Top Considerations Before Migrating

Ensure Your Active Directory is Healthy
If you’re an Active Directory house (and you probably are), you’re most likely going to use something called Azure AD Connect (AADC). This allows folks to login with the same credentials they use for applications not being moved to the cloud.

But first, you need to ensure your Active Directory is healthy enough to synchronize with Azure. This means bringing a couple of tools into play.

First, review your Organizational Unit (OU) structure and decide if you want all that extraneous data pushed into the cloud. Many objects aren’t necessary for the cloud, so why push them there? Perhaps all you need to be migrated are user accounts and some distribution and security groups. Better to adjust the structure so that when you select the OUs to synchronize in Azure AD Connect (AADC), you don’t have to jump through more hoops to select what you want (and deselect what you don’t).

Next, run Microsoft’s IdFix tool. This will provide a report of all the fields (names, addresses, etc.) that are incompatible with Azure Active Directory. IdFix also finds duplicate addresses and invalid characters. Since you’ve already tidied up the OU structure, you can tackle the objects you know are in-scope first, then return to clean up the rest of the directory when time permits.

Review Your Current Email Environment

Spend some time cleaning up old distribution lists and removing mailboxes that are no longer required or in use. You don’t want to waste time (and perhaps licenses) on old data and users who are no longer with the company. Work with HR to clean the Exchange databases and purge any mailboxes that are no longer required. Management, legal and perhaps HR will also have a handle on how many emails ought to be retained. Sometimes, policies to purge old data are not universally applied. Don’t forget to ask users to purge data they know they shouldn’t keep but are reluctant to delete. The more unnecessary data you have, the longer it will take to move the good data to Exchange online with the help of the Exchange Online Migration service..

Prepare Your Existing Email Security & Hygiene
Message hygiene solutions are prevalent these days, both on-premises and cloud-based. These include Mimecast, Proofpoint, and Barracuda, to name just three. Each of these offers documentation on integrating with Office 365. Mainly, these services scan and pass SMTP traffic, so there’s little else that need to be done. Download the relevant documentation from the vendor and review the Office 365 sections. These will help you configure the service to send Email into Office 365 rather than to the on-premises server, as well as configuring the outbound connector to send messages from Office 365 Cloud to Cloud Migration based solution.

Gather Info About All Applications & Services for SMTP Relay
Gather information about all applications deployed on-premises that need to send Email. Your IT help desk system, timesheet system, and expense notifications will all need to start delivering Email to Office 365. At your earliest opportunity, document everything and discuss reconfiguring the applications with the service owners. It’s best to get these things ironed out before moving users.

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