savvisdirect White Papers Migrating Accounts to Hosted Microsoft Exchange

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1 savvisdirect White Papers Migrating Accounts to Hosted Microsoft Exchange Services not available everywhere. CenturyLink may change or cancel services or substitute similar services at its sole discretion without notice CenturyLink, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The CenturyLink mark, savvisdirect mark, pathways logo and certain CenturyLink and savvisdirect product names are the property of CenturyLink, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

2 White Papers Migrating Accounts to Hosted Microsoft Exchange communication, calendaring and contacts have become the lifeline for most organizations as a way to manage business and communicate with internal staff as well as customers, partners and vendors. If you are like most organizations, you chose an management system that, at the time, may have met the needs of your business. But now you are looking for a solution that will provide a rich set of advanced features, yet be easy to implement and manage. savvisdirect offers a full-feature solution at an affordable price. Our cloud-based Microsoft Exchange and collaboration solution will provide your organization, be it large or small, with the right tools, all delivered on cloud technology. Now the only thing standing between you and all the benefits of a cloud-hosted Microsoft Exchange solution is how you get all of your existing s migrated, for your entire organization, to your newly hosted accounts. Continue reading this document for a complete understanding of the process and how savvisdirect can help make this process simple and fast for you. savvisdirect has the answer with a cutting edge service called FastForward Onboarding SM that can assist and guide companies like yours make the change from your existing product to your new Microsoft Exchange solution. By Reading This White Paper, IT Administrators and Business Users will Learn: What the benefits are for using Microsoft Exchange. The different phases in the migration process and how savvisdirect will assist you during the process. What preparations you will need to get ready for migrating your existing s to your newly hosted accounts A thorough understanding of a successful migration process to your new, cloudbased Microsoft Exchange environment. This document assumes that the reader has already established a Microsoft Hosted Exchange account with savvisdirect. 2

3 Features and Benefits of Microsoft Exchange Microsoft Exchange from savvisdirect gives you the and collaboration capabilities you need, whether you re a small business adding employees or a large one with thousands. With a cloud-based Microsoft Exchange solution you can access , messaging and calendars all on the go, regardless of device, and on a browser, or through a client. You ll be connected to the cloud via redundant 1Gbps network segments, and with 99.99% availability, you don t have to sacrifice performance or uptime. With Microsoft Hosted Exchange from savvisdirect you only pay for what you use on a monthly basis and user accounts are easily added or removed through an intuitive online Management Console. We manage the server maintenance and patching. When you re ready to get started, we ll even help you migrate seamlessly and simply. Welcome to a whole new way of becoming more productive, while reducing the burden of IT. Microsoft Exchange Features Include: Low-cost, high-capacity mailboxes ActiveSync for synchronized mobile Daily Exchange server backup Outlook client download Active Directory Synchronization 99.99% SLA uptime Outlook Web Application Automatic software patch updates Mobile app Management Console Full 24/7 Operational Support Shareable online calendar Continually updated anti-virus protection Three-Phase Migration Process: There are many factors that affect how simple or complex an migration may be. Factors include the number of mailboxes; the data size of each mailbox; which type of product the s are being migrated from; along with a number of other mobile access, calendaring and contact list considerations. These are all taken into account during the planning phase. The good news is that savvisdirect Cloud Support Team uses a wide variety of tools that help to make migrating existing accounts to your new Hosted Microsoft Exchange accounts straightforward and seamless. The result is we take what could be a complex and timeconsuming task for you and get you up and running on your new, Hosted Exchange server in no time. Our three-phase approach is industry-leading and proven for success: Phase I Interview & Planning Phase II Execution & Migration Phase III Configuration & Wrap-up 3

4 Phrase I: Interview and Planning Interview and Planning is one of the key phases to facilitating a smooth migration. During this phase, you and your Cloud Support Team will review the information that you have provided in the pre-interview questionnaire and will plan the best execution strategy for your migration. The following outlines the steps necessary for Phase I of the migration process. Step 1: Determine the type of existing solution you have. There are many different types of data migrations that are possible and the first step is to determine what type of product that you currently have and if it can be migrated to Hosted Exchange. savvisdirect currently supports the following types of migrations: POP IMAP Microsoft Office 365 Existing Gmail (Google Apps) Mozzilla Thunderbird MBOX Eudora Outlook Express Microsoft Outlook/ Exchange Plus Others New Microsoft Exchange If you don t see your current product on the list, please use our Live Chat or call our Cloud Support Team to see how we can help. 4

