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Office 365 to Exchange migration

Organizations often migrate from Office 365 to Exchange for reasons such as compliance requirements, specific feature needs, cost considerations, control over data, and enhanced network performance. EdbMails simplifies this migration process with Office 365 Migration software. You can manage the entire migration from a single or multiple computers using an intuitive interface that eliminates the need for complex PowerShell commands. EdbMails securely connects to your source Office 365 and target Exchange servers, directly migrating mailbox data regardless of the Exchange server versions, including Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007. The migration is organized into flexible, job-based tasks, allowing migration of mailboxes, public folders, shared mailboxes, group mailboxes, archive mailboxes from Office 365 to Exchange. EdbMails ensures a swift and efficient migration operation, ideal for scenarios requiring quick mailbox transfers. Explore the below Office 365 to Exchange migration guide for detailed insights and step-by-step instructions on optimizing your migration process.

Office 365 to Exchange Migration

Office 365 to Exchange migration : Pre-migration activities
On source Office 365 server:
1. Ensure you have an Office 365 global admin account with a mailbox.
2. Ensure that your network and bandwidth meet the requirements for the migration.
  See network and migration planning, performance factors and best practices for Office 365 to Exchange migration.
On target Exchange server:
- Step 1: Check that your system meets the Exchange server setup requirements.
  Navigate through the below links to set up your target Exchange server environment based on the Exchange version you want to migrate to. Learn more about the network, hardware and operating system requirements for installing Exchange server.
- Step 2: Prepare your target server with the following prerequisites
  Complete the following prerequisites for Active Directory, Windows Mailbox server, and Windows Edge Transport servers before installing the Exchange server.
- Step 3: Set up Exchange Server for migration
  Given below is a list of key points for installing and preparing the Exchange server for migration.
  1. Prepare AD and domains
    Before installing Exchange Server you need to prepare your Active Directory forest and its domains for the new version of Exchange.
    If you have a separate team to manage the Active Directory schema, you need to first extend the active directory schema, else proceed to the next step to prepare the Active Directory.
    If you have multiple domains you need to additionally prepare the Active Directory domains.
  2. Install Exchange server on your computer
    Before installing the Exchange server, ensure that you meet the system requirements and prerequisites as outlined previously. Next, follow the link to install Exchange 2016 or install Exchange 2019 from the setup wizard.
  3. Prepare a clean Exchange target environment
    Create and configure a Send connector to send mail outside the Exchange organization.
    By default, Exchange automatically creates receive connectors for inbound mail flow when the mailbox server is installed. If you need to configure receive connectors, follow the steps in the link.
    Add accepted domains to allow recipients to send and receive email from another domain.
    Configure the default email address policy to add the accepted domain to every recipient in the organization.
    Configure external URLs (domains) on the virtual directories in the Client Access (frontend) services on the Mailbox server to allow clients to connect to your server from the internet (outside the organization’s network).
    Configure internal URLs on the virtual directories in the Client Access (frontend) services on the Mailbox server to allow clients to connect to your server from the internal network.
    Configure SSL certificates from a third-party certificate authority for services such as Outlook Anywhere and Exchange ActiveSync.
    Verify the Exchange server installation by running the command Get-ExchangeServer on the Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
  4. Create mailboxes and Public folders on the Exchange server
    EdbMails automatically creates mailboxes on the target Exchange server. However, if you want to manually create mailboxes, refer to the steps to create mailboxes in Exchange server.
    If you are planning Public folder migration from Office 365 to Exchange, see steps to create public folder in Exchange server
  5. Set impersonation rights to global Admin account
    If you are using global admin account to connect to Exchange server set impersonation rights to migrate all other mailboxes
    See the steps to set impersonation rights for a global admin account on the Exchange server.
  6. Verify the mailbox of the admin account
    Check to see if the admin account that has been assigned management roles has a valid and non-hidden mailbox on the Exchange server.
  7. Settings related to throttling and message-size limits
    If Microsoft throttles the migration, change the EWS throttling settings on Exchange server
    If the migration is stuck due to the large size of a message, set the message size limits to the maximum on the Exchange server.
Migrate from Office 365 to Exchange server with EdbMails
