Attempt Exchange 2007 to Office 365 Migration in Systematic Manner

The blog illustrates manual approach to migrate Exchange 2007 mailboxes to Office 365. Users can go through this article and find out measure for attempting this data transferring activity. So, lets get started!

Exchange 2007 to Office 365 Migration For Free

Here, you will find manual guidance to transfer Exchange 2007 mailboxes to Office 365. This involves a well known migration procedure i.e., cutover migration. It is one of the simplest measure to acquire all the existing messages into the Exchange online account. The name itself indicates that there is cutover from one service to another. Well, this migration plan is supported with the Exchange server 2003, 2007, and 2010 version.
Note: The approach is applicable only for mailboxes less than 1000.

Step 1: Initiate with Migration Planning

Microsoft provides an excellent admin feature to plan out Exchange 2007 to Office 365 migration. One can utilize Exchange deployment assistant like a guide to all the migrations. This feature fulfills all the common migration plans to O365 tenant.

• Open Exchange deployment assistant site
• A list with 3 options will appear in which you have to select Cloud only option
• At the end state goals & the existing setup, you have to answer few series of questions
• Continuously, click on Next arrow after answering each question. Keep one thing in mind that you are attempting each question with full concentration.
• A step by step environment appears with help of the Exchange deployment assistant.

Step 2: Test the Existing Setup

Make sure that the Exchange server 2007 infrastructure is supporting Microsoft autodiscover and Outlook anywhere feature. One can take help from Exchange 2007 setup guide to learn instructions of this verification procedure. When you are done with the setup verification procedure, utilize Microsoft remote connectivity analyzer for verifying Outlook Anywhere feature. Examine that all permissions are assigned to mailboxes for migration purpose.

• Launch the Microsoft Remote connectivity analyzer site
• Choose Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) test and click on Next
• Mention all the required information of the current page and test that autodiscover feature is enabled
• Enter Verification Code and hit on Perform Test

Check that all the made settings are successfully done. If you are facing any warning or error message in the process of Exchange 2007 to Office 365 migration then, review all things initially and recheck them. Make use of the generated report and guide to troubleshooting all the issues, if in case the test fails.

Step 3: Time to Configure the Cutover Migration

• Launch a web browser page on your PC and login into your Office 365 admin center
• Go to the Exchange Admin Center section and click on Migration
• Hit on the Add icon and then choose Migrate to Exchange Online option from the list
• From the list of 4 migration steps, select cutover migration and click Next
• Mention the required on-premises account credentials and hit on Next
• If all goes correctly then, Autodiscover feature will itself enter on-premises Exchange and RPC Proxy server field. So, you just have to click on Next to proceed
• Give a name to the ongoing migration procedure like Exchange 2007 to Office 365 and then, click on Next
• Choose a person who will get report of complete migration procedure. You are having choice to select more than one person. Finally, click on Automatically start the batch option and then click on New
• New batch of the migration procedure gets started where the status gets updated to syncing
• When Exchange 2007 to Office 365 migration is completed, the web page displays status as Synced

Step 4: Migration Completion

One will encounter a report through which he/she will come to know that migration is successfully completed.

Note: There are many challenges faced in the implementation of manual procedure. Few of them are mentioned below :
Exchange 2007 to O365 migration can be performed only at the admin level
The procedure might consume one day, hour, or week for its completion
If something goes wrong then, it may lead to a big data loss from the server
The solution is of no worth for a normal MS Exchange server end user

Alternative Solution

It is our duty to guide readers on the correct path, whenever they are facing any hurdle. So, one can leverage for Exchange to Outlook Converter to transfer EDB mailboxes without any trouble. There is no risk of data loss while exporting data with this technique. Not only an administrator but, a normal Exchange user will be able to attempt migration with this product.

Conclusion

The approach to accomplish Exchange 2007 to Office 365 migration for free is explained in this blog. It might be difficult for a person to attempt this data transfer, if it is for free. So, users can opt for third party application that exhibits an effortless and effective way to perform a migration.