5 Step 2: Pre-Interview Questionnaire Once you have confirmed that your existing solution can be migrated to Microsoft Exchange, the next step is to gather other important pieces of information that will help prepare you and savvisdirect in developing your customized migration plan. Data Needed Explanation Data Needed Explanation Business Name With proper formatting Customer Name First and Last Name Customer Phone Number For customer appointments Domain Name Associated with transfer. If more than one, add them all. Number of Inboxes How many accounts on the domain(s)? Current Type of i.e. POP, IMAP, Exchange, Google, etc. Is this a multi-site setup? Usually reserved for local Exchange servers only. Current Provider Enter company name. If hosted locally, put LOCAL. Password Change If no, customer will provide original passwords. If YES, we ll generate new ones. Average Size of Inbox Measured in GB. If lower than 1GB use decimals. Number of Workstations How many stations will need to be reconfigured? Active Sync Quantity How many devices need Android or iphone access? BlackBerry Access How many s need BlackBerry access? Additional or Upgraded Software How many workstations need additional or upgraded software Outlook, Entourage, etc.? Special Instructions List any special instructions you need. What data will be migrated? Messages Folders Attachements Archives Address Books Calendars Tasks Current Registrar Information Information on where existing domain is registered Step 3: Set up the Interview Time. Once you complete the information for the Pre-Interview Questionnaire, it is time to schedule an appointment with a member of our savvisdirect Cloud Support Team. There are several ways to do this: 1. In your Welcome after establishing your Hosted Microsoft Exchange account there is a link to the scheduling calendar. Click on that link. 2. On the savvisdirect Management Console there is a link to the Scheduling Calendar. Click on this link. 3. Phone 1 (855) and speak to a member of our Cloud Support Team to schedule an appointment. 5

6 Step 4: Your Interview with a Cloud Support Team Member. During the interview process, you and your Cloud Support Team member will develop a plan best suited for your particular situation. Here is what you can expect: A. Your Cloud Support Team member will review your Pre-Interview Questionnaire with you to ensure a firm understanding of your migration requirements. B. They will work with you to establish a migration plan and timeline. C. Your Cloud Support Team member will identify any potential risks, and confirm and agree to the plan timeline and expectations. Phase II: Execution and Migration During this phase, your Cloud Support Team member will take control over the process. savvisdirect uses a number of industry-leading migration tools designed to help automate the migration process for a wide range of possible migration scenarios. In every step of the process, your Cloud Support Team member is there ensuring the process goes forward without a hitch. There are multiple migration paths that can be followed depending on your particular situation. Documented below is one possible path that can be taken, and represents a general approach that may be followed: Step 1: Verify Properly Provisioned Microsoft Exchange Account The Cloud Support Team member will work with you to ensure that your Hosted Exchange account is properly set up and configured, and ready to begin the migration process. Step 2: Account Migration and Configuration During this step, the Cloud Support Team member will execute on the agreed-upon plan to migrate user accounts and account configurations. Once completed, you will be contacted to review the information and validate that the account information/configurations were successfully migrated. Step 3: Change MX Record Your MX Record that specifies the mail server responsible for accepting your new s needs to be updated with your new Hosted Microsoft Exchange information. Your Cloud Support Team member will provide assistance in completing this step. Please allow approximately 72 hours for this information to properly propagate to the DNS servers on the Internet. During the DNS propagation period, s may be routed to your old or new accounts. This is an expected result of how MX Records are managed and your Cloud Support Team member would have addressed and planned for this with you during the planning phase. 6

