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Zimbra to Microsoft 365 Migration Guide

Introduction

This is the complete onboarding task flow for migrating mailboxes from Zimbra (version 6 and later) to Office 365. MigrationWiz no longer supports TLS 1.0.  TLS 1.2 is now required. Verify TLS version and update, if necessary, before starting the migration.

App passwords are not supported for the Microsoft 365 endpoint. 

First migration?

We’ve created a guide on scoping, planning, and managing the migration process for your use. If this is your first migration, we recommend reading this guide carefully.

MigrationWiz

MigrationWiz is a migration tool, not a syncing tool. If changes are made at the source after migration, they will not sync to the destination, nor will changes made at the destination sync to the source. We do not have “live” monitoring of changes (as with a sync agent) and we cannot handle scenarios such as conflict resolution without user interaction.

MigrationWiz supports the capability to share migration projects across a Workgroup. When the Project Sharing feature is turned on, all Agents besides those who are Inactive can view all migrations projects. 

We are not able to support migrations with two-factor or multifactor authentication. 


Zimbra 6+

What items are and are not migrated?

Migrated

  • Inbox
  • Folders
  • Email
  • Contacts
  • Calendars
  • Tasks

Not Migrated

  • Zimbra Tags

Prepare the Source Environment

Users will need to enter usernames on the Zimbra side, even when using an admin account.

Export Users

Export the list of users to a CSV file. This will be used when adding users to your MigrationWiz mailbox project later in the migration.

  1. Open Zimbra Admin.
  2. Select Account.
  3. In the Search box, type the domain name to be exported.
  4. On the Toolbar Zimbra Admin, select the Download button.
  5. Save the CSV file generated.

Split Large Folders

Direct users to split up folders that have a very large number of items. Zimbra will exhibit poor migration performance for folders with a large number of items.

Calendar folders can be slower to migrate when the data is complex. For example, recurring calendar meetings result in a much higher number of calendar events.

Prepare Admin Credentials

Ensure that you have admin credentials available for use during migration. If electing to assign the admin role through the Zimbra administrator portal instead of the below commands, the user needs to be granted Global Administrator. Assigning just an Administrator will not work.

Options:

    • Use existing credentials.
    • Create a new admin account for migration. This will create an additional admin account with the password of 'test123':
      zmprov ca testadmin@domain.com test123 zimbraIsAdminAccount TRUE
    • Transform a normal existing user account into an admin account (in this example future-admin will become an admin):
      zmprov ma future-admin@domain.com zimbraIsAdminAccount TRUE

Test mailbox access

Make sure the necessary ports to connect to the Zimbra server are open. Access to SOAP web services is needed for migration. This is via both regular and admin user mode. Ports 80, 443, and 7071 are the common ports. 

There are two modes to connect to a Zimbra server, Regular mode and Admin User mode.

  1. In regular user mode, we need access to SOAP web services, which are typically the following:
    1. ​ on port 80 if it is an HTTP connection;
    2. on port 443 if an HTTPS connection.
  2. In admin user mode, we also need access to SOAP web services, typically:
    1. ​On port 80 and 7071 if the Zimbra URL is HTTP;​
    2. On port 443 and 7071 if the Zimbra URL is HTTPS.

You need to connect using both ports; some operations will go over the admin port, while others will go over the regular port.

Prepare the Destination Environment

Create the admin account

  1. Create a user in Microsoft 365
  2. Connect to Exchange Online by using remote PowerShell
  3. Type the following command, and then press Enter:
    Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter {(RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'UserMailbox') -and (Alias -ne 'Admin')} | Add-MailboxPermission -User AdministratorAccount@mydomain.com -AccessRights fullaccess -InheritanceType all

After you perform these steps, the specified user will be able to access all user mailboxes in Microsoft 365. The user will be able to view the contents of the mailboxes from either Outlook or Outlook Web App.

Set up accounts in Microsoft 365

  1. Set up accounts on Office 365 and assign licenses. These can be created in several ways:


Modern Authentication Requirements

Exchange Online EWS Modern Authentication Requirements (click on this box to expand required steps)

The steps listed below apply to both the source and/or destination tenant when they are Exchange Online, in regards to Exchange Web Services (EWS) in mailbox, archive mailbox, and public folder projects. Use a Global Administrator for the configuration steps.

 

For setup steps that include images, see under Enabling Modern Authentication for EWS between MigrationWiz and your Exchange Online Tenant in the following KB: Authentication Methods for Microsoft 365 (All Products) Migrations

Important: Failure to perform the steps for your Microsoft 365 endpoints, can result in failed jobs with 401 errors like the following in your project: Http POST request to 'autodiscover-s.outlook.com' failed - 401 Unauthorized


The administrator account being used for the project needs to be excluded from any MFA/2FA policies or Conditional Access policies that can block access for the administrator account. This requirement does not apply to the items or users being migrated in the project.

