Plesk to Office 365 migration
Plesk, much like cPanel, offers a reliable web hosting service with integrated email management, providing a user-friendly control panel for both Linux and Windows users. However, as businesses grow and evolve, the limitations of Plesk particularly in terms of advanced collaboration become more apparent. Unlike Office 365, which provides seamless integration of business tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with the cloud, Plesk requires ongoing server maintenance and management. To migrate Plesk to Office 365 not only eliminates server upkeep but also enhances productivity through cloud-based applications, collaboration tools like SharePoint and Teams, and a streamlined administration center. For businesses seeking scalability and advanced features, Office 365 emerges as a far more comprehensive solution compared to Plesk’s offering.
User Query
For the reasons stated above, many users seek suitable methods to migrate Plesk to Office 365. When it comes to transferring large amounts of data, cloud and data migration is always difficult. Many users asked us if we knew of a suitable approach in light of the preceding discussions. As a result, we decided to document the migration steps using EdbMails IMAP migration.
"Since we switched web hosts, we've been looking for a suitable method to migrate our mailboxes from Plesk to Office 365. We're not very good at these migrations because we tried a few solutions and ran into problems. Our main requirement is that our data be moved as smoothly as possible. Could you please guide us in the right direction? Thank you very much."
Challenges in Plesk to Office 365 migration
- Incompatibility in data structure, requiring folder and mailbox mapping.
- Reconfiguring DNS for proper email flow and security protocols.
- IMAP limitations for migrating email items.
- Adjusting security for MFA and OAuth 2.0 compliance.
- Synchronizing mail flow to avoid downtime during migration.
- Mapping user permissions between Plesk and Office 365.
- Optimizing bandwidth for efficient bulk data transfer.
- Managing Plesk extensions without direct Office 365 equivalents.
- Ensuring compliance with Office 365’s retention and legal policies.
Why do users prefer EdbMails for Plesk to Office 365 migration?
Migrating from Plesk to Office 365 using manual methods often introduces risks such as data loss or corruption. EdbMails IMAP migration software provides a secure, efficient, and user-friendly solution, simplifying the migration process with an intuitive interface suitable for both technical and non-technical users. The software employs advanced algorithms to ensure a seamless transfer of emails, and other essential data, maintaining integrity throughout the migration. Key features like incremental migration ensure that only new or modified data is transferred, preventing data duplication. Automated mailbox mapping eliminates the risk of manual errors by automatically mapping Plesk mailboxes with Office 365 accounts, ensuring accurate data migration. Additionally, concurrent migration enables multiple mailboxes to be migrated simultaneously, significantly reducing overall migration time and minimizing operational disruption. With these advanced features, EdbMails delivers a secure, reliable, and fast solution for seamless Plesk to Office 365 migration.
Plesk to Office 365 migration planning
Planning is one of the important factors to take into account. Setting up a backup strategy, getting the source and target environments ready, and testing your backup approach are all necessary to lower risks and prevent data loss. The following are the list of items to consider before the move.
- Ensure that your current mailboxes, mail, and source data are fully backed up.
- Select the number of mailboxes you wish to transfer from Plesk to Office 365.
- List all the Plesk data and permissions you want to migrate.
- Create the necessary user mailboxes and assign licenses in Office 365.
- Make sure you have enough network and bandwidth for migration.
- Perform a test migration before you start the actual relocation.
Plesk to Office 365 migration prerequisites
Follow the below pre-migration activities while migrating Plesk to Office 365
- Ensure that you have admin access Plesk and Office 365 accounts
The admin account that has all the necessary permissions to migrate mailboxes on behalf of all the users in your organization. Make sure to assign the Organization Management role group and impersonation rights to the admin user on Office 365.
- Create Office 365 mailboxes and assign the licenses
Click here to Add users and assign licenses to Office 365 users
- To migrate Plesk mailboxes to Office 365 Public folders, ensure that you create a public folder and assign users to mailboxes on the Office 365 server.
- If you are in plan to migrate mailboxes to Office 365 archive mailboxes, ensure to enable In-Place archive in Office 365 admin center.
Steps to enable archive mailbox in Microsoft 365.
- If you have a custom email domain from the source which you want to retain and receive emails to, you must add and verify the domain on Office 365.
Steps to add a custom domain to Office 365 and steps to add DNS records to connect your domain.
- Customize the message size limits for large size messages
Follow the steps to increase the message size on Office 365 to 150MB. See message size limits on Office 365 for more information.
- Ensure that you have admin access Plesk and Office 365 accounts
Steps to migrate Plesk to Office 365 using EdbMails
Step 1: Download and install EdbMails IMAP migration application
- Download EdbMails and install the application on any computer operating on Windows OS.
- See a detailed list of EdbMails system requirements for IMAP migration
- Launch the application and click 'Login' or 'Start Your Free Trial'
- Choose ‘IMAP Migration’ from the dropdown options
Step 2: Connect to source Plesk server
- To migrate a single user, provide the Host Name, the Port Number (993 for SSL), and the account credentials to establish a connection with the Plesk Mail server.
