Migrate IMAP to Exchange

IMAP to Exchange migration plan

Planning is one of the most important steps before you begin migrating your IMAP data to Exchange. Prepare the target environment and have a backup plan in place to avoid potential risks and data loss. Here is a brief checklist of points to consider before you migrate.

1. Take a complete backup of all the mailboxes, folders, calendars, contacts on the source server.
2. Remove unused mailboxes, mail items and duplicate files from the source.
3. Make an inventory of items before you make the move. These should include but are not limited to the following items.
   • User accounts, email addresses and login credentials
   • The source and target details, browser and operating systems used
   • Network settings, DNS configurations, MX records, firewall settings
   • Outlook settings and version you are using in your organization.
   • Licensing plans on your current source server
   • Active Directory configuration and other dependencies associated with it.
   • List of data and permissions from the source server that you want to transfer.
4. Determine the size of the data and number of mailboxes you want to migrate.
   • Decide if you want to migrate everything at once (cutover migration) or plan to migrate your data in stages (staged migration).
   • Decide if you plan to migrate your source mailboxes to Public folders, In-Place Archive or Shared mailboxes.
5. Create user mailboxes on the target Exchange server and assign licenses to them.
6. Ensure you have enough network capacity and bandwidth to migrate.
7. Consider the throttling and message size limits for the migration.
8. Communicate the migration plan and changes to your end users and stakeholders.
9. Perform a test migration from the source to the target before you start the actual one.
10. Start the actual migration, verify the endpoints and update the MX records.
11. Check for correct mail flow and configure Outlook for all the users.
12. Decommission unused apps and their settings post migration.

I. IMAP to Exchange pre migration activities

On the source IMAP server:

1. Take a complete backup of all your users data, configuration and messages
2. If you plan to migrate multiple users without the administrator login, prepare a CSV file with the list of all user mailboxes.
3. Find your IMAP server name and related connection settings.

On the target Exchange server:

• Step 1: Check that your system meets the Exchange server setup requirements.

  Note: Exchange 2010 has reached the end of support on October 13, 2020 and Exchange 2013 will reach the end of support on April 11, 2023. Therefore it is highly recommended that you migrate your mailboxes and Public folders to Exchange 2016 or 2019.

  If you are planning to migrate IMAP to a Hosted Exchange server, skip to ‘Create mailboxes and Public folders on the Exchange server’ in the following section.

  The following links help you to set up your target Exchange server. Learn more about the network, hardware, coexistence scenarios, and operating system requirements for installing Exchange.

  1. Exchange 2013 Server setup
  2. Network and directory requirement for Exchange 2016
  3. Network and directory requirement for Exchange 2019
  4. Hardware Requirements for Exchange 2016
  5. Hardware Requirements for Exchange 2019
  6. Supported operating systems for Exchange 2016
  7. Supported operating systems for Exchange 2019
• Step 2: Prepare your system with the following prerequisites for Exchange

  Complete the following prerequisites for Active Directory, Windows Mailbox server, and Windows Edge Transport servers before installing the target Exchange server.

  1. Exchange 2019 prerequisites for preparing Active Directory (AD)
  2. Windows Server prerequisites for Exchange 2019
  3. Exchange 2016 prerequisites for preparing Active Directory (AD)
  4. Windows Server prerequisites for Exchange 2016

Set up the target Exchange server for migration

Given below is a list of key points for installing and preparing the Exchange server for migration.

• Step 1: Prepare AD and domains
  1. Before installing the Exchange server you need to prepare your Active Directory forest and its domains for the new version of Exchange.
  2. If you have a separate team to manage the Active Directory schema, you need to first extend the active directory schema, else proceed to the next step to prepare the Active Directory.
  3. If you have multiple domains you need to additionally prepare the Active Directory domains.
• Step 2: Install Exchange server on your computer

  Ensure that you meet the server system requirements and prerequisites as outlined previously. Next, follow the link to install Exchange 2016 or install Exchange 2019 from the setup wizard based on which server you want to migrate to.

• Step 3: Prepare a clean Exchange target environment
  1. Create and configure a Send connector to send mail outside the Exchange organization.
  2. By default, Exchange automatically creates receive connectors for inbound mail flow when the mailbox server is installed. If you must configure receive connectors manually, follow the steps in the link.
  3. Add accepted domains to allow recipients to send and receive email from another domain.
  4. Configure the default email address policy to add the accepted domain to every recipient in the organization.
  5. Configure external URLs (domains) on the virtual directories in the Client Access (frontend) services on the Mailbox server to allow clients to connect to your server from the internet (outside the organization’s network).
  6. Configure internal URLs on the virtual directories in the Client Access (frontend) services on the Mailbox server to allow clients to connect to your server from the internal network.
  7. Configure SSL certificates from a third-party certificate authority for services such as Outlook Anywhere and Exchange ActiveSync.
  8. Verify the Exchange server installation by running the command Get-ExchangeServer on the Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
• Step 4: Create mailboxes and Public folders on the Exchange server

  Before you migrate your mail data, ensure that you create mailboxes on the target server and assign suitable licenses to them. For the Public folder migration, create mail-enabled Public folders.

  •  See how to create mailboxes in Exchange server
  •  Steps to create Public folder in Exchange server
• Step 5: Assign management roles to the admin account

  Set the following permissions to the admin account on the target Exchange server to migrate mailboxes on behalf of other users in your organization.