Configuring Modern Authentication to work with MigrationWiz for mailbox, archive mailbox, and public folder projects in Exchange Online is now the default method after Microsoft discontinued support for Basic Authentication in Exchange Online after December 2022. The following Microsoft documentation outlines this change in more detail. Should you have additional questions on how this change may impact your tenant, please contact Microsoft to assist with providing that information: Deprecation of Basic authentication in Exchange Online

The Azure Security Defaults must also be disabled in the tenant. (This is often enabled by default for all new Exchange Online tenants and there is no workaround for this requirement). For steps on where to enable/disable the Azure Security Defaults, see Enabling security defaults in the following Microsoft documentation. To disable, set Enable Security defaults to No: Security defaults in Azure AD

Modern Authentication Steps
  • Log in to the Azure AD admin console with a Global Administrator login.
  • Select Azure Active Directory in the Azure Active Directory Admin Center.
  • Select App Registrations, which is found under Manage.
  • Select New Registration at the top of the screen.
  • Give the app a distinct name. You can change this later if necessary.
  • Select the Accounts in any organizational directory button.
  • Under Redirect Uri, select Public Client (mobile & desktop) and set it to urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
  • Click Register.
  • Go back to App registrations.
  • Select the App you just created.
  • In the Overview, you will find a ClientId (aka Application) and Directory (Tenant) ID.
  • Copy both of these to another application, such as Notepad, for use later in this process.
  • Under the Manage menu, select Authentication.
  • Set the option Allow public client flows to Yes. 
  • Click Save.
  • From the Manage menu, select API permissions.
  • If API permission named User.Read under Microsoft Graph is already present, this can be removed. The Microsoft Graph API is not applicable to this project type and is not used.
  • Select Add a Permission.

  • Select APIs my organization uses

  • Scroll down and select Office 365 Exchange Online

  • Then select Delegated Permissions

  • Select EWS

  • Check the box under EWS for EWS.AccessAsUser.All.
  • Click Add permissions. This permission only allows the OAuth application (MigrationWiz) to be associated with EWS.
      • Important: This does not grant access to all mailbox data.
  • Click Grant admin consent.
  • Click Yes to confirm the settings.
  • In MigrationWiz, select the project that needs to be configured for Modern Authentication.
  • Click the Edit Project menu.
  • Select Advanced Options.
  • Under Support Options enter the ClientID and TenantID information you saved earlier in the following format:
    • If enabling Modern Authentication for the Source:
      • ModernAuthClientIdExport=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
      • ModernAuthTenantIdExport=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
    • If enabling Modern Authentication for the Destination:
      • ModernAuthClientIdImport=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
      • ModernAuthTenantIdImport=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 
        • Enter the specific ClientID and TenantID for your tenant in place of the xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.
        • These options can be entered for either the Source or the Destination, or both, depending on the settings on the tenants.
        • These options need to be configured for each MigrationWiz project that needs to have Modern Authentication enabled.

  • Run a Verify Credentials to confirm that MigrationWiz can connect using Modern Authentication. 
  • Click on the item that was verified. There will be a message in the MigrationWiz Migration Information page that Modern Authentication is being used. This message will show in the “Migration Errors” box; however, it is not an error. This is just a message confirming that Modern Authentication is now active and being used for the connection.

Prepare the tenant to send & receive large items

We do not impose any limit on item/attachment sizes. However, it is possible for large items/attachments to fail to migrate because of external factors.  There are two considerations:​

  1. What is the maximum attachment size allowed by the Destination system? 
    • ​Most email systems impose size limits. For example, if the Destination system has a 30MB limit, any item/attachment larger than 30MB will fail to migrate.
  2. What is the connection timeout for the Source and Destination system? 
    • ​​For security reasons, most email systems close opened connections after a predetermined amount of time. For example, if the Destination system only has 512Kbps of network bandwidth and closes connections after 30 seconds, we may be unable to transfer large items/attachments before the connection is closed.

MigrationWiz will automatically make multiple attempts to migrate large items. Upon completion of a migration, you may resubmit it in error retry mode to try to migrate failed items. This is always free of charge.:

When migrating from or to Office 365 use the steps provided here to increase the Max Send and Max Recieve quotas, Change message size limits in Office 365.

Purchase licenses

We recommend that you purchase the User Migration Bundle license for this migration scenario. User Migration Bundle licenses allow multiple types of migrations to be performed with a single license. They also allow DeploymentPro to be used to configure Outlook email profiles. For questions on licensing, visit MigrationWiz Licenses

To purchase licenses:

  1. Sign in to your BitTitan account. 
  2. In the top navigation bar, click Purchase.
  3. Click the Select button and choose User Migration Bundle licenses.
  4. Enter the number of licenses you want to purchase. Click Buy Now.
  5. Enter a Billing address if applicable.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Review the Order Summary and enter a payment method.
  8. Click Place Your Order.

