Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration – Tips and Methods

Businesses that rely on Microsoft 365 for managing their data and business activities often need to perform tenant to tenant migration at some point, especially during the time of mergers and procurements or rebranding and divestiture.

But, Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration is not that simple, as it seems from above. There is a lot of planning involved behind making the tenant to tenant migration successful. Also, it depends on the number of users you want to migrate. For instance, if you have more than 5000 users to relocate, then it is recommended to work with a professional Office 365 migration tool.

In this article, we will explain how you can execute Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration successfully with practical tips and migration methods.

This post is sponsored by KernelApps. If you’re looking for Microsoft 365 Migration tools, I highly recommend checking them out.

Tips for Successful Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration

If you have planned the migration and analyzed all the pre-migration steps, then you can take advantage of the below tips to make your Microsoft tenant to tenant migration successful.

  • Analyze the entire data in both source and target tenant, including UPNs, email addresses, shared mailboxes, domains, SharePoint data, resource mailboxes, SharePoint data structure, OneDrive configuration, Power BI groups and reports, Azure security settings, etc.
  • Generate reports for both source and target tenant to verify whether there are any duplicate names or aliases exists in the accounts
  • Go through the security settings, admin roles, license policies, and permissions to analyze the differences between source and target tenant. If any changes are found, then discuss with the technical team about how the changes will impact the source data
  • Build an effective testing strategy, which includes testing the migration process with various users, groups, IT pilot users, etc.
  • Verify the types of accounts and objects that will be included in the directory sync/password sync/Azure AD Connect
  • Plan meticulously if the migration process seems too complicated

Preparing for Microsoft 365 Tenant Migration

Before getting into the migration process, one needs to go through the pre-planning process, which involves multiple steps. Here is a detailed process of planning Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration:

  • Preparing the Domain
  • Verifying the Domain
  • Scheduling
  • Performing the Migration

Preparing the Domain

Domain preparation consists in preparing the targeted domain, where you want to migrate your data. While preparing the domain, the following steps need to be taken care of:

  • Check for additional licenses that you might need for the targeted Microsoft 365 account
  • Creating admin accounts for both source and targeted tenant for a smooth migration
  • Creating user mailboxes, resource mailboxes, and distribution groups in the target tenant
  • Performing AD DS consolidation as per requirements
  • Synchronizing source domain with the target domain
  • Train your end-users about the post-migration process of Microsoft 365

Verifying the Domain

The second step is to verify the target domain to provide that you own the target domain.

  • Begin the verification process of the target tenant domain in Microsoft 365
  • Adding a source domain to the target Microsoft 365 admin center to create TXT records in DNS

Also, make sure only the target tenant uses the domain; else, the verification will fail. After executing these steps, it will take approx. 72 hours for the changes to take effect.

Scheduling

To schedule the migration process, first of all, you need to:

  • Create a list of user mailboxes that you want to migrate and a CSV file for mapping
  • Secondly, you need to note down the bottom value of TTL on MX record (of the primary email domain)
  • And lastly, disable the directory sync for source tenant

Performing the Migration

  • Restrict the inbound mail flow by altering the primary MS record to an unapproachable value. It can be executed easily if you have noted the lowest value of TTL on MX record
  • Before migrating to the target tenant, ensure that all objects from the primary mail domain are erased in the source tenant
  • Prepare the targeted domain by verifying the source tenant in the target domain (perform this step one hour after the previous step)
    • While using AD FS, configure a new domain in target tenant for AD FS
    • Now, activate new user accounts in the target tenant and assign new licenses to them
    • Set the source domain as the primary email address for new users with Windows PowerShell
    • Decide on communicating the passwords to end-users, and direct the emails to the new mailboxes
    • Verify the mail flow in and out of the target tenant

These steps define the end of the pre-migration process. Now, you can use PowerShell Scripts or third-party migration tools to migrate your data from one tenant to another.

Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Methods

While talking about manual methods to perform Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration, there is only one way to do that – using PowerShell script. But this method requires expertise in creating technical scripts and then migrating the data from one tenant to another.

However, individuals who don’t have the technical expertise to use the PowerShell scripts can take help from Kernel Office 365 Migration Tool, which is specifically designed to perform Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migrations. This tool is integrated with multiple features and benefits that make it easy for the users to perform the migration.

Kernel Office 365 Migration Tool

Advantages of Using Kernel Office 365 Migration tool

  • Quick tenant to tenant migration of Microsoft 365 data
  • Bulk migration of Microsoft 365 mailboxes
  • A user-friendly interface ideal for even non-technical users
  • Migrate between tenants using a CSV file
  • Apply specific filters to the data to perform selective data migration
  • Save the migration report in CSV format for future purposes

Kernel Office 365 Migration tool is even recommended by experts, who deals with large-scale migration tasks. You can check out the entire functioning of the tool on its official page.

Wrap Up

Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration is one of the most complicated tasks that most businesses often need to execute at the time of mergers and acquisitions. But, if the admins get proper training, then they can efficiently perform the migration. In this article, we have discussed how you can complete the tenant to tenant migration in Microsoft 365.

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