Exchange, Skype, SharePoint and 3,700 archives to Microsoft 365
Exchange 2007 and 2010 were failing daily, databases were full, and earlier vendors had not fixed it. We moved mail, chat, SharePoint, file shares and 3,700 inactive mailboxes to Microsoft 365, department by department.
What stood in the way
Daily Exchange downtime
Exchange 2007 and 2010 failing every day.
Databases full
Four databases of 250 GB+ dismounting daily, with no room to grow.
Failed previous attempts
Other vendors had tried and not delivered.
Everything to the cloud
Active Directory, file servers, applications and SharePoint, for cost and scale.
SharePoint sprawl
Too many sub-sites, no standards, no administration control.
Audit and patching
Compliance audits and patching hard to keep up on-premises.
From diagnosis to design
What we found
- 1,300 active and 3,700 inactive accounts across Exchange 2007 and 2010
- Four databases, all 250 GB+
- OWA only on Exchange 2007; one global catalog server
- Email routed via DNS with Barracuda as smart host
What we did
- ADFS and DirSync configured; AD users synchronised
- On-premises to Microsoft 365 connector; migration batches by group
- Staged mailbox migration with UAT after every group
- Skype for Business rolled out company-wide
- SharePoint and OneDrive migrated with permissions and workflows intact
How it is built
- Export listAll disabled users
- Customer verifiesList signed off
- Full backupExchange 2007 and 2010
- Export to PSTExMerge / PowerShellto a central share
- Clean & defragRemove inactive accountsreclaim database space
Three phases, each signed off before the next
Identity, mail and chat
Active Directory sync with ADFS and DirSync, database relief, Exchange migration in staged batches by department and location with UAT after each group, Skype for Business company-wide.
SharePoint, OneDrive and file servers
Sites and sub-sites, content types, managed metadata, lists, permissions and workflows to SharePoint Online; file servers to OneDrive for Business.
Archival of disabled users
3,700 inactive mailboxes exported to PST on a central share, verified in Outlook, databases cleaned and defragmented.
What the client gained
No more mail or database issues
A fully Microsoft-managed infrastructure with high availability and DR.
45% lower OPEX
Compared with running the same estate on-premises.
Chat, calls and conferencing
Skype for Business across the organisation.
SharePoint Online anywhere
Easier external access, new features, 99.9% SLA, no patching.
Archives on demand
Mailboxes retrievable from the share; administrators search historic PSTs.
Capacity back
Database servers freed after archival.
Technology
Tell us what you need to build, move or run.
An engineer reads every enquiry, not a sales script. We come back with an approach, a team and a plan you can hold us to.