Apply licenses

  1. Select the correct workgroup on the top of the left navigation pane. This is the workgroup that the customer and migration project were created under. Your account must be part of the workgroup if the project was not created under your account.
  2. On the left navigation pane, click Customers.
  3. Click the customer that employs the user to whom you want to apply a User Migration Bundle license.
  4. Click the Users tab at the top of the page.
  5. Check the box to the left of the email for the user(s) to whom you want to apply a license.
  6. Click the Apply User Migration Bundle License button at the top of the page. It is recommended that users be added to the Customer page with the vanity domain. Then have the User Migration Bundle Licenses applied, before editing to show the .onmicrosoft domain, if the .onmicrosoft domain will be used for the migration.
  7. If there is at least one unassigned User Migration Bundle license available for each selected user, click Confirm.

MigrationWiz Steps

Create a Mailbox Migration project

  1. Click the Go to My Projects button.
  2. Click the Create Project button.
  3. Click on the type of project that you wish to create. For this migration:
    • Mailbox: Mailbox projects are used to migrate the contents of the primary user mailbox from the previous environment to the new environment. Most mailbox migrations can migrate email, calendars, and contacts.

For mailbox migrations, use administrative credentials to access mailboxes​. In most migration scenarios, the admin account needs to have full access rights to the Source mailboxes. 

    1. Click Next Step.
    2. Enter a Project name and select a Customer.
    3. Click Next Step.

Endpoints

Endpoints are now created through MigrationWiz, rather than through MSPComplete. The steps for this section outline how to create the endpoints in MigrationWiz.

If you are selecting an existing endpoint, keep in mind that only ten endpoints will show in the drop-down. If you have more than ten, you may need to search. Endpoint search is case and character specific. For example, Cust0mer will not show up if the search is customer. We recommend keeping a list of endpoints you have created, along with any unique spellings or capitalization you may have used.

You may either use existing endpoints, or create new ones. 

To create a new source endpoint:

  1. Click Endpoints
  2. Click Add Endpoint
  3. Select Zimbra 6.5+

  4. Enter Zimbra server URL

  5. Click the Provide Credentials radio button, and enter the admin account credentials. These are either your existing admin credentials or the credentials for the account that was created under the "Prepare the Source Environment" section of this guide.

  6. Click Add
  7. Click Next Step

To create a new destination endpoint:

  1. Click Endpoints
  2. Click Add Endpoint
  3. Enter endpoint name
  4. Select endpoint type Office 365
  5. Click Provide Credentials
  6. Enter the admin account credentials. This should be for the global admin account. 
  7. Click Add
  8. Click Next Step

Add Users

Add the user accounts that will be migrated to the project. MigrationWiz allows you to bulk import mailboxes into the system. Note: The Username of the source mailbox needs to be for the user mailbox being migrated and not the Zimbra administrator account.

Use the Bulk Add option, and import from the CSV file that you prepared under the Prepare the Source section of this guide. 

To import one or more mailboxes:

  1. Sign in to your MigrationWiz account.
  2. Select the Project for which you want to perform the bulk import.
  3. Click on Add .
  4. Click on Bulk Add .
  5. Follow the instructions on the page.

Add Advanced Options

Under Support/Support options:

  • Set the project to use impersonation at Destination. Checkmark the Use impersonation at Destination box. 
  • Set Maximum concurrent migrations. We recommend setting this to a very low value, such as 5, to ensure that server utilization does not go above 80%. If the Source Zimbra server is running low on resources, it can result in email being migrated as blank. If the Source server has enough server resources, set this parameter based on the bandwidth guideline of three (3) mailboxes per 1Mbps of bandwidth. Therefore, for example, if there is a 10Mbps connection, we recommend setting the maximum concurrent migrations parameter to be 30. If the Source server has very few available server resources (e.g., it is running low on memory or it has very high CPU utilization), we recommend setting this value to a lower number to avoid overwhelming the Source server with requests.
  • Add: ZimbraCalendarExpandInstances=1

Run Verify Credentials

  1. ​Sign in to your MigrationWiz account​.
  2. Open the Project containing items you wish to validate​.
  3. Select the items you wish to validate.
  4. Click on the Start button in your dashboard.
  5. Select Verify Credentials from the drop-down list.

Once complete, the results of the verification will be shown in the Status section.​ 

Notify Users

Notify users that a migration is occurring. Send email to all users telling them the time and date of the migration.

Run Migration

Pre-Stage pass

  1. Select the users you wish to migrate
  2. Click the Start button from the top
  3. Select Pre-Stage Migration
  4. Under the Migration Scheduling section, from the drop-down list, select 90 days ago
  5. Click Start Migration.

MX Record Cutover

  • Change over MX records on the DNS provider's portal.
  • Also, include the AutoDiscover (CName) setting.

If you are migrating in batches and coexistence is required, you will not be cutting over the MX records until your final batch of users has been migrated, and you must perform two extra steps:

Full pass

  1. Select the users
  2. Click the Start button from the top
  3. Select Full Migration
  4. Click Start Migration

Run Retry Errors

Look through the user list and click any red "failed migration" errors. Review the information and act accordingly.

If problems persist, contact Support.

 

Request Statistics

Click the pie chart icon in the MigrationWiz dashboard to receive an email containing all the project migration statistics.

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