Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration (self-hosted)

System Requirements

Environment

• 64 bit Operating system: Windows Server 2016+ (Clean build recommended)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
• Recommended system specification - Primary Server:
  • 3GHz 8 Core Processor or better
  • 200+GB Disk space
  • 16+GB Memory
• Recommended system specification - Secondary Server(s):
  • 3GHz 4 Core Processor or better
  • 100GB Disk space
  • 8+GB Memory

 

If you are looking to complete a 'large migration' (a migration of more than 25,000 users or 10 million objects), refer to the following articles for additional considerations:

• "Large Migration Infrastructure"
• Running SQL Server or Redis on an Independent Server
• Existing SQL Server Database Configuration

If you are storing Drive document mappings and running a large migration, contact the support team.

 

Required ports

Both primary and secondary CloudM Migrate servers communicate with source and destination platforms, and the CloudM Migrate licensing platform using HTTPS.

Typically, it is ports 80 and 443, but that can depend on the source platform and local network configuration.

There is also the following to consider:

• You may need to whitelist our license server: portal.thecloudmigrator.com
• SQL server runs on TCP 1433 and UDP 1434 
• Redis runs on port 6379
• Microsoft Message Queue on port 1801
• All of Google's API endpoints are listed here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/60764

 

Basic installation for single-server migrations

If you are completing a multi-server migration, skip to the Multi-Server Installation section of this guide.

 

Installation

Basic installation installs all components to a single machine and is suitable for performing migrations from a single server or as the main server in a multi-server migration. 

If you have specialised requirements, have a pre-existing SQL Server instance you would like to use, or will be performing multi-server migrations using a server farm, you should also review the advanced installation documentation.

The following components makeup and are used by CloudM Migrate:

• Web Application and Primary Service
• Secondary Service
• SQL Server Express 2017
• Redis

 

To start the installation:

1. Open a web browser, download the latest x64 CloudM Migrate executable and launch the installer as an administrator: CloudM Migrate Changelog and Download Link
2. Review and accept the license terms by checking the checkbox.
3. Click 'Next'.
4. All relevant fields will be selected / populated by default (with the exception of your web access credentials). To select an alternative installation directory: 
   • Click the ellipsis button (...) to the right of the 'Installation Path' field and browse to the required install destination. 
5. Set up your web access credentials with an email username and a password of your choice (which you will need to use to log in to the web application).
6. Click Install to proceed. This installation process can take some time.
7. Start CloudM Migrate by loading the web interface. Alternatively, the interfaces are available in the Start menu, under CloudM.

8. If you have any issues regarding the installation, refer to the next section of this article.
9. If the installation was successful, skip to Launching CloudM Migrate

 

Installation problems

If you have any issues when installing CloudM Migrate:

• Ensure that you have no pending Windows updates waiting to install. If you have Windows updates waiting to install, please install them and reboot.

• Check the following in the System Requirements:
  • You must be running a 64bit version of Windows.
  • You must be running Windows 8, 10, Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2016 R2.

• Try clearing your computer's temporary directory. This can be done using the disk cleanup application installed with Windows or by navigating in a Windows explorer window to %TEMP% and deleting the files from this directory.

• Check if any security or antivirus software may be preventing installation. CloudM Migrate needs to install custom firewall rules and make other system changes that some security packages may prevent. It is recommended to uninstall any non-Windows security software.
• Verify the checksum on your CloudM Migrate installation package to be sure the download is not corrupt. The latest checksums can be found on the CloudM Migrate Changelog page and files can be verified using CertUtil. MD5 and SHA1 checksums are provided.

• If the installer fails on the 'Prerequisites' package, and for any reason you have uninstalled SQL Server Express before an upgrade or reinstallation, make sure to delete the database files. These are in the following location by default:
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.POWEREDBY\MSSQL\DATA\PoweredBy.mdf
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.POWEREDBY\MSSQL\DATA\PoweredBy_log.ldf

 

Log Files

If you encounter any problems during the installation of CloudM Migrate, you will be presented with a message box outlining the error encountered, or you will be shown the failed installation dialog. 

 

Clicking on the Log link in the above screen will open a zip file. The number of files in this zip file can vary depending on the installation mode (e.g Install, Update or Uninstall) components being installed and the error encountered.

If you have a problem installing CloudM Migrate and the tips above do not help, start by reviewing the logs. If you are still unable to diagnose or solve the issue, please report it to our support team with a copy of the installer logs.