7 Step 4: Migration: Armed with industry-leading tools that have proven to successfully migrate large numbers of s, your Cloud Support Team member will begin executing moving s from your old account to your new Hosted Exchange account. The timeframe on how long this process takes depends on a number of different factors, including the number of s and the size of the data being transferred. During the planning process, your Cloud Support Team member will work with you to determine an estimate of the time required for the data migration. During this time, users should still be able to send and receive s, and depending on your migration plan, this could be done through your old account or your new Hosted Exchange account. This would be one of the details that would be agreed upon during your planning phase based on what would work best for your particular situation. Most business mailboxes are cluttered with old and unnecessary messages. Before your migration, it would be advisable to ask users to reduce their mailbox size. In doing so, it reduces the amount of data to be moved. Our cloud specialist can work with you to provide information on how you can archive and other ways to save data from . Step 5: Migration Verified Upon successful migration of your data, the Cloud Support Team member will work with you to verify that all data was successfully migrated. Depending on the number and size of your boxes, often the migration will be performed in batches. Your Cloud Support Team member will work with you to determine the best approach to the size and frequency of batches and for each batch, Steps 5 and 6 are repeated. Phase III: Configuration and Wrap-Up During this phase, you can expect your Cloud Support Team member to help you go through a final verification of migrated data and complete all account configurations. During this phase, user cutover is completed and guidance on mobile device support is provided. Step 1: Cutover to New Account and Create an Autodiscover Record At this point in the process, all necessary steps and configurations will be in place to allow you and your team to officially begin using your new accounts. Your Cloud Support Team member will ensure that an Autodiscover Record is added at the domain registrar. By providing an Autodiscover Record, among enabling a host of other features, users are enabled to easily configure their client on mobile devices by only knowing their address and password. In addition to setting up your Autodiscover Record, savvisdirect will ensure your Domain Name Server (DNS) is pointed correctly. 7

8 White Paper: savvisdirect CloudStorage Step 2: End-User Set-Up of and Mobile Devices At this point in the process, your Cloud Support Team member will assist you in ensuring that individual users have properly configured accounts and will assist you with downloading, installing and configuring the Outlook 2010 client application that is included with your Hosted Microsoft Exchange product. In addition, savvisdirect will assist in helping users connect to their s through the use of their mobile devices, such as smartphones. Step 3: Final Pass at Migration Because of the delay between the time your MX Record is changed and the time all of the DNS servers are propagated, as defined in Phase II, Step 3, there may have been s delivered to the old accounts. This final sweep of the old accounts will capture any remaining data and will complete the data migration. Your Cloud Support Team member will work with you to confirm that this final pass is completed and verified. Step 4: Configure Add-On Solutions During the Interview and Planning Phase, you and your Cloud Support Team member will have discussed the benefits of using additional solutions, such as Archiving and Backup, and Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus Protection. It would be at this time of the Configuration and Wrap-Up Phase that your Cloud Support Team member would work with you to ensure successful deployment and configuration of these and other add-on solutions. savvisdirect offers a full-feature Migration Solution at an affordable price. Contact Stay up to date on the latest savvisdirect news by reading our blog at savvisdirect.com/blog. Or follow us on or like us on Facebook. If you are interested in learning more about our Hosted Microsoft Exchange product or the migration process, please visit us online at or call our Cloud Support Team at today CenturyLink, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The CenturyLink mark, savvisdirect mark, pathways logo and certain CenturyLink and savvisdirect product names are the property of CenturyLink, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Services and offers not available everywhere. Savvis may change or cancel services or substitute similar services at its sole discretion without notice. Offer, plans and stated rates are subject to change and may vary by service area. All services require payment by credit card. Monthly recurring charges will be assessed in advance and are non-refundable under any circumstances, and usage-based and non-recurring charges will be assessed when incurred or on the first day of the next billing cycle, at Savvis sole discretion. Offers may not be combined. Additional restrictions may apply. Plans, Terms and Conditions - Customer must accept savvisdirect terms and conditions and all applicable third party terms and conditions, as required. Service level agreements (SLAs) in the terms and conditions describe customer s sole remedy for service quality or performance issues of any kind. All rates exclude taxes, fees and surcharges, as applicable. Monthly recurring charges include listed features and service has no term commitment.