Learn To Migrate From On Premise Exchange to Office 365 PowerShell

‘How to Migrate from on premise Exchange to Office 365 PowerShell?’, many users are trying to find the proper method to perform the migration using PowerShell. So, this article is going to explain the same in detail. However, if you’re someone who is not comfortable with executing the scripting language then you can refer to the alternate method explained later in the article.

Anyway, to stay ahead in the digital transformation and to reap the benefits of the cloud, many organizations are deciding to migrate from on-premise Exchange to Office 365.

There is no doubt, that after migrating to the web-based interface, you will experience a creative and collaborative work environment. And, that will directly lead to enhancing the productivity of your organization.

However, the only challenge is that the process of carrying out the migration is not very easy.

Though there are numerous ways to manually move your data from on-prem to the cloud platform, here we are going to discuss the Cutover Migration method using PowerShell.

Typically, this approach uses PowerShell scripts and it’s quite a lengthy and complex process to carry out.

That’s why we’ll also share an alternate easy-to-do method for your convenience so that you can comfortably move mailbox from on premise exchange to Office 365.

Now, let’s start with the manual approach.

Execute Cutover Migration and Migrate From On Premise Exchange to Office 365 PowerShell

By using the cutover migration, you can move the contents of user mailboxes from an on-premise server to Office 365 at once.

This migration method supports all the versions of Exchange servers.

Note- The duration of migration will vary based on the number of mailboxes in a batch, the size of each mailbox, and the network capacity

Step-1: Start preparing for a Cutover migration

• Add on-premise Exchange as an accepted domain of your Office 365
• Then, set up Outlook Anywhere on your on-premises Exchange server
• Next, verify that you are able to connect to your Exchange using Outlook Anywhere by running the following commands.

$Credentials = Get-Credential

Test-MigrationServerAvailability -ExchangeOutlookAnywhere -Autodiscover -EmailAddress <email address for on-premises administrator> -Credentials $credentials

• To access the mailboxes in your Exchange organization, assign an on-premise user account the necessary permission.
• Before migrating, disable UM(Unified Messaging) on the mailboxes.

Step-2: For successful email migration, Office 365 needs to connect and communicate with the source email system.

• You need to create a migration endpoint.
• Run the below commands in Exchange Online PowerShell for creating an endpoint:-

$Credentials = Get-Credential

$TSMA = Test-MigrationServerAvailability -ExchangeOutlookAnywhere -Autodiscover -EmailAddress administrator@contoso.com -Credentials $credentials

New-MigrationEndpoint -ExchangeOutlookAnywhere -Name CutoverEndpoint -ConnectionSettings $TSMA.ConnectionSettings

• Do the verification by executing the below command
• Get-MigrationEndpoint CutoverEndpoint | Format-List EndpointType,ExchangeServer,UseAutoDiscover,Max*

Step-3: To move mailbox from on premise exchange to Office 365 using cutover migration, you need to create the migration batch.

You can manually create a migration batch or include the Autostart parameter to create automatically.

Following are the cmdlet:-

• For manual-

  New-MigrationBatch -Name CutoverBatch -SourceEndpoint CutoverEndpoint

• For Automatic-

  New-MigrationBatch -Name CutoverBatch -SourceEndpoint CutoverEndpoint -AutoStart

Next, verify whether it worked or not by running the below command.

Get-MigrationBatch | Format-List

 

Step-4: Now, start the Cutover migration by executing the following command so that you can migrate from on premise Exchange to Office 365 PowerShell.

Start-MigrationBatch -Identity CutoverBatch

Then, run the below command to verify whether the migration process successfully started or not.

Get-MigrationBatch -Identity CutoverBatch |  Format-List Status

Step-5: Previously, your MX record was pointing to your source email system. So, you need to route your emails to Office 365 after the completion of the migration process.

Step-6: Once you confirm that all the emails are being successfully migrated. And, users are notified about the same, then you can delete the cutover migration batch.

