How to sync my AD and setup mailboxes for migration

Question

Hello,

Our company has Business Standard license but an on prem exchange server. We want to migrate to exchange online and eliminate our on prem server. We were using the old AD sync tool but that no longer works. What is the best way for me to sync my AD now?

Also, my exchange EAC for 365 shows no mailboxes. I assume I cannot migrate my email if there are no mailboxes so how to I create the mailboxes ahead of time so I can migrate my email?

Answer 1

Hi，@Marcus Lund (mlund@crowdergulf.com)

Thanks for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

To synchronize your Active Directory (AD) to Office 365, you should now upgrade the old AD sync tool to the latest version of Microsoft Entra Connect.

For specific upgrades you can refer to this given URL: Microsoft Entra Connect: Upgrade from a previous version - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn

You can download Microsoft Entra Connect through this URL: What is Microsoft Entra Connect and Connect Health. - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn

"my exchange EAC for 365 shows no mailboxes" is normal. Once you have completed the migration and assigned licenses to the users, you will be able to see their mailboxes show as ‘Office365“ in the EAC.

Answer 2

To sync your on-premises AD with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for Exchange Online migration, you should transition to Azure AD Connect, which is the current synchronization tool recommended by Microsoft. You can download it from the Microsoft website and follow the installation and configuration instructions provided.

Regarding creating mailboxes, you can use Exchange PowerShell cmdlets or the Exchange Admin Center. First, ensure that user accounts are synced to Azure AD. Then, you can create mailboxes for these users either individually or in bulk using PowerShell scripts or the EAC interface. Once the mailboxes are created, you can proceed with migration.