAC (Exchange Admin Center). In the Exchange Admin Center on Office 365, there is a remote migration wizard. It will help you either move on-premises Exchange mailboxes to the Exchange Online organization or move Exchange Online mailboxes to the Exchange organization. In order to migrate the on-premises mailboxes to Office 365, follow the steps given below:
- First, go to the Exchange Administration Center (EAC). Navigate to Office 365.
- Now click the Recipients, and select the Migration option.
- Click Add option, and select Migrate to Exchange Online.
- On the “Select a Migration Type” window, choose the Remove Move Migration option. Click Next to continue the process.
- On the “Select the users” window, click Add + option.
- Now choose the On-Premises User, and click Add.
- Click OK, and then click Next to continue the process.
- On the “Enter the Windows user account credential” window, you need to add the credentials of the on-premises administrator account. Click Next to continue the process.
- On the “Confirm the migration endpoint” window, please check if the FDQN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) of the desired on-premises Exchange Server is listed.
- On the Move Configuration window, please enter the migration batch name in the New migration batch name field.
- Now you need to choose the target delivery domain for the mailboxes you are migrating to Office 365.
- Please ensure whether the “Move primary mailbox along with archive mailbox” option is selected or not.
- Now click the “Start the Batch” option and choose one recipient. Please make sure that the “Automatically start the batch” option is selected.
- Click the “Automatically complete the migration batch” checkbox. Finally, click New.
You have now successfully moved the on-premises Exchange mailboxes to Office 365.
Remove Batches
After moving the on-premises Exchange mailboxes to Office 365, it is very important to remove batches in order to reduce the error possibilities. Follow the steps given below:
- First, go to the Exchange Administration Center (EAC). Navigate to Office 365.
- Now click the Recipients, and select the Migration option.
- Click the “Completed Migration Batch” option, then click the Delete option.
- Now click Yes to confirm it.
After successfully removing the batches, please move to the final step of the Hybrid migration process.
Re-enable OWA (Outlook Web App)
At the final step, you need to enable the OWA (Outlook Web App) for offline access. The OWA allows you to access your mailbox in offline mode, i.e. when you are not connected to a network. While migrating Exchange mailboxes to Exchange Online, you have to reset the offline access setting in your browser in order to use Outlook on the web offline.
The migration process has been successfully completed.
Professional Solution to Migrate Exchange Server to Office 365
Although Hybrid Migration is quite an effective method for Exchange Server to Office 365 migration, it has a couple of drawbacks. As you can see above, the whole migration process is really very long so it may take a lot of time. In addition, it requires a lot of manual effort since you need to do everything manually. If you are a non-technical user, you may find it difficult to execute each and every step properly. In such a situation, you should consider using a professional solution. Unlike the Hybrid Migration method, a professional Email Migration tool can instantly export the mailboxes from Exchange Server to Office 365. It does not require any prior technical expertise to use this software so even a novice user can use this software with ease.
You may find this helpful – Exchange to Office 365 Migration – Easy Solutions
Conclusion
In this article, I have explained the step-by-step method of using the Hybrid Migration to migrate Exchange Server to Office 365. If you find any difficulties during the migration process or it fails due to any reason, you should consider using a professional solution.