To do so, run below command line

Remove-MigrationBatch -Identity CutoverBatch

Step-7: Make sure to assign Office 365 user licenses to activate migrated accounts. Otherwise, it will automatically get deactivated after 30 days.

Step-8: When you migrate from on premise Exchange to Office 365 Powershell, finally you need to perform post-migration tasks

• Configure an Autodiscover DNS record so that users can easily access their mailboxes.
• When you ensure that all the emails are there in their destination and you no longer need to maintain your on-premise environment. Then, you can decommission the on-premises Exchange server.

What Challenges You May Face Using The Scripting Language?

The first issue is that you can only migrate a maximum of 2000 mailboxes. Also, Microsoft recommends migrating 150 mailboxes in batches.

And, after knowing the detailed steps of Cutover migration, you can say that it is highly technical. And, demands expertise knowledge in PowerShell language to execute the scripts.

Further, you need to enter the cmdlet precisely. Else, there is a chance of data corruption or worst you could lose your valuable data.

Apart from that, the method is very lengthy and will take a lot of time to complete.

After reading the challenges you can say that it’s not convenient to use PowerShell to migrate from on premise Exchange to Office 365.

So, Overcome The Issues by Using The Alternative Method to Migrate Exchange On Premise to Office 365

By considering the difficulties of the migration process, experts suggest taking the help of the tried and tested software Migrator Wizard Exchange Migration Tool for a smooth and quick migration.

Also, there is no limitation on the number of mailboxes for migration. That means you can move ‘n number of emails’ to Office 365. And, it doesn’t require PowerShell commands to run.

What could be more convenient than accessing your emails in the same order even after the migration? Well, this exemplary tool facilitates the same.

And, what if some items are missed from migrating in the initial run? No need to worry, cause you can easily perform the ‘Re-run migration’ process.

So, to put it in one sentence, you can nearly mitigate all the challenges of the manual approach through this tool.

Get Familiar With The Working Procedure of The Software To Move Mailbox From On Premise Exchange to Office 365

You are just a few clicks away from comfortably transferring your emails to Office 365.

Carefully follow the below steps.

Step-1: Download the software by clicking on the given link. Then, run it on your desktop.

Step-2: After that, navigate to the ‘Set up’ section. Configure the Source as Exchange and destination as Office 365.

Step-3: Remain on the same page and scroll down. Tick the categories such as Email, Contact, Calendar checkboxes under the ‘Workload Selection’.

Step-4: You can migrate the selected data of your choice by applying the ‘Date Filter’option.

Then, click the ‘Next’ button.

Step-5: Now, come to the ‘Source’ tab. Provide all the details such as Exchange Server Version, Admin email, Admin Password, Active Directory IP, Exchange Server IP

Step-6: Next, press the ‘Validate’ button to verify the source permission.

Step-7: Once permissions turn green, click on the ‘Next’ button to move mailbox from on premise exchange to office 365.

Step-8: Similarly, go to the ‘Destination’ Tab. Fill in the Office 365 Admin email and Application ID. After that, verify the destination permissions by pressing the ‘Validate’ button.

And, once it is done, hit the Next button.

Step-9: After that, move towards the ‘Users’ tab. Define the users from the source account. For that, click on any one option among these three: Fetch Users, Import Users, Download Template.

Step-10: Now, click on the ‘validate’ button to verify permissions for the Source and Destination.

Step-11: Once you ensure everything is in its place, click on Start Migration to begin the migration from on-premise Exchange to Office 365.

Bringing It All Together

To experience the new and advanced work environment, many organizations are switching from an on-premise Exchange to Office 365. However, migrating data between two different platforms is not a piece of cake. 

Though you can migrate your mailboxes using the PowerShell commands, the process to migrate from on-premise Exchange to Office 365 PowerShell is not a convenient option. Hence, experts always recommend playing safe and trusting the well-versed software to carry out this complex task.

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