Ways to Migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365

Last updated on May 18th, 2023 at 10:10 am

Exchange 2010 to Office 365 migration is in the talk of the town. Office 365 is a cloud-based software as a service that has numerous user-centric features and services. It has a lot more to offer you. Unfortunately, users of Exchange Server have a limited manual method to migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365.

Table of Content

Cutover Migration to migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365:

If less than 200 mailboxes are there on your Exchange Server, the cutover migration process is the perfect solution for Exchange 2010 to Office 365 Migration. This can be done using Setup wizard or by EAC (Exchange Admin Center). Using the Setup wizard, users can move 150 mailboxes only. You can also move 2000 or more mailboxes with Exchange Admin Center.

Know more about the Cutover Method:

At first, you need to open the ‘Exchange Deployment Assistant’ site. It covers all the scenarios migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365. Use the cloud-only option for a better response.

Now it should be a check that Exchange 2007 server infrastructure supports MS Outlook Anywhere and Auto discover. Use the guide to authenticate the Exchange server 2007 setup after that. After the verification of the setup, use Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer and verify Outlook Anywhere. Also, the user needs to be sure that you assigned the migration permissions for a correct account to the mailboxes that you’re going to move.

Download Exchange Recovery Manager tool to Migrate Exchange Server mailboxes to Office 
365. If you have any query and want any support, our Technical Team is online 24*7.


Note: This Software Supports all Editions of MS Exchange Like 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, etc.

Open Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer website.

Click Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) test. Click Next to proceed further.
Enter the required information.
Then, verify the usage of Auto discover to detect server settings.
Enter the Verification code now.
Click Perform Test.

Cutover Migration Process Configuration:

At first, login into Office 365 Admin Center.
Open Exchange Admin Center
Click the Migration button.
Then, click on the Plus (+) button and choose Migrate to Exchange Online option
Choose cutover migration now and click next.
Enter on-premises account details and proceed further.

RPC Proxy Server Setting along with Next Exchange Server will be selected automatically. Click next after that.

Rename New Migration Batch. Click Next.

A completely new Exchange Server Migration batch file will get formed, and you’ll see the status of syncing the provided information from the old file. One can check migration detail by clicking “View Details” under Mailbox Status.

Migration Process Completion

After Exchange 2010 to Office 365 migration, the synchronization status will change from Syncing to Synced. You will also receive a confirmation report by mail.

Hybrid Migration Method:

As a hybrid approach, it serves as both a migration and an implementation strategy in and of itself. Exchange 2003 and 2007’s staged migration can be modernized with this new approach. It’s possible to use both Exchange 2010 and Office 365 Hybrid in the same environment. If you have a lot of data to migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365 and the procedure is going to take a long time, this option is ideal. The only native way for migrating more than 2000 mailboxes is a hybrid approach. When it comes to moving more than 150 mailboxes, Hybrid is the best option.

Depending on the demands of each user, some businesses employ hybrid deployment as the final stage, rather than an intermediary step. In these cases, users are distributed across on-premises and online environments.

A Hybrid Configuration Wizard is used to set up the hybrid environment (HCW). Find out how to use the HCW and address issues with deploying a hybrid environment by reading this article.

Exchange 2010 to Office 365 Migration by PST files

The final native migration is accomplished through the usage of the Office 365 PST Import Service. The basic concept is to export Exchange 2010 mailboxes to PST files and then import them into an Office 365 organization. This method entails some manual work on the part of the administrator. This involves virtually constructing an Office 365 setup from scratch.

Exporting all mailboxes to PST is a task that is best accomplished using PowerShell and the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet. The PST files must be shared or stored on a file server. You must then upload them to the Azure storage location and create a CSV mapping file from this location. The PST Import service imports PST files into the appropriate user mailboxes using the mapping file.

Microsoft also offers the option of shipping physical drives to them, which entails copying PST files to physical storage devices and sending them to Microsoft. This service is charged at a rate of $2 per gigabyte of data.

The drawbacks of the Manual migration processes

Each of the native approaches mentioned above has some drawbacks due to which users always worried about their data during the native Exchange to Office 365 migration.

Limitations of Cutover Migration

A cutover migration is all or nothing solution and as mentioned above is only recommended for upto 150 mailboxes and when you’ve a team of tech geeks otherwise a single misstep can make your data lost or corrupt.

Limitations of Hybrid Migration

Moving to the hybrid migration, it is a time-consuming and slow process. Same as cutover method, you also need geeks in your team to accomplish this task with minimum data loss.

