Migrating exchange to Azure VM

Carlos Cortez 11

Hello everyone,

In the company we are thinking about migrating our on-premise exchange to an Azure VM.

Could someone let me know if it is required to migrate our on-premise AD to Azure too?

In the scenario I have our AD in Azure, how do I connect my on-premise network to Azure for authentication ?

Best regards

3 answers

Lucas Liu-MSFT 6,161 Reputation points

2021-01-22T04:33:48.03+00:00
Hi @Carlos Cortez ,
In order to better solve your issue, I want to confirm with you that you want to migrate On-premises Exchange to Azure VM instead of Exchange online? If I understanding wrong, please correct me in time.
Did you want to remove the physical domain and Exchange server after migration?
If you still remain the physical domain, you just need to change DNS record to the new Exchange server which hosted on Azure VM.
If you will remove the physical domain, you could following the steps:

Create the second Domain controller and install the Exchange server on Azure VM.

Please migrate the physical DC function to Azure VM DC, and migrate the on-premises to new Exchange server on Azure VM.

Change the DSN record.
In addition, Microsoft officially does not recommend that you install the Exchange server in Azure VM. And before you install the Exchange server on Azure VM, please make sure that you have met all the requirements for Exchange server virtualization: Exchange Server virtualization

About specific steps on how to connect an on-premises network to a Microsoft Azure virtual network. you could refer to the Microsoft officially article: Connect an on-premises network to a Microsoft Azure virtual network

There is an article on how to install the Exchange dev/test environments in Azure might be helpful to you: Exchange dev/test environments in Azure

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3 people found this answer helpful.
Carlos Cortez 11 Reputation points

2021-01-23T22:28:10.853+00:00

Hi @Lucas Liu-MSFT

Thanks for you reply.

I understand that Exchange online is the same as office 365 right? if this is true y don't want Office 365 because the cost are high due to the number of accounts we have, for that reason I had seen the possibility of better installing Exchange server in an Azure's vm with Windows Server.

Microsoft officially does not recommend that you install the Exchange server in Azure VM

What is the reason they does not recommend the installation of Exchange server in Azure VM ? if I don't want to use Office 365 what other alternative do I have?

The link to install the Exchange dev/test environments is very helpful, can I follow the same procedure for a production environment?

Best regards

Lucas Liu-MSFT 6,161 Reputation points

2021-01-26T09:36:35.64+00:00

Hi @Carlos Cortez ,

If you want to install Exchange server in Azure VM. Must meet Exchange server virtualization requirements, such as “Deployment on Microsoft Azure virtual machines is supported if all storage volumes used for Exchange databases and database transaction logs (including transport databases) are configured for Azure Premium Storage.” So if you want to deploy Exchange server in an appropriate Azure VM, the cost is also high.
For more information you could refer to: Configure and estimate the costs for Azure products

The actual Exchange server environment and the test environment are still different, such as we use the standard storage account to reduce cost for test environment, and we must use a premium storage account in actual environment.

Lucas Liu-MSFT 6,161 Reputation points

2021-01-26T09:37:47.707+00:00

At present, Microsoft has not officially given the best practice plan and configuration for deploying Exchange server in Azure VM, and if your Exchange server is installed in Azure VM, it will not be officially supported by Microsoft.
3. Is your requirement to place the mailbox in the cloud? If so, according to my understanding, there is no other way.

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Lucas Liu-MSFT 6,161 Reputation points

2021-01-29T09:32:01.85+00:00

Hi @Carlos Cortez ,
Do suggestions above help? If the issue has been resolved, please click “Accept as answer” to mark helpful reply as an answer, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well.

Thanks for your understanding.

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BUDHADITYA BANERJEE 71 Reputation points

2023-03-16T05:00:56.2333333+00:00

@Lucas Liu-MSFT Hello Lucas,

Even i do have an exact similar requirement as Carlos had. Following up on your below comment :-

"Microsoft has officially not given the best practice plan and configuration for deploying Exchange server in Azure VM, and if your Exchange server is installed in Azure VM, it will not be officially supported by Microsoft."