Clicking Close will close the installer. 

Installation zip files can be also found in the following directory and prefixed with 'CloudM Migrate' or "CloudMigrator" followed by the date and time:

• %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

 

Multi-Server Installation

Virtual Machines are not mandatory and installations can be performed locally.

If you are not setting up Virtual Machines, and: 

• Using Windows Server, skip to Step 1 in the Installing CloudM Migrate section.
• Not using Windows Server, skip to Step 2 in the Installing CloudM Migrate section.

 

Installing and configuring Virtual Machines

The following instructions explain how to set up servers using Virtual Machines set up in Google Cloud Platform (GCP). For more information, see here.

There are several other methods that you can use to set up your servers, including using Microsoft Azure (Windows Azure).

CloudM recommends setting up Virtual Machines using Google Cloud Platform when migrating to Google (and Microsoft Azure when migrating to Microsoft) to limit network traffic costs.

 

All CloudM Migrate secondary servers must be on the same VM network as the primary server. The default network configuration for new VM instances in GCP does not need to be modified to meet this requirement.

You will also need a GCP billing account and associated GCP project for creating VM instances and to be mindful of the associated costs.

The instructions differ at various points throughout this guide depending on the type of server being created and configured (primary or secondary), and these steps are highlighted in bold.

 

Creating a VM instance

1. Access the Google Cloud Platform console
2. Open the Google Cloud Platform project to be used for the CloudM Migrate server/s, using the dropdown icon at the top of the screen.
3. Navigate to Compute Engine > VM instances

 

4. Select CREATE INSTANCE

 

5. Enter a name for the VM instance.

• Keep the name to less than 15 characters to avoid connection issues in multi-server environments. See Resource naming conventions.
• Standardize the naming convention for all instances, using numbering (1,2,3) or lettering (a,b,c) to help you differentiate between instances.

7. Select the ‘Machine Type’ dropdown menu and then, select ‘Custom’
   • In larger migrations, where numerous secondary servers will be utilized, you should change the Virtual Memory of the Primary VM from the default Custom, which has a low threshold, to 'System Managed'. This is to improve performance of the Primary Server as it communicates with the REDIS database.
   • Alternatively, select e2-standard-4 (4 vCPUs, 16 GB memory) as the Machine Type for a Primary Server and e2-standard-2 (2 vCPUs, 8 GB memory) for any Secondary Servers. These settings should be able to accommodate most migrations without spiralling cost.
8. Change the number of cores and memory to meet the CloudM Migrate system requirements (note the different requirements for primary and secondary servers.
9. Select ‘Change’ in the ‘Boot disk’ section:

9. On the Public Images tab, change the:

• ‘Operating system’ to ‘Windows Server’.
• ‘Version’ to ‘Windows Server 2019 Datacenter’ (or another supported version of your choice).
• ‘Size (GB)’ to ‘300’ (the combined minimum requirements for both CloudM Migrate and Windows Server).

Click Select at the bottom of the page

If you are planning on configuring a public facing URL, in the ‘Firewall’ section,  check the box to ‘Allow HTTPS traffic’. This allows easy access to download the installation files required, but is optional.

12. Select Create to create the VM instance.

 

Connecting to a VM instance

1. Go to the VM instances screen. Under the Connect column, select the small down arrow and then Set Windows password:

2. Leave the Username field as the default, and then select SET:

3. Copy the password and make a note of it for later:

4. Under the Connect column, select the small down arrow and then Download the RDP file:

5. Using the RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) file, establish a connection and login to the VM instance using the password noted down earlier:

• If it fails to connect, disable your local environment Windows firewall and any other network firewalls.

 

Installing CloudM Migrate

1. If using Windows Server, open Server Manager and:

• Select Local Server (1).
• Select On next to IE Enhanced Security Configuration (2).
• Set the radio button to Off for Administrators (3).
• Select OK (4).

2. Open a web browser, download the latest x64 CloudM Migrate executable and launch the installer as an administrator: CloudM Migrate Changelog and Download Link
3. Agree to the terms and conditions, select Next:

4. For primary server installations: Leave the default installation options and enter the email address and password that will be used to log in to the CloudM Migrate web interface, and then select Install:

• Normally, you should use the default SQL Server Express Instance that is included with CloudM Migrate when installing a primary service. Using an existing SQL Server Instance should only be considered in large migrations, where you may expect to exceed the default SQL Server Express database size limit of 10GB.

