1. BitTitan Help Center
  2. Perform a Migration
  3. Microsoft 365 Migrations
  4. Microsoft Exchange Online/Office 365 Mailbox Migrations

Microsoft 365 to G Suite Migration Guide

This guide provides the process and information necessary to migrate an instance of Microsoft 365 to G Suite. 

First time?

If this is your first time performing a migration, we have created a Migration Planning & Strategy Guide to walk you through planning, set-up, and general migration best practices.

Limitations

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.

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

App password usage is not supported by this endpoint. 

The maximum file size for migration through MigrationWiz varies by migration type and environment, but may never exceed 60GB.

The maximum size of a single email message according to Google is 25 MB, including all attachments. Please note that the process of adding a file to a message increases its size (by adding encoding necessary for transmission)

Exchange Web Services (EWS) must be enabled for the mailboxes in the Exchange Online tenant for this migration type

Which items are migrated?
  • Inbox
  • Folders/Labels
  • Email
  • Muted Email (as regular email)
  • Contacts
  • Calendars (including links for Google Hangouts within calendar meetings)
  • Calendar Notifications
  • Server-Side mailbox rules
  • Client-Side mailbox rules for Outlook
  • Automatic Replies (Out of Office Messages) IMPORTANT: It is recommended to only migrate Automatic Replies in the last migration pass for the user. 
  • Calendar Permissions
Which items are not migrated?
  • Safe Sender/Block Lists
  • Calendar Reminders
  • Appointments
  • Chat message attachments
  • Calendar Attachments
  • Exceptions of recurring appointments

For additional features and limitations, please visit MigrationWiz: Migrated and Not Migrated Items.

Preparing the Source

Modern Authentication Requirements

Exchange Online EWS Modern Authentication Requirements 

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, the Destination, or both, depending on the settings of 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.

Create a Global Administrator Account

Create a Global Administrator account in Microsoft 365 to be used for migration or use the Global Administrator account for the tenant. In order to have administrative permissions to migrate mailbox data, grant the account permissions on each mailbox.

  • Having administrative access to the Microsoft 365 control panel to manage users does not mean the same account has permission to access all mailboxes for migration.
  • Having delegated admin access to accounts does not provide enough access.

Enabling an administrative account the ability to access Microsoft 365 user mailboxes can be performed by adding the Impersonation role or Full Access mailbox permissions.  The below steps will explain how to configure the permissions access for both options.

Impersonation

To enable the admin account to impersonate users, run the below PowerShell commands:

$LiveCred = Get-Credential

Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Import-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Connect-ExchangeOnline -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred

Enable-OrganizationCustomization

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role ApplicationImpersonation -User <admin_user_name>

More information about this PowerShell command can be found here.

  • MigrationWiz uses delegation by default to log in to individual user mailboxes using administrative credentials specified on the connector. 

It is highly recommended to use impersonation when migrating from or to Microsoft 365.

Benefits

Using impersonation, it is possible to stop sharing the throttling quota and connection limits associated with a single administrative account. Instead, the throttling quota of each user is used to log in to each user's mailbox.

Using impersonation means:

  • Eliminating most "Connection did not succeed" errors
  • Allowing migration of more mailboxes concurrently
  • Reducing the impact of throttling and connection limits
  • Using an admin account without assigning a license to it

Full Access

To manually grant administrative access for migration, execute the following remote PowerShell commands: 

$LiveCred = Get-Credential

Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Import-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Connect-ExchangeOnline -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Add-MailboxPermission -AccessRights FullAccess -Automapping $false -User <admin_user_name>

  • The command needs to be applied each time a new mailbox is created since permissions are set directly on each mailbox. The administrative account will not have access until the permissions are applied.
  • This username is the Administrative Username that needs to be entered under the project's Source or Destination settings, within MigrationWiz, when checking the box labeled Use Administrative Login.

Preparing the Destination

For this scenario, the Google IMAP or the API endpoints may be used. 

Google IMAP

Grant MigrationWiz OAuth 2.0 Access

Grant MigrationWiz OAuth 2.0 access to G Suite. If you are migrating to multiple domains, repeat these steps for each domain.