Limitations of Migration through PST export

Ah, you’re thinking Exchange 2010 to Office 365 migration using PST will be an easy process or might be quick, so let me clear don’t even think about it if you have several mailboxes. Don’t know where to start but this method not convenient, not even hasty. Like you first need to migrate Exchange to PST and for this you have to use PowerShell in several steps which is also a walk-on eggshell on itself. I’ll only suggest this method if you have only few emails to migrate and you don’t mind to recreate your Exchange 2010 environment in Office 365 from the scratch.

Common limitations of Native utilities

Limitations don’t end here like there are few limitations which are common in all native options such as:

Numerous steps of the migration will require the use of PowerShell. While knowing how to utilize this strong scripting language is really beneficial, you must have a particular level of skill. During this difficult process, learning on the fly may be unpleasant for you and detrimental to the (server) environment.
If the process to migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365 disrupts, you will have to restart it from the very beginning.
It is a very complex process and not gives 100% assurance of success.
You might have lost some files while migrating them between servers exchange.
Upgrade your servers to the latest version for the greatest migration experience. It is advised that you upgrade to Exchange 2010 SP3. As a result, if you have not upgraded your machines, you should plan on doing some maintenance.
Downtime is unavoidable, particularly when migrating public files. You’ll need to plan carefully, even more so if the resources on your servers are used continuously.
There is no filtering available. Both nor Cutover and Hybrid Migration allow for the filtering of Office 365 items that are transferred.

Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager – Professional’s Way

Professionals always search for an effortless and efficient way, but manually they do not get it. Shoviv has developed an advanced tool named Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager to answer professionals’ needs. This tool is built with a user-friendly GUI that makes running this tool a cakewalk process. Users can add EDB File, Exchange Server Mailboxes, Office 365 Mailboxes, Outlook Profile Stores, Exchange Server Single Store, and Office 365 Single Store as the source. Some of the prominent features of this tool are:

Users can add corrupted or non-corrupted EDB files, and this tool recovers and executes the task.
This tool offers multiple targets: Live Exchange, Office 365, Outlook PST, and file formats like MSG, EML, RTF, vCard, and vCal, etc.
An advanced feature of Incremental Export is also given within the Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager. This feature resumes the process from the last stop hence preventing duplicity.
Users can also apply a filter based on the Message Class and Item Date.
If you want to migrate data into a PST file, you can set the size limit for the resultant .pst files.
Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager also offers a free trial version that users can easily download and try.

Migrating Exchange 2010 emails to Microsoft Office 365:

Step1: Install Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager and click Add Source.
Step2: Select the Exchange Server option and add mailboxes.
Step3: Click the Office 365 option and add target mailboxes.
Step4: Map Exchange mailboxes with Office 365 mailboxes.
Step5: Use filter options using the message class and date criteria.
Step6: Now, the Exchange to Office 365 migration process will start.

Detailed Steps to Migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365:

Install and launch the Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager.
Now, click the Add Source button on the ribbon bar, enter the details, and click Next.

The software will fetch the mailboxes. If you want to add any mailbox, you can add it manually. Check the mailboxes and click on Finish.
Users can see the added mailboxes in the source list. Now, select the Office 365 option from the ribbon bar or select it by making right-clicking.

Now you will be prompted to the next page. Here, you have to check/uncheck subfolders. You can also make customer folder selections by including/excluding them. Click on the Next.

Here are two options to connect: Use the “Fetch all Mailboxes from Outlook Profile” option if MFA is enabled. Click Next and proceed.

Here, you must map the source with the target and validate the target. After successful validation, click on Next.

Apply the filter if needed; message class filter and date filter criteria are available.

Checkboxes are given; read them carefully and then proceed by clicking Next.

By clicking the Advanced Option, you can do more settings like email translation, preference for the item thread count, and all.

After applying settings, click on OK, and the actual migration process will start. The software will display the real-time status of the process. After completing the process, you can also save the report.

Conclusion:

In this write-up, we learned different ways to migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365. Firstly, we learned the manual methods; and then, we explored a professional utility. Shoviv Exchange Recovery Manager with step-by-step processing is explained in the blog, which will help users to execute their tasks. A free demo version of the software is also available to download, install and try.

Author
Recent Posts

Stuart

Stuart Clark is working as a technical content writer at Shoviv Software for the last 3 years. In his free time, he loves to write about new technology and read fiction books, his favorite book is "It ends with us" by Coolen Hoover.

How to Migrate Exchange 2010 to Office 365