5. Once the installation completes, select Export Details to take note of the database details of the primary server (which will be needed when creating a secondary CloudM Migrate server), and then select Close:

6. For secondary server installations: Install only the ‘Secondary Migration Service’ and enter any email address and password that will be used to log into the CloudM Migrate instance. Select “Use Existing SQL Server” and enter the Data Configuration details from the Primary Server, then select ‘Install’:

 

Launching CloudM Migrate

1. CloudM Migrate can be configured using the local web interface on the primary server. This can be found in the Windows start menu > CloudM > CloudM Migrate Web, or by navigating to http://cloudmigrator.local/ in your web browser.
2. Sign-in using the web interface credentials entered during installation:

 

Platform prerequisites

General prerequisites for Microsoft 365 (your source)

You will need

• The credentials (email and password) of a Global Administrator account within your Office 365 environment.
• If migrating files from OneDrive, you must have the Sharepoint Admin URL, which will be in the following format: https://tenant-admin.sharepoint.com.

For information about migrating Office 365 Public Folders, please see Migrating Exchange Public Folders

 

General prerequisites for Google Workspace (your destination platform)

You will need:

• Access to the Developers console in the Google tenant
• console.cloud.google.com/ 
• The email address of a primary Google Workspace domain administrator account for your destination domain.
• To set up a Service Account and P12 or JSON keys, and enable the correct Google APIs, for the Google Destination domain (as described in the Setting up the Service Account and enable the APIs within Google Workspace for CloudM Migrate section below).
• The email address of a test account in the destination that can be used for testing.
• The names of the primary or secondary domain that you are migrating to / from.

 

Source Platform prerequisites

The following prerequisites are for migrations that use Modern Authentication as the Authentication Method. Modern Authentication is the recommended method as Basic Authentication is being deprecated.

• Ensure that you have an Admin User in your Azure AD account. The Global Admin Role is recommended, but not mandatory.
• Ensure that a Test User has a license with a mailbox.

 

Destination Platform prerequisites

Setting up the Service Account and enable the APIs within Google Workspace for CloudM Migrate

Please refer to the Setting up the Service Account and enable the APIs within Google Workspace for CloudM Migrate article.

 

Start a new configuration project

1. Login to CloudM Migrate,
2. Select Projects in the Functions column on the left side of the screen,
3. Select the Add button (+ icon) to prompt the section to expand,

4. Select the Create a new project option,
5. In the pop-up box, select Google as the Destination platform (the platform that you want to migrate all of your users and data to) and enter the Domain Name (the destination domain you are migrating to), a Configuration Name of your choice and License Key.

6. Select Check License to ensure that the license entered is valid for the destination platform that you want to migrate to.
7. Select Continue.
8. The project will now be displayed in the domain drop down menu at the top of the screen. Make sure that the project is selected.

 

Create a new configuration

To create a new configuration:

1. Select the Create a new configuration to get started option.
2. In the pop-up box, select Google as the Destination platform (the platform that you want to migrate all of your users and data to), use the dropdown menu to specify the Migration Phase, and enter a Configuration Name.

3. Select Continue. 
4. The configuration will now be displayed in the Configuration Overview.

 

Once the configuration is created, it will be displayed in the Configuration Overview table. Select Configure, enter a CloudM license key and select Apply to start the configuration process. 

 

Configure Source Platform Settings - Microsoft 365

Basic Platform Settings

Choose Microsoft Office 365 as the migration source and enter your Microsoft Office 365 settings into CloudM Migrate and then click Next.

• All Advanced Settings are set to a default value, designed to ensure that your migration will work without additional configuration. You should only edit the Advanced Settings if instructed to by CloudM Support or in a CloudM Knowledge Base article.

 

Set the following settings:

• Office / Microsoft 365 Plan - Set to Office 365
• Authentication Method - Choose the authentication type that will be used with the server. For Microsoft 365, set to Modern.
• Domain Name - The domain name of the Exchange domain. This should be the internet domain of the Exchange system and not the local domain name.
• This might be the part after the @ in your administrator email address. 
• If migrating from several different domains, several migrations will be needed.
• Admin Username - The email address of a global administrator within your Microsoft 365 environment.
• Admin Password - The password for the global administrator account specified earlier.
• Test Username - The email non-admin user who is already present in the system to test connections.
• Specify a primary SMTP email address (or just the part before the @ symbol and the domain name will be appended). The test user must have an active mailbox.