Is this stance changed now and is it supported now by Microsoft if we dont plan to use O365 and go with Microsoft Exchange installation on Azure VM?

Thanks,

Aditya.
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Ronald Martens 41 Reputation points

2022-12-01T15:38:18.87+00:00

Hi @Carlos Cortez ,

Do you already have the Exchange server running in Azure? I am planning on migrating mine to Azure.
If so, are you using a backup mechanism to Azure Backup Server?
I'm very interested in that!

Kind regards,
Ronald
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1 person found this answer helpful.
BUDHADITYA BANERJEE 71 Reputation points

2023-03-15T10:16:23.7366667+00:00

@Ronald Martens , Even i am planning to move the email solution to Azure. Please let me know if you have done this and faced any issues or challenges?

Thanks,

Aditya.

Ronald Martens 41 Reputation points

2023-03-15T12:54:37.95+00:00

Hi Aditya,

Yes for now we migrated the 2 test Exchange servers to Azure.

We have nothing to do with changing the MX records, because mailflow is already running trhough O365.

Now through DNS these test Exchange servers are found and mailflow runs.

I also installed Azure backup server to backup Exchange DB's. Tested backup and recovery and that runs smoothly.

Kind regards,

Ronald

BUDHADITYA BANERJEE 71 Reputation points

2023-03-16T04:51:05.89+00:00

Hello Roland,

Thanks a lot for the quick response.

Any plans to migrate production exchange servers to Azure VM? The older posts talk about Microsoft not recommending Exchange hosting on Azure VM, is this still the right understanding?

For me, I will not user O365 due to cost constraints hence, I am planning to create a multi tier mail environment in Azure where the Front End will be the Layer4 "Load Balancer" which will route the traffic to the "Edge Transport Server" for email relay which intern will be connected to the backend "Exchange mailbox server".

Thanks,

Aditya.

Ronald Martens 41 Reputation points

2023-03-16T16:27:42.0333333+00:00

Hi Aditya,

We will migrate production Exchange servers in the near future. We are decommissioning our Edge servers, because of our mailflow through O365 we will not need them anymore when they're migrated te Azure. We had a positive result with backup and recovery, so next steps will be installing Azure backup in production and then migrate the Exchange backend servers.

So, unfortunately I cannot help you with changing MX records for your mailflow. Do you already have a plan for that? Could be interesting with future Exchange assingments!

Thanks and kind regards,

Ronald
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SUNOJ KUMAR YELURU 13,936 Reputation points MVP

2021-01-22T02:25:47.057+00:00

Hi @Carlos Cortez

Thank You for posting question!

In your scenario, you should use Azure AD Connect sync

You can refer Integrate on-premises AD with Azure
Integrate on-premises AD domains with Azure AD

Custom installation of Azure Active Directory Connect and Prerequisites for Azure AD Connect

And Migrating your on-premise exchange server to Azure Office 365

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Carlos Cortez 11 Reputation points

2021-01-23T22:08:47.553+00:00

Thank you @SUNOJ KUMAR YELURU for your answer.

I will review the shared links about AD integration with Azure.

I just want to clarify that I do not want to migrate to Office 365, because the costs are high due to the number of accounts we have, for that reason I had seen the possibility of better installing Exchange server in an Azure's vm with Windows Server.

Best regards

SUNOJ KUMAR YELURU 13,936 Reputation points MVP

2021-01-24T02:00:54.467+00:00

Thank You for your reply.

If a post helps to resolve your issue, please click the Accept the answer

BUDHADITYA BANERJEE 71 Reputation points

2023-03-16T04:55:29.27+00:00

@carlos cortez

Hello Carlos,

As this is exact requirement for me, checking if you were able to successfully migrate the mail infra to Azure VM?

Were their any challenges faced or any restrictions which we will have to keep in mind while solutioning this requirement?

Thanks,

Aditya.
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