BitTitan products use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate to G Suite  and utilize the G Suite (IMAP) endpoint in MigrationWiz. This is applicable to both mailbox and document migration projects. In order to obtain access to your G Suite data, it is necessary to add specifically allowed API scopes to the MigrationWiz project. Enabling access is required for both G Suite mailbox and Google Drive document migration projects.

Mailbox migration projects require that a G Suite administrator grant access to the BitTitan client ID and scopes listed in this article.

The following section will explain how to configure the OAuth access within your G Suite environment.

OAuth Configuration: Steps in the G Suite Admin Console

Complete these steps to grant BitTitan client ID access to the appropriate scopes:

  1. Go to https://admin.google.com and authenticate as a Super Administrator.
  2. Click Security. If you do not see the security icon on your admin console home page, you do not have the necessary rights on your account to make these changes. Request Super Administrator access from the customer to implement these changes.
  3. Click API Controls and then Manage Domain Wide Delegation at the bottom of the page.
  4. Click Add New.
  5. Enter 113321175602709078332 into the Client Name.
  6. Enter the following group of scopes into the One or More API Scopes: https://mail.google.com/, https://www.google.com/m8/feeds, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive, https://sites.google.com/feeds/, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.sharing, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.other.readonly
  7. Click Authorize.
  8. The Client ID is 113321175602709078332(make sure there are no leading or trailing spaces, as this may cause the error "URL ends with an invalid top-level domain name."). This will grant BitTitan products access to the appropriate scopes.

Enable APIs and Whitelist MigrationWiz as a Trusted App

  1. Go back to Security.
  2. Click API Controls.
  3. Click Manage Third-Party App Access.
  4. Click Configure New App, then select OAuth App Name or Client ID.
  5. Search for the MigrationWiz.com App name by entering the OAuth2 Client ID:11332117560278332.
  6. Select the MigrationWiz.com App.
  7. Select the OAuth2 Client ID (11332117560278332).
  8. Select the App Access as Trusted: Can access all Google Services and then click Configure.
Google API

Using the Google API for migration allows mailboxes to be migrated even when IMAP is disabled on the Google tenant. IMAP is often disabled for security reasons, which has historically prevented migration through MigrationWiz.

Using the Google API will also increase throughput for the migration and support increased security for the tenant.

Prerequisites

  • Subscription to Google Cloud Platform.
  • Google Super Administrator account.
  • Ability to set up a service account on the G Suite tenant.
  • Service account must be set up before the MigrationWiz project is created.

Step 1: Create a Google Project

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Console and sign in as a super administrator. Choose one of the options below:
    • If you haven't used the Google Cloud Platform Console before, agree to the Terms of Service and click Create Project.
    • If you have used Google Cloud Platform Console before, at the top of the screen next to your most recent project name, click Down to open your projects list. Then, click New Project.
  2. Enter a project name and click Create.

 Step 2: Enable APIs for Service Account

  1. From the Google Cloud Platform Console, click Menu () > APIs & Services > Library.
  2. Enable the following APIs by selecting the specific API and clicking Enable. Repeat for each API:
    • Google Calendar API
    • Gmail API
    • Contacts API
    • People API
    • Admin SDK API
      Make sure that the Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts services are enabled within the Google tenant. You can control services for your users using the instructions on this page: Control who can access G Suite and Google Services.

Step 3: Create a Customer Tenant Service Account

  1. From the Google Cloud Platform Console, click Menu () > IAM & Admin > Service accounts.
  2. Click Create Service Account and enter a name.
  3. Click Done.
  4. Select the Ellipsis >Create Key for the newly created service account.
  5. Make sure that JSON is selected and click Create.
    • Make sure that you download the key as a JSON file and make a note of the name and location of the file. This JSON file will be used when setting up the migration endpoint in the Mailbox Migration project.
    • The JSON file must contain information in the following fields: “type”, “private key”, and “client email”. If these mandatory fields are empty the file upload during endpoint creation will fail.
  6. Click Close.