 

If you have Modern Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled:

Authenticate using the Powershell Script (as detailed in the Modern Authentication for Microsoft 365 article). You will not be able to use the web application to authenticate due to logging in issues caused by MFA. 

Once the Powershell process has been completed, click Next to trigger a connection test.

 

If you do not have Modern Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled:

1. Click the Create Azure AD Application button, and click the button again in the popup.

2. The Client ID, Certificate Path and Certificate Password fields should now be set. Click the Next button to test the connection.

 

Migrate files from Microsoft 365

If you want to migrate files from Microsoft 365, you will also need the Sharepoint Admin URL. The URL will look similar to the URL below:

• https://tenant-admin.sharepoint.com. 

To input the URL, click Advanced Settings and locate Sharepoint Admin URL under the OneDrive for Business/SharePoint settings.

 

Connection test

Once you have configured the Platform settings, click on Next. CloudM Migrate will now perform a small connection test to verify that the details you have entered are correct.

If this fails, you may have entered something incorrectly. If you still cannot resolve the issue, please contact CloudM Support.

 

Configure Destination Platform Settings - Google Workspace

Select Google Workspace as your destination platform.

Select where you would like your data to be migrated. If you have purchased Google Vault, you may want to migrate data directly into Google Vault.

To enable Google Vault for your domain, please see this article

 

Select Add Settings.

 

Basic Platform Settings

Enter information for your Google Workspace admin account.

• Domain Name - The domain name you will be migrating from. This should be the Internet domain name, not the local domain name.
• Admin Username - An administrator account for the domain specified, this will usually be an email address for a Super Admin.
• Authentication Method - Set whether to use a P12 key or a JSON key as the authentication method.
• Service Account Email Address - Before attempting to configure CloudM Migrate, you should have created a Google Cloud platform project and created a service account for it. If you have selected to use a P12 key, you will need to input the service account's email address in this field.
• Private Key - The file path to the P12 or JSON key that was generated and downloaded when creating the OAuth service account.

If you cannot find the private key, go back to Google Cloud Platform service accounts, select your project (if not already selected), use the option button  on the right of the service account and click "Create Key". Select P12 or JSON and download the key file.

• All Advanced Settings are set to a default value, designed to ensure that your migration will work without additional configuration. You should only edit the Advanced Settings if instructed to by CloudM Support or in a CloudM Knowledge Base article.

 

CloudM Migrate will perform a connection test against your Google Workspace domain to verify that everything has been entered correctly.

If your Google Workspace system is brand new or, for any reason, the users being migrated have not been created in Google Workspace, CloudM Migrate can create your users for you. Simply go to Advanced settings > User section and enable Create Users/Resources/Groups/Shared Drives.

 

Select which items to migrate

It's now time to add which items you'd like to migrate.

 

To add the items from that you want to migrate from your source platform to your destination platform, select Add items to migrate drop down menu and click on one of the following options:

• Get Items from source - Get a full list of all items in the source platform.
• Bulk add / import items - Upload a CSV file to bulk add users.
• Add User / Resource / Public Folder / Office (Microsoft) 365 Group / Team Site / Microsoft Team - Manually add an item of the selected item type.

Selecting a Star next to any specific user or users will prioritize their migration. When a migration starts, threads will be assigned to any starred user first so that their migration can start immediately. 

At this point you can choose what to migrate for each user, you can migrate Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Tasks, Classic Sites, Notes and Channels.

Enter your user's full email address within the Export Name field. If you have already created your Microsoft 365 users, then you will just need to enter their username.

 

To migrate files to a Google Workspace Shared Drive: 

• Either select the item you wish to migrate and select 'Migrate as Shared Drive' from the actions menu, or specify the import type as 'Shared Drive' when adding an item. 
• You can then specify the ID of the Shared Drive in the ‘Import Name’ field or the name of the Shared Drive in the ‘Given Name’ field. If the Shared Drive specified doesn't exist, then it will be created. 
• You can use a unique ID in the 'Import Name' field to identify the Shared Drive across multiple migrations. 
• You can specify a specific folder to migrate from in the 'Documents Destination Path' field. Documents will be migrated to the specific subfolder in the Shared Drive.
• Finally, you must make sure your migrating account has Manager permissions for any Shared Drives that are being migrated.