Step 1: Download and Install EdbMails application
- - Download EdbMails and install EdbMails on your computer.
  - Double click the EdbMails setup (EdbMailsSetup.exe) to install the application.
  - Follow the instructions that appear to complete the installation.
- Step 2: Launch EdbMails software
  Enter the appropriate details and click the 'Login' button or click the 'Start Your Free Trial' button to access the EdbMails application.
- Step 3: Select 'Office 365 Migration'
  Select the option 'Office 365 Migration' from the dropdown list and proceed.
- Step 4 : Select the mailboxes and connect to the target server
  - Keep the default ‘Auto Registration’ option selected, as EdbMails automatically registers the application with your Entra ID (Azure Active Directory). Then, click the ‘Login’ button.
  - Click here for the steps to manually register EdbMails in Entra ID (Azure Active Directory).
  - Choose the required connection method.
  - Authenticate on the Microsoft sign-in page with the global admin account having a mailbox.
  - Accept the required permissions for the application to execute the migration operation.
  - If you have already established an Office 365 connection with EdbMails, the mailboxes list will be saved. You can use the same list. If you are establishing a new connection, click the ‘No’ button to get the mailbox loading options.
  - EdbMails Automatically loads mailboxes from your source Office 365 server. If you are unable to list the required mailboxes using the automatic mailbox loading option you can use the CSV file to load the mailboxes. You can also choose the option to load the mailboxes from a previously stored list.
- Step 5: Select the mailboxes
  - Select the mailboxes and folders from the left pane of the main migration window.
  - Click ‘Migrate to Live Exchange’ to set up the connection with the target server.
- Step 6: Connect to target Exchange server
  In the 'Connect to Exchange (Destination)' window, select the required connection options and click the 'Next' button. If you are using a global admin account, ensure that impersonation rights are set to migrate other user mailboxes.
  Click here to know more about various methods to connect to the Exchange server in EdbMails.
  Enter the Exchange server details and click the ‘Login’ button
  If you have already established a live Exchange Connection with EdbMails, the mailboxes list will be saved. You can use the same list. If you are establishing a new connection, click the ‘No’ button to get the mailbox loading options.
  EdbMails Automatically loads mailboxes from your target Exchange server. If you are unable to list the required mailboxes using the automatic mailbox loading option you can use the CSV file to load the mailboxes. You can also choose the option to load the mailboxes from a previously stored list.
- Step 7: Map source and target mailboxes
  In the mapping window, choose the required option from the following:
  - Automatically create mailboxes on the target server and map source mailboxes accordingly.
  - I have necessary mailboxes on my target server and need to map source mailboxes to them
  - Use previously saved migration mappings.
  - Load Source and Target mailbox mapping using CSV file
  If you have installed EdbMails on your Exchange server, you can choose to automatically create mailboxes on the target Exchange server.
  Click here to know more about automatic mailbox creation
  Click here to know about user-defined mailboxes / folders mapping
  After successfully creating mailboxes on your target server, EdbMails automatically maps mailboxes and folders between source and target server, which is particularly beneficial for large-scale migrations. Alternatively, you have the flexibility to manually map source folders and subfolders to specific target locations as needed.
- Step 8: Start Office 365 to Exchange migration
  After completing the mailbox mapping, click the ‘Continue’ button and enter the job name and proceed
  The migration is now initiated. Upon completion, a message will appear. You can click the 'View Log' button to check the migration report. You can also pause or resume the migration operation if necessary
Post-migration activities
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to the Exchange server
  To receive messages on Exchange, change the DNS records known as MX records to enable email to work with the new server you have migrated to. In addition, configure the Autodiscover record to allow Outlook to connect to the migrated mailboxes.
- Step 2: Create a new Outlook profile for users in the new domain
  - Ensure you have the latest Outlook version installed to avoid compatibility issues.
  - Configure the Outlook profile for each user in your domain if Outlook has problems connecting to Office 365 mailboxes.
  - Configure the new server settings, such as server address, username, and password in Outlook.
  - Test email flow to confirm that users can send and receive emails.
- Step 3: Remove the old Office 365 subscription plan
  After the migration is successful and you have verified the data, remove the Office 365 subscription plan from the source and any domains associated if you no longer plan to use it.
Office 365 migration troubleshooting
See the troubleshooting solutions for Office 365 and Exchange migration. For more information related to EdbMails Office 365 migration, see frequently asked questions.