Step 4: Setting the Scopes for the Migration

  1. From the Google Cloud Platform Console, click Menu () > IAM & Admin > Service accounts.
  2. Find the service account that was set up in Step 3.
  3. Find the Unique ID field for that service account and copy the ID number. This is the Client ID number that will be used in a later step.
    • This field often needs to be added to the view. Click on the Column display options button (UniqueID2.png) and add a checkmark to Unique ID, then click OK.
    • This Client ID should be considered similar to Administrator account passwords and handled securely.
  4. Go to the G Suite admin page at admin.google.com and click on Security > API Controls > Manage Domain Wide Delegation. 
  5. Click Add New and in the Client ID field, paste the Unique ID copied in step 3.
  6. In the One or More API Scopes field, paste all scopes listed below:
    https://mail.google.com/, https://www.google.com/m8/feeds, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive, https://sites.google.com/feeds/, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.sharing, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.other.readonly 
  7. Click Authorize.

Licensing

Licenses are required to run a migration project in MigrationWiz. To obtain license pricing information, or to purchase licenses, click the Purchase button at the top of your MSPComplete or MigrationWiz dashboard.

Payment: We accept credit cards, and wire transfers in certain situations.  

  • When purchasing with a credit card, payment is immediately processed during checkout. If successful, licenses are granted to your account instantly.
  • Wire transfers are available for purchases of 100 or more licenses. If you are purchasing at least 100 licenses, you will be presented with an option to purchase via wire transfer during checkout. A wire transfer checkout will generate an invoice with wiring information for your accounts payable department and bank. Once the funds are received by our system, the licenses are granted to your account immediately. 

Create A Project

Create a Mailbox Migration Project

  1. Click Go To My Projects.
  2. Click Create Project.
  3. Select a Mailbox migration type. 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.
  4. Click Next Step.
  5. Enter a Project name and select a Customer.
  6. Click Next Step.
  7. Select a Source Endpoint from the Endpoint drop-down menu. If an Endpoint has not been created, click New and provide the requested information in the Endpoint creation flyout window.
  8. Select a Destination Endpoint from the Endpoint drop-down menu. If an Endpoint has not been created, click New and provide the requested information in the Endpoint creation flyout window.
  9. Click Save and Go to Summary.

Set up the Google API endpoint during project creation

1. During the project creation process, click New for the Destination Endpoint.
2. From the dropdown menu, select G Suite (Gmail API).
3. Click Select File.
4. Navigate to and select the JSON file that contains the Google Service Account key that was saved during the service account setup process.
5. Enter the administrator's email address.
6. Click Add. 

Add Accounts (Items)

Add the accounts that will be migrated, also referred to as items, to a project using one of the following options:

Quick Add
This option allows you to add items one at a time. To do so, you only have to provide an email address if you entered administrative credentials when setting up the project. If you did not, enter the following user information:
  • An email address.
  • Login name.
  • Password.
  • Mailbox status.
Bulk Add

Bulk Add uses a CSV containing the source and destination email addresses for the users to add the users to the project. If migrating only a specific group from a tenant, we recommend using the Bulk Add option.

MigrationWiz allows you to bulk import mailboxes into the system.

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 Add.
  4. Click Bulk Add.
  5. Follow the instructions on the page. (Note: After adding new users to the Bulk Add Items page, make sure to select the radio button All newly detected mailboxes will be migrated as shown below before clicking on the green Save button)

    New Bulk Add Requirement.png

Autodiscover

​Autodiscover process within MigrationWiz can be used to discover items from the Source environment so that they can be imported into your projects. This can then be edited in the project to remove users not being migrated. All users are added with the source and destination email addresses set to match the source email.

This can be changed by using the Change Domain Name button at the top of the project page. If the usernames are changing during the migration, we recommend using the Bulk Add option.

There are a few requirements for this to work:

  • The Source has to be Exchange 2007 or later.
  • The endpoint on the Source needs to use admin credentials.
  • For mailbox migration projects, the admin account that is specified within the Source endpoint needs to have a mailbox associated with it.
  • The admin mailbox must be listed in the public Global Address List (GAL).

One additional item to note here is that there is no way to restrict the IP addresses that the connection will come from.  This means that the steps outlined in our IP Lockdown guide will not apply here. If your environment requires that any IP addresses be whitelisted, it is recommended that items be added to your project using one of the other available options.

