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Hi O365 Community,
I have a customer who wish to migrate their on-prem e-mail services (Exchange) infra to O365.
Here is what they have currently: Exchange 2007 SP3 RU15 (Glad no upgrade needed), Public Folders 50+, Single Exchange with all 3 roles (MBX, CAS, HT) User's 1000 but only few (250) would be migrated to O365, rest would be deleted post migration.
I would be installing EX2013 for hybrid deployment, as they wish to use EX onprem post migration for some compliance requirements, and for Exchange management, Dir Sync / AAD Connect, Hybrid Setup, Migrate PF, DL, E-mail enabled contacts and the most important user's mailboxes.
Just lil confused with the setps or in which order should I plan for this project.
I have prepared a basic project plan would appreciate if you could quickly go through with the high or if possible with the low level steps just and advice if I am in the right direction, hope I am :)
| Office365 Tenant Setup | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Register new Office 365 subscription |
| 2 | Activate Office subscription |
| 3 | Add the O365 user's licenses |
| 4 | Create TXT record on public domain to verify domain ownership |
| 5 | Add the custom domain to O365 |
| Azure AD Connect / Dir Sync | |
| 1 | Enable Dir Sync in O365 |
| 2 | Create service account, assign permissions for DirSync service account |
| 3 | Install Azure AD connect / DirSync |
| 4 | Enable Dir Sync in O365 |
| 5 | Configure OU's or Active Directory user's for sync |
| 6 | Verify DirSync via O365 portal |
| Exchange 2007 Upgrade | |
| 1 | Upgrade Exchange 2007 to SP3 and RU15 (If required) |
| 2 | Verify the Exchange 2007 post upgrade |
| Install / Configure Exchange 2013 | |
| 1 | Create a server 2012R2 for Exchange server 2013 |
| 2 | Patch Server to latest patch and security levels |
| 3 | Install prerequisties for Exchange 2013 |
| 4 | Install Exchange 2013 |
| 5 | Install latest service pack, rollup update for Exchange 2013 |
| 6 | License the Exchange 2013 |
| 7 | Configure Virtual directories for Exchange 2013 |
| 8 | Create / Modify External & Internal Autodiscover url pointing to Exchange 2013 |
| 9 | Add new Exchange to send connector |
| 10 | Configure send / receive connectors |
| 11 | Add Exchange 2013 to on-pre SMTP appliance or device |
| 12 | Test the e-mail flow with Exchange 2013 |
| 13 | Enable and configure Outlook anywahere on Exchange 2013 |
| 14 | Install SSL certificate on Exchange 2013 |
| 15 | Install / Configure Code Two on Exchange 2013 |
| 16 | Validiate the Code Two installation |
| 17 | Change the firewall nat to point OWA/ Active Sync/ Outlook anywhere traffic to Exchange 2013 |
| 18 | Validate External OWA, ActiveSync, Outlookanywhere access |
| Configure Hybrid Services | |
| 1 | Create TXT record on public DNS to verify the Hybrid services |
| 2 | Run Hybrid configuration wizard |
| 2 | Configure Hybrid configuration wizard |
| 3 | Configure External email flow |
| 4 | Configure Internal email flow |
| 5 | Add the O365 external email domain under accepeted domains on-pre Exchange server |
| Migration Testing | |
| 1 | Migrate Test user's from on-prem to O365 |
| 2 | Validiate the test user migration |
| 3 | Validate the e-mail flow on-prem mailboxes to O365 vice versa |
| 4 | Troubleshoot and fix any errors faced during / post test user migration |
| 5 | Test 1-2 mobile handheld devices post migration with O365 |
| User's mailbox migration | |
| 1 | Migrate batch-1 (5 user's) |
| 2 | Migrate batch-2 (25 user's) |
| 3 | Migrate remaining user's to O365 |
| 4 | Assign licenses to the user's |
| 5 | Migarte Public folders |
| 6 | Re-configure user's hand held devices using Active Sync |
| 7 | Re-configure user's outlook profile |
| Post Migration | |
| 1 | Update the External OWA / Outlook anywhere / Active Sync host (A) record to O365 |
| 2 | Point on-prem apps or scan to e-mail to use Exchange 2013 to relay e-mails prior decomissioning Exchange 2007- Optional |
| 3 | Create additional or as required O365 admin accounts online |
| 4 | Shutdown the Exchange 2007 for few days to weeks |
| 5 | Uninstall the Exchange 2007 server |
One big doubt I have is that Exchange 2013 installation would be prior installing the Dir Sync as there is option for 'Hybrid Deployment' I guess that will appear if on-prem Exchange is 2010 or higher.
Any advice on PF migration not as per the best practices but with the real world exp tell which option require less efforts- Migrating PF's through scripts or PST migration. PF's size is not a concern if it's more than 2 GB it can be reduced on source EX.
Thanks a lot!
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Hi NikhilKalra,
No, re-running the hybrid configuration wizard won't cause any downtime. Actually, re-running the wizard is always recommended when there's any new change regarding the current configurations, such as mail flow connectors or domains.
Thanks,
Allen
Hi NikhilKalra,
The steps you mentioned should work as expected. For your concerns:
Exchange Sever 2013 can be installed at any time before deploying hybrid. The “Hybrid Deployment” option in the DirSync tool can be set up by re-running the DirSync configuration wizard again after the Exchange hybrid is deployed.
For the public folder migration process, we recommend that you don’t use Outlook’s PST export feature to migrate public folders to Office 365 or Exchange Online. Office 365 and Exchange online public folder mailbox growth is managed using an auto-split feature that splits the public folder mailbox when it exceeds size quotas. Auto-split can’t handle the sudden growth of public folder mailboxes when you use PST export to migrate your public folders and you may have to wait for up to two weeks for auto-split to move the data from the primary mailbox. We recommend that you use the cmdlet-based instructions in the following article to migrate public folders to Office 365 and Exchange Online:
Use batch migration to migrate legacy public folders to Office 365 and Exchange Online
Other community members who have experienced the similar situation before are welcome to share your solutions/workarounds here, so that we can benefit from each other.
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Hi Neo Yu,
Thank you for pointing out that Dir Sync can be reconfigured for enabling or disabling Hybrid deployment.
I know the restrictions and challenges faced during the PST export / import in O365.
I know PF are not the same as mailbox and due to their nature may be not possible for MS to include this in on boarding stuff as user's mailboxes and DL's, honestly MS should should find out the way to import the PF's from on-prem to O365 using the on boarding same like user mailboxes.
Anyways I appreciate your response, Thanks!
Cheers
Thanks Ajit!