  1. ApplicationImpersonation
  2. View-Only Recipients
  3. View-Only Configuration

  Also assign the Organization Management role group to the admin user. It is an elevated permission that is required for mailbox and Public folder migration.

• Step 6: Verify the mailbox of the admin account

  Check to see if the admin account that has been assigned management roles has a valid and non-hidden mailbox on the Exchange server.

• Step 7: Configure the throttling and message-size limits

  Change the EWS throttling and message size limits manually on the Exchange server by following the steps in the link.

  1. Change the EWS throttling settings on Exchange server
  2. Change message size limits on Exchange

II. How to migrate emails from IMAP to Exchange?

• Step 1: Download and install EdbMails IMAP migration tool
  • Download EdbMails and install the application on any Windows computer. You can also perform the migration operation by installing EdbMails on a non-Exchange server computer.
  • Launch the application and click ‘Login’ or ‘Start Your Free Trial’.
  • Select the migration method as IMAP migration

   See list of EdbMails system requirements for IMAP migration.

  Note: If the Standard folders (such as Inbox, Calendar, Contacts) on your source Exchange server mailboxes are initialized with a different language, follow the below details to migrate these folders to the respective system folders on the target (destination) server.

  For Instance: If your source Inbox folder is named 'Boîte de réception', which is in French language and you migrate this folder directly to the destination server, then by default it will not be mapped to the 'Inbox' folder on the target server. In order to map the folder with the french name to the respective folder, change the regional settings on the target server to match that of your source mailbox folder language (in this case, it is French).

   Click here to know the steps to change the language and regional settings on Exchange

• Step 2: Connect to a single or multiple users on the IMAP server

  Select ‘IMAP Migration’ from EdbMails main interface. Select the Host Name from the list. You can also enter the host name of the IMAP server manually. Enter the Post Number: 993, and SSL/TLS as shown in the connection window.

  

  If you want to migrate multiple mailboxes, select ‘Multiple (bulk) Users/Accounts Migration’. Download the sample CSV file and add in the required details such as mailbox name, password, host name and port. Load the CSV file into EdbMails and verify the list mailboxes to continue.

  

   See steps to connect to single and multiple users in EdbMails IMAP migration

• Step 3: Select mailboxes from the IMAP server and connect to Exchange
  • Select the mailboxes and folders from the left panel.
  • Click ‘Migrate to Live Exchange’ to set up the connection with the target server.

     See tips to optimize IMAP migration to Exchange

    

     Tip: If this is the first time you’re migrating with EdbMails, the migration is a full migration. On subsequent migrations from the same source to the target, the migration is incremental.

    EdbMails provides the following additional options to help you perform staged migration based on a Date and other conditions.

    • Additional Include and Exclude Filter Options and migration settings for mailboxes.
    • Filter emails by Date: Migrate to IMAP to Exchange by applying the Date filter
    • Filter emails by Size: Exclude emails from migration larger than a specified size.

    

• Step 4: Connect to target Exchange server as Global Admin

  Connect to the target server by selecting the option ‘Connect using Global Admin User’ and the migration scenario as Mailboxes, Public folder or Archive Mailbox. You can also load the mailboxes using a CSV file. See the instructions on how to use the different Exchange server connection methods supported by EdbMails.

   With EdbMails, you can migrate mailboxes, public folders, and archive mailboxes from the source Exchange to the target server.

  

• Step 5: Map the mailboxes between the source and the target

  The mapping activity in EdbMails can automatically match and map the mailboxes and folders between the two Exchange servers and saves time when you’re migrating a large number of mailboxes.

  

• Step 6: Start the IMAP to Exchange migration

  Start and monitor the migration operation after you complete the mailbox mapping. Finally, verify the count of migrated emails, folders and mailbox items with EdbMails text-based log report.

  

III. Post-migration tasks

• Step 1: Update DNS records (MX record) to point to the new server

  If you have not done this step previously, change the DNS records known as MX records to enable and receive email messages on the target server. In addition to this setup, configure the Autodiscover record to allow Outlook to connect to the migrated mailboxes.

• Step 2: Create a new Outlook profile for users in the new domain

  Remove any previous instances of the email account you may have on Outlook to avoid conflicts with Exchange. Configure and recreate the Outlook profile for each user in your domain after you complete the migration.

IV. Migration troubleshooting

 See the migration troubleshooting guide for possible solutions related to common errors. For more information on EdbMails IMAP migration, see frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Benefits of EdbMails for IMAP to Exchange migration

1. Directly migrate emails from IMAP to Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010.
2. Ideal tool for IMAP to Exchange and IMAP to Hosted Exchange migration
3. With EdbMails you can migrate to Exchange Public folders, Shared mailboxes and In-Place Archive.
4. Include and exclude filters enable you to selectively migrate emails based on Date, Subject, Attachment, Sender.
5. Folder options enable you to exclude mail folders such as Junk, Inbox, Drafts, Conversation History.
6. EdbMails is a highly secure tool and maintains a perfect data consistency between the source and target.
7. Supports migrations from all IMAP enabled email servers.
8. The application is compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7 and all Windows server versions.
9. Free trial and free 24x7 customer support to help you with the migration.

If you require further assistance, contact EdbMails 24x7 support. Try the free trial version today to migrate emails from IMAP to Exchange.