Autodiscover of items will not work while using Modern Authentication

Autodiscovery exposes the following items:

  • For mailbox migration, autodiscovery will list all mailboxes at the Source.

Steps to Run Autodiscover

  1. Navigate to the project you want to import users into.

  2. Ensure that you have created an endpoint for the source project.

  3. Once in the project, on the top navigation bar, click on the Add drop-down, then select Autodiscover Items. This will begin the Autodiscover process.

  4. Once discovered, click on the Import button, to import the items into your MigrationWiz project.

Add User Migration Bundle licenses 

For this project type, it is recommended to use our User Migration Bundle licenses. 

  1. Sign in to MigrationWiz at https://migrationwiz.bittitan.com.
    • You can either sign in and make sure to select the MigrationWiz button above the email field or sign in to the MSPComplete page, then click the All Products button and select MigrationWiz.
  2. 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 and project sharing must be enabled, if the project was not created under your account.
  3. Click the project that requires licenses to be applied.
  4. Check the box to the left of the email for the user(s) to whom you want to apply for a User Migration Bundle license.
  5. Click the More menu (3 stacked lines) at the top of the project page.
  6. Click Apply User Migration Bundle License.

Set Advanced and Support Options

Advanced Options allow you to choose your notifications, filtering, maintenance, licensing, performance, and some configuration options.

Support Options are advanced configurations that make use of PowerShell or code blocks to provide extra options or resources for your migration.

The following options are the most valuable for this migration scenario:

Set the Project Advanced Options

  • Under Support/Support Options add: 
    FolderMapping="^INBOX/->"This will map folders to the root label on the Destination mailboxes, rather than under inbox/labelname. 

Run Migration

The following sections will guide you through setting up and launching your migration. Each header is one step, with its component steps below. Follow these steps in order, and read the notes for important information about dependencies or best practices.

Run Verify Credentials

  1. Open the Project containing items you wish to validate.
  2. Select the items you wish to validate.
  3. Click the Start button in your dashboard.
  4. Select Verify Credentials from the drop-down list.
  5. Once complete, the results of the verification will be shown in the Status section.

Notify Users

Send out the final notification that the migration is beginning. Include when the migration will start, the expected duration, any usage instructions during migration, and any expected steps or notifications for the post-migration timeline.

Pre-Stage Pass

  1. Select the users.
  2. Click the Start button from the top, and select Pre-Stage Migration.
  3. Uncheck the box named Automatic Replies (This option will be removed from the Pre-Stage pass at a later date)
  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 once the Pre-Stage Pass has been completed for the users. Also, include the AutoDiscover (CName) setting. There are several options for this, based on the size of your project.

If Mail Coexistence is Required

If mail coexistence is required, you must set up mail forwards against those user accounts that are in the migration batches. This Google documentation explains how. 

Run Full (Delta) Pass Migration

  1. Select the users – you may either select individual users or select all users in a project by clicking the checkbox to the left of Source Email.
  2. Click the Start button from the top.
  3. Select Full Migration. If you want to delay your migration, then select the checkbox marked "Automatically start the migration at", and enter the date and time to have the migration start. To start a migration immediately, you do not need to select the scheduling option. IMPORTANT: It is recommended to only migrate Automatic Replies in the last migration pass for the user. 
  4. Click Start Migration. 

Run Retry Errors

Each error logged represents an item that was not migrated. MigrationWiz contains a mode in which you can resubmit the migration to retry failed items. This mode of operation is always free of charge. You may only submit mailboxes in this mode only if they satisfy all of the following conditions:

  1. The last migration was completed successfully.
  2. The mailbox contains at least one error.

If your mailbox does not satisfy these conditions, you will receive a warning when submitting the migration in this mode and your request will not be fulfilled.

To submit one or more mailboxes in retry mode, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Go To My Projects button.
  2. Select the project that contains the mailboxes that you want to retry.
  3. Select the mailboxes that have migration errors.
  4. Click on the Start button.
  5. Select Retry Errors from the menu.
  6. Click the Retry Errors button.

When errors are repaired, they will disappear from the error log. Some errors may not disappear if the Source item was not reprocessed (due to filters, for example), has been deleted or moved, or if the item failed again.

Review the information and act accordingly. If problems persist, contact Support.

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

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