Kick Off
2 hours
Gather information from client of how many mailboxes and distribution group will be migrated.
- For the local Microsoft Exchange server
- For the remote connection to the on-premise server
- For client’s Domain Registrar. This is the people you pay to give you your @domainname.com
- For client’s Microsoft 365 Tenant. This will be probably be provided by WebSan accounting department
Prepare Domain
1 day
Add records on the domain registrar's website.Prepare your domain for migration by verifying ownership.
- Login to the client’s Microsoft 365 Tenant
- Create all users and assign licenses as necessary
- Create all mail-enabled security groups
- Create shared mailboxes as necessary
Prepare On-Premise Server
1 day
Preparing Exchange Server for mailbox migration
- Create a user account and add it to the Domain Administrator and Enterprise Administrator groups in local Active Directory
- Delete any groups that are not to be migrated
- Delete any users/mailboxes that are not to be migrated and are not necessary
- Disable Unified Messaging (UM) if it is enabled before migration
Prepare Microsoft Tenant
1 day
Use the Global Administrator account for your Microsoft tenant for preparation
- Through the Microsoft 365 portal prepare the tenant for the migration process
- Create end-point for the migration
- Create a cutover migration batch of all users / groups
Migrate the Mailbox Data
up to 5 days
Start the Migration of the mailbox data, including contacts, and calendar & distribution groups & contacts.
Remediate any migration failures. Each mailbox sync can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 day depending on the size of the mailbox and the amount of attachments in the mailbox. Mailboxes are synced concurrently. They will each take their own time to complete.
End Migration of Data
1 day
Finalize the migration of the email data and update the necessary online records.
- Stop the sync once everything is moved successfully as above
- Change the Email records on the Domain Registry website
- Finish the Domain setup in the Microsoft 365 tenant
- Verify the Migration success
Holding Period
2 days
Time allowance for all changes in email to take effect.
- This is necessary to allow any last-minute changes to replicate from the On-Premise server to the Microsoft 365 tenant
- This is Microsoft best practice
Updating Remaining Internet Records
½ day
Make Outlook find your new email automatically
- Create a record on the Domain Registrar website for Autodiscover as suggested by Microsoft
- Run final commands on the on-premise server to disable the Autodiscover on it
- Re-enable Unified Messaging if applicable
Turn off on-premise Server
1 day
Close off all connections to and turn off the on-premise server
Decommission and stop using the on-premise exchange server according to Microsoft best practice.
Deploy to the End Users
1 day
Notifying and introducing end users to the new Microsoft Office 365
Send a welcome email to your end users welcoming them to their new Microsoft email
