Migration From Microsoft Exchange 2003 to Office 365

This is the typical scenario:  An organization is ready to migrate to Office 365 from Microsoft Exchange 2003. The process becomes confusing and difficult when the organization’s license provider for Office 365, and the existing on-premise technician offer conflicting opinions on the migration process.

The existing on-premise technician says to do an active directory sync to migrate all aspects to cloud, including passwords and accounts. However, the license provider says this isn’t necessary for a small business with less than 30 email addresses, and that users can easily reset their passwords on their own.

Microsoft Offers Options for Conflicted Users

When it comes to migrating to Office 365, Microsoft offers several options:

1.    If you already have an Active Directory environment, it’s easiest to use Active Directory synchronization*. It sets up a relationship between your local Active Directory and the cloud for Microsoft Office 365. This way you can still use your Active Directory and its management tools.  However its important to note that the contents of your Active Directory will be copied to the cloud, but changes made to the cloud aren’t replicated to your local Active Directory.

2.    The second option involves managing user accounts using identity federation. With identity federation you retain control of the Active Directory environment. This way you control your Active Directory environment. When you implement version 2.0 of the Active Directory Federation Service, your users can log into the cloud using their normal Active Directory credentials.

* NOTE:  If you’re going to be performing Active Directory synchronization, Microsoft strongly recommends that you initially enable identity federation. If you don’t, you’ll need to re-delegate your domain.

Once you’ve completed the sync from Exchange 2003 to Office 365, a report will be emailed to you indicating that you’ve finish the migration process—migrating public folders, assigning Office 365 licenses to all users, and verifying all DNS records to ensure they are updated and pointed towards Office 365 services. Make sure you configure the desktops to use Office 365 services as well!

As you can see IT’s complicated! But we can help you easily migrate to Office 365! Atlanta IT Company will make the migration process much easier!