- To migrate multiple mailboxes, choose the 'Multiple (bulk) Users/Accounts Migration' option. Download the sample CSV template and input the necessary details, including mailbox names, passwords, host names, and ports. Once the CSV file is prepared, upload it into EdbMails, review the listed mailboxes, and proceed with the migration.
Steps to connect to single and multiple users in EdbMails IMAP migration
- To migrate a single user, provide the Host Name, the Port Number (993 for SSL), and the account credentials to establish a connection with the Plesk Mail server.
Step 3: Select source Plesk server mailboxes
- Select the mailboxes and folders you wish to migrate from the left panel.
- Next, click on ‘IMAP to Office 365’ to initiate the connection with the destination server.
Step 4: Connect to target Office 365 server
- Select the optimal method for secure OAuth-based modern authentication. The default method, ‘Auto Registration’, necessitates Global admin access. Alternatively, with the Manual Registration method, you may use either a Global admin account or any user account that possesses full access rights.
- Next, choose the appropriate migration option and proceed to log in on the Microsoft sign-in page.
- EdbMails automatically loads mailboxes from your Plesk Mail server. Additionally, it supports the use of CSV files to efficiently load mailboxes into Office 365.
- Select the optimal method for secure OAuth-based modern authentication. The default method, ‘Auto Registration’, necessitates Global admin access. Alternatively, with the Manual Registration method, you may use either a Global admin account or any user account that possesses full access rights.
Step 5: Plesk to Office 365 mailboxes mapping
- Select the mapping option that best aligns with your requirements.
- EdbMails features an automated mailbox creation for Office 365, streamlining the setup of target mailboxes and seamlessly mapping mailboxes and folders from the source IMAP server. This functionality is beneficial when managing large volumes of mailboxes, ensuring a smooth and efficient migration process.
- Click the ‘Folder and Item Filter’ button to set a filter for your migration. For instance, you can choose to migrate data only within a specific date range by applying a date filter. Additionally, you can exclude both standard and custom folders from the migration.
- Select the mapping option that best aligns with your requirements.
Step 6: Start Plesk to Office 365 migration
- After mapping the mailboxes, designate a job name and initiate the migration process. To review the migration report, click the ‘View Log’ button, which provides a comprehensive report detailing the number of emails, folders, and mailbox items successfully migrated.
- After mapping the mailboxes, designate a job name and initiate the migration process. To review the migration report, click the ‘View Log’ button, which provides a comprehensive report detailing the number of emails, folders, and mailbox items successfully migrated.
Plesk to Office 365 post migration tasks
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
If you have not done this step previously, change the DNS records known as MX records to enable email and receive messages on the target Office 365 server. In addition, 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
Configure the Outlook profile for each user in your domain if Outlook has problems connecting to Office 365 mailboxes.
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
Plesk to Office 365 migration troubleshooting
For assistance with common migration issues, please refer to the troubleshooting guide. For more in-depth details on EdbMails IMAP migration, visit the Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) section.
Advantages of EdbMails for Plesk to Office 365 migration
- Efficient email account migration with data integrity
EdbMails migrates email accounts from Plesk to Office 365 with high efficiency. The software transfers all mailbox data, including emails, attachments, folders, and other items, ensuring complete data integrity throughout the migration process. There’s no risk of data corruption, ensuring that your email content remains intact.
- Preserves mailbox structure and hierarchy
One of the standout features of EdbMails is its ability to preserve the original structure and hierarchy of your mailbox data during migration. This ensures that your emails and folders retain their organization, eliminating the need for post-migration reorganization, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.
- Selective migration for flexibility
EdbMails offers the flexibility to selectively migrate specific email folders or data within a given date range. This is particularly useful for businesses that want to migrate only relevant data, saving time and reducing migration size while avoiding unnecessary transfers.
- Batch migration for multiple accounts
With the ability to support batch migration, EdbMails allows you to migrate multiple email accounts simultaneously. This feature speeds up the migration process, ensuring that your team experiences minimal disruption while the migration is carried out in parallel, without the need for individual account transfers.
- Automatic mailbox mapping
EdbMails automates the mapping of source and target mailboxes, reducing the risk of errors and manual intervention. This streamlined process not only saves time but also ensures that each mailbox is properly aligned, leading to a more accurate and hassle-free migration.
- Preserves folder permissions and metadata
During migration, EdbMails ensures that all folder permissions and email metadata (such as read/unread status, sent/received times) are maintained. This helps avoid disruptions in user access and guarantees that email records are fully intact post-migration.
- Comprehensive migration reporting
EdbMails generates detailed migration reports, providing a thorough overview of the migration process. These reports are useful for reference, auditing, and troubleshooting, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the migration lifecycle.
- Free trial for evaluation
To ensure that EdbMails meets your needs, you can download and evaluate the software with the free trial, you can export up to 20 Plesk emails to an Office 365 account, allowing you to assess the software’s capabilities before committing to the full migration.
