How to effectively manage data migration to Exchange Online

BKJIA selected translations: questions about whether to migrate to Exchange have been discussed for a long time. Today we will not talk about whether to migrate data. Today we will only talk about how to migrate data. In this article, we strive to make it easy for everyone to migrate their work positions to Microsoft Exchange.

For more information about Exchange technology, see: Exchange Server 2010 enterprise mail system

Migration tools

For enterprises, switching to a new system platform does not mean a new start. The IT industry needs to ensure that data can be completely migrated from one platform to another. Otherwise, the cost will be too high for users who intend to adopt new systems to assist in their work. In other words, the process of migrating to a new system needs to be completed as seamlessly as possible for users.

During the installation of Exchange, IT is feasible for the following IT infrastructure to migrate the data on IT:

On-premises ExchangePOP3IMAP

Speaking of data migration, Microsoft has prepared two available tools for us: Microsoft online directory synchronization tool and Microsoft online migration tool. These tools are enough for us to smoothly migrate data from pre-defined/non-preset Exchange, POP3, or even IMAP to Microsoft Exchange Online/BPOS (batch processing system.

Migration Process

Our migration work is divided into two phases: migrating data emails from the old Mail server to Microsoft Exchange Online; then we will perform MX, Mail Exchanger, and Mail Exchange records) record changes. The following is a step-by-step analysis:

Phase 1: migrate data

Step 1Directory synchronization is only applicable to presetsExchange):This step is only to run the directory synchronization tool controlled by the BPOS certificate and domain administrator account, and the tool will synchronize the user account in the local Active Directory with the BPOS. This process is very direct and takes 99% of the overall deployment time. However, you must note that this tool cannot be installed on 64-bit servers or small Windows enterprise servers.

Step 2Microsoft online migration tool:With this tool, we can copy the mailbox content on other servers to Microsoft Exchange Online. As long as the old mailbox server runs on POP, IMAP, or preset/non-preset Exchange, this tool can play a role in data migration.

According to Microsoft, data migration on POP and IMAP takes up to 48 hours to complete "all organizational work ". However, based on my personal practical experience, even the smallest five-person Server Based on the Xeon platform takes more than 72 hours to migrate, and during the running of the tool, the CPU usage will last up to 99% in several hours. Most importantly, emails with abnormal or incomplete titles cannot be normally migrated based on the migration tool logs ). In addition, all emails must be downloaded to the server running the Microsoft Online migration tool before being uploaded to Microsoft Exchange Online. Therefore, the migration process is very slow if the bandwidth is insufficient. However, this tool also supports 64-bit and 32-bit systems.

On the other hand, the data migration process on the Exchange is very easy and pleasant, we can access emails that have been uploaded to the Exchange Online Outlook webpage while the migration is still in progress.

Finally, you should set aside ample execution time for the migration, and try to make the migration work in batches if possible.

Phase 2: Change MX records

Once all emails are copied to Microsoft Exchange Online on the cloud platform, we should first transfer them to our new mailbox account on Microsoft Exchange Online. What should I do? Modify the dns mx record of our domain name as follows:

Name	Type	Value
Mail.Global.FrontBridge.com.	MX	10

You should assign a value greater than the existing MX record value for Mail.Global.FrontBridge.com. Let DNS broadcast for 72 hours. Next, eliminate the old MX record.

Similarly, we may need to re-Synchronize the information in the old mailbox server, because the MX record has changed, because the effective time in the DNS server configuration is the same as the TTL value, some emails may be sent to the old email server.

Exchange Online backup plan

If you think that you do not need to deploy a backup plan to protect data migration, it is a big mistake. Here I will introduce some basic backup steps, so that we can restore the lost data in time when a migration problem occurs.

If your email server supports POP/IMAP migration to Microsoft Exchange Server ):

1. on Microsoft's online supportRecord one support requestTo enable POP/IMAP.

2.Use Microsoft transmission toolsTo download all emails from Microsoft Exchange Online to your default Microsoft Exchange Server. You can click here to download the Microsoft transmission tool

If your email server supports POP/IMAP migration to non-Microsoft Exchange servers ):

1. on Microsoft's online supportRecord one support requestTo enable POP/IMAP.

2. SetAll emailsDownload from Microsoft Exchange Online to your new email server and use the migration tool on the new email server.

If your email server does not support POP/IMAP migration:

1. Use Microsoft Office OutlookAll email ArchivesAnd save it as a PST document. Please note that we need to perform the above operations on each separate mail client.

2.Re-configure the mail client to connect it to the new mailbox Server. The email client is connected to a blank mailbox.

3. Always make full preparations to ensure that data can be migrated to a secure and compatible email server in case of exceptions.

Conclusion

Email is a vital application, so it is necessary to carefully plan its operations. When migrating data to Microsoft Exchange Online, remember the following three points: directory synchronization, Microsoft Online migration, and MX record modification.

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