Microsoft officially launched its cloud-based email platform (Office 365) in June 2011. Since then, many small, medium and large organizations working with On-Premise email servers such as Exchange, have switched to the cloud-based suite. The major reasons for users who migrate from Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 to Office 365 is because it provides better security and more flexibility.
Today many organizations are transferring their on-premises data to Microsoft 365. According to the organizations maintaining data on cloud storage is more cost-effective than storing data on-premises, which is the main reason behind on-premises to cloud transition. However, Organizations can not make this transition to the cloud lightly as it involves huge planning and processes to make a transition from an established infrastructure to a cloud environment.
As we have indicated, applicable email relaying can be risky and require specialized supervision. A lot of things can go wrong. So only try to do it if you are sure what and how it will be done. If not, you might encounter one or more of the following issues:
There are multiple ways of manual procedures that can help Exchange users to migrate their mailboxes into Microsoft 365 account. Users can select any of these methods depending on their requirements like the number of mailboxes and the Exchange Server that they are currently running.
This migration procedure is supported in the earlier versions of Microsoft Exchange. It only compatible in Exchange 2003 and 2007 to Office 365 migration. You can carry out the migration process in batches to complete the process. If you are running the later versions of Exchange like Exchange 2010 or more, then you cannot use this migration process.
Additionally, when you create a list of mailboxes for Exchange Server 2003 and 2007 to Office 365 migration, you can add upto 2000 rows in the CSV file. Thus, you can only add upto 2000 mailboxes in a CSV file. If you have more than 2000 mailboxes, then you need to create more CSV files to create a new migration batch.
The steps to use Staged Migration for Exchange to O365 are as follows:
The next type of migration process that we are going to discuss in this segment is cutover migration. You can opt for this process if you are using Microsoft Exchange 2003 or later versions. Furthermore, you need to ensure that you have less than 2000 mailboxes for migration.
Although the cutover migration supports migration of upto 2000 mailboxes, it is more feasible if you migrate only 150 users or less than that. Due to this limitation, many users don't prefer using Cutover migration for Exchange 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 to Microsoft Office 365.
The step by step process to migrate Exchange 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 from on-premises to Office 365 using cutover migration are:
This migration procedure is considered as one of the most preferred procedures for Exchange server to Microsoft 365 migration. Here, you create a hybrid Exchange environment where both On-Premise Server and Office 365 can co-exist.
This method is compatible if you are running at least one Exchange 2010, Exchange 2013 and / or Exchange 2016. Thus, if you are running any of these Exchange versions, you can migrate Exchange 2010, 2013 or 2016 to Office 365.
The Steps to Migrate Exchange 2010, 2013, and 2016 to Office 365 via Hybrid Migration are as follows:
There are several tools available in the field with which a user can make the transition. But there is a tool provided by SysTools Exchange to Office 365 Migration Tool. This is a tried and tested tool and is recommended by many experts if organizations or users are switching platforms. Take a look at its most important features and see why it is the most appreciated tool among tech professionals.
For users who have offline Exchange EDB files and looking for a solution to migrate them to Microsoft 365, they can read this article to import EDB to Office 365.
Step 1. Free download this Exchange to Office 365 Migration Software on Windows OS. Select Exchange as your source platform and Office 365 as destination platform.
Step 2. Choose the mailbox categories that you want to migrate and use Date-Filter to filter selective data.
Step 3. Enter Exchange Server details in the respective fields and validate the permissions.
Step 4. Move to the next screen, enter Office 365 details and validate required permissions.
Step 5. In the final step, click on Start Migration button to complete Exchange 2013, 2016, 2019 to Office 365 migration.
Migrating Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 to Office 365, is not an easy task for many organizations to perform because it is an important and complex procedure. In order to properly implement this method, without data loss and affecting data integrity, it is recommended to use third-party applications. The main reason is - it reduces all risks involved in the process and carries out the migration seamlessly with less user input. However, we have also discussed all alternative methods that may be used along with the marking limitations along with them in this article.