Office 365

How to Migrate Office 365 to Exchange Server?

To move your Microsoft 365/Office 365 data to an on-premises Exchange server, the most common option is the IMAP protocol. However, you can only transfer your emails and email-related data using IMAP. If you only want this, then I am going to explain various methods to transfer your emails.

But why do people want to migrate their emails? There are many reasons behind this.

Reasons to Migrate Office 365 to Exchange Server

• Working with Office 365, you are completely dependent on Microsoft. So, to get full control over the email infrastructure, people move to Exchange Server.
• By moving to hosted Exchange, you can save your emails on physical hardware, which restricts any third-party vendors from accessing your organization’s important messages.
• If you are working in a specific geographic location. Then, many use Exchange Server to set up local data centers.
• Your emails in shared platforms are vulnerable to anyone reading and misusing them. But a hosted server eliminates this and keeps your communication private.
• On-premises servers offer you custom perimeter firewalls, air-gapped systems, and monitoring tools, which are not supported by Microsoft 365.
• Some also move from Office 365 to Exchange to reduce the dependability of cloud services.

There are several reasons for organizations to move from Office 365 to Exchange Server. However, in order to smoothly transfer your mailbox, follow the expert advice steps first.

Prerequisites to Transfer Emails to a Hosted Server

• Make sure each user account is valid and has correct credentials.
• Enabling IMAP access is a must when you have to move the mailbox. If required, enable it from Exchange Server.
• Properly backup Office 365 mailbox to protect from any unforeseen accidents in the future.
• Install and configure your Exchange Server correctly on your desktop.
• Create your destination mailboxes or user accounts to move your emails.
• Note down the IMAP server settings of Office 365
  • Incoming Server: outlook.office365.com
  • Port: 993
  • Encryption: SSL/TLS
• Properly verify your authentication method for Office 365 and Exchange Server.

Manually Migrate Office 365 to Exchange Server (Microsoft Native Hybrid Remote Move)

It is a native tool provided by Microsoft that allows you to pull mailboxes from cloud Exchange Online to a local Exchange Server. It uses zero end-user downtime and updates your Outlook client profiles. It works in stages.

Stage 1: On-Premise Prerequisites

There are some prerequisites that you must follow to perform this process.

1. First, verify that Microsoft Entra Connect is properly synchronizing the identity accounts. This is between the local Active Directory and the cloud.
2. Install a third-party public SSL certificate issued by a trusted CA on your local Exchange Client Access Servers.
3. Properly configure your perimeter firewalls to allow traffic from the public Exchange-only IP address
4. Also, make sure that your local Exchange database has enough hard disk space to hold the incoming emails.

Stage 2: Turn On the On-Premise MRSProxy Service

MRSProxy is the one who handle cross-premises transfer. So you have to manually enable it.

1. First, log in to your hosted Exchange Admin Center.
2. Click Servers and then Virtual Directories.
3. Find the Client Access Server. Then choose the EWS (Exchange Web Services) virtual directory.
4. Click the Edit icon.
5. Enable the MRSProxy URL and save the changes.

Stage 3: Create Inbound Migration Endpoint

1. Go to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Admin Center.
2. Select Migration from the menu and then Endpoints.
3. Click the Add icon and select Exchange Remote/Hybrid as your type.
4. Provide the fully Qualified Domain Name of your local Exchange server.
5. Also provide on-premises Windows domain administrator credentials to authorize the connection.

Stage 4: Launch Offboarding Migration

1. In the cloud Exchange Admin Center. Click Recipients, then Migration.
2. Select Add Migration Batch. Give the batch a unique name and click Move to Exchange on-premises (remote move)
3. Select the users you want to move, or you can upload a mapping file containing all your usernames.
4. Click the pre-configured target migration endpoint. Enter the Target delivery domain.
5. Choose an admin account to receive the final logs. Then, Save button.

This method, as you can see, is lengthy, but it is a nice manual way to move your emails from Office 365 to Exchange Server. However, you need a proper administrator account. It is time-consuming, and it does not move all your emails. Instead of this, a professional option would be great for you.

Migrate Office 365 Emails to Exchange Account Professionally

FreeViewer IMAP Migration Tool is a direct option to move your emails. It uses IMAP to transfer your mailbox. It is one of the great options that can migrate emails in just five to six steps. Individual users do not need the permission of administrative permission to transfer emails. As it required just the IMAP server settings and the source and destination email addresses. The software has a free demo version that you can use to transfer your mailbox without any issues. Here’s how this tool works.

Working Steps of the Software

1. Start by installing the software on your Windows and Mac computers.
   
2. Select IMAP in both tabs (source and destination). If you want, you can also apply a date filter for selective migration.
   
3. Now, select the Office 365 option from the IMAP server. Then, click the Validate button.
4. In the next dashboard, choose the Other option, then provide the Exchange IMAP server URL and port. Also, validate the account.
   
5. Now, you can add your source and destination user IDs by downloading the template. Add the information and then manually import it into the software.
6. Lastly, validate your user IDs and then click Start Migration.
   

Conclusion

In this blog, I have explained two ways to migrate Office 365 to Exchange Server. Manually, you can use the native offboarding process. This is a lengthy process, but by properly following all the stages, you can transfer your mailbox. In this, you required administration accounts, and is time-consuming. Therefore, there is professional software to transfer your mailbox in fewer steps.