To improve performance to Shared Drives: 

• Configure multiple Managers to perform the migration with the configuration setting: 
• Destination Platform Migration Settings (Google Workspace) > Shared Drive > Shared Drive Default Managers.

 

Select how much content to migrate

CloudM Migrate lets you decide how much content to migrate to your domain by specifying required date ranges. 

If you are changing your email address as part of the migration you can verify that the domain names are correct here. You can also specify specific Address Replacements in the respective section of the advanced settings.

Target Audience permissions can also be migrated but they must be replaced using Address Replacements in order to migrate successfully. If they are present on the source but not migrated to the destination platform, any items shared with it will be shared back to the source Target Audience.

 

Environment Scan

Environment Scan allows you to plan and prepare your migration by performing analysis of your source file and mail environment and reporting important information such as item counts, data volume, permissions, and folder depth.

Reports are produced which can be exported and analysed. Using the information provided you can estimate your migration's duration more accurately, and address any potential issues before your migration even begins.

 

Selecting Scope of Scan

Items

Depending on your source platform, you can choose to scan files, emails, or both sets of items.

• Leaving the Report on File Permissions setting unchecked will speed up the Environment Scan process.
• In order to include Report on File Permissions in the process, you will need to check this setting AND enable Document Sharing (or a setting related to document sharing) in the Source Platform settings. If either is not enabled, the Environment Scan will not scan or report on File Permissions.

 

Users

Your CloudM Migrate userlist is used to define the scope of the scan. You can choose to scan all accounts from your list, or restrict the scan to users selected for migration.

 

How to run an Environment Scan

After entering your source and destination server settings, populating your userlist, and configuring your settings, you will be prompted to run an environment scan. It is optional, but recommended, for all file platforms.

Click Start and then confirm by selecting Start Environment Scan on the pop-up box to begin the scan. CloudM Migrate will connect to your source environment and capture file and / or mail information. This can take up to several hours, depending on the amount of data present.

 

Once the scan completes, the data is reported on the Environment Scans page and can be exported to file, using the Export Scan Results option.

 

Start your migration

We know that you may want to start your migration in the middle of the night, or over the weekend, but we don't expect you to stay up in order to do so. With CloudM Migrate, you can decide to schedule exactly when you'd like the migration to occur.

If you want to start the migration straight away, select Start.

 

Migration Readiness Test

The Migration Readiness Test provides a last check before starting a migration (regardless of the source or destination platform - with the exception of PST Archives, Google Cloud Storage and Microsoft Azure Storage). The Drive Readiness Test is now included as part of the Migration Readiness Test. 

The test will be optional but is highly recommended, especially in cases where the user has made numerous changes to their configuration. You can only run one Migration Readiness Test at a time.

 

The test includes:

• Checking where changes have been made to general and advanced migration settings (differing from the default values) and suggest any potential issues that these settings could cause,
• Scanning the Source and Destination platform to ensure that the connections work properly,
• Flagging up any additional limitations, allowing users to resolve any issues before their migration begins.

 

To run the Migration Readiness Test:

1. After conducting an Environment Scan, select Next,
2. On the Summary screen, select Start (or click on the Migration Readiness Tests field),

3. A Migration Readiness Test pop-up screen will be displayed, as shown below,

4. You can choose to skip the Migration Readiness Test (by placing a tick in the checkbox), but we highly recommend running the test,
5. Select Start Readiness Test,
6. The results will start to propagate as settings are checked,

• If the setting is properly configured, the check results will be highlighted in Green,
• If the setting is different to the default value, it will be highlighted in Blue with a description of the setting. These results reflect changes that you have made, but should still be checked here to make sure that they are still correct for your migration,
• If the setting has failed (usually when attempting to connect to a source or destination platform), the check result will be highlighted in Red. These settings need to be rectified or your migration will fail.

7. Select Close to close the pop-up screen.
8. Once all errors are corrected, you can start your migration.

 

To export the report (for example, if prompted by our Support Team):

1. Once the test has been completed, select the Export option,
2. The report will be exported in CSV format and will save in your computer's Downloads folder.
3. Attach the CSV file to your Support ticket.

 

Review your migration results

During the migration process, CloudM Migrate will report back in real time exactly who is being migrated and the items being processed. All you now need to do is sit back, relax and wait for your migration to complete.

Check the progress of your migration.

Once complete you can download a full report for your migration.