A Guide and Service for

Office 365 Tenant to

Tenant Migration

Stages To Move Domain From One Office 365

Tenant To Another
Migrating the resources and information of one tenant that uses Office 365 to
another involves various steps. A basic classification divides them into two, namely
the Preparation (or Pre-migration stage) and the Migration process itself.

Preparation for Office 365 Tenant To Tenant

Migration
Before commencing with the migration process, one has to go through a multi-step
preparatory process. This will help prepare one for the migration process and
complete it smoothly. The following steps are involved.
Step 1 – Domain Preparation
• There should be sufficient space or room in the target tenant’s Office 365 to
ensure the successful migration of all data from the source tenant. It could entail
obtaining additional licenses, as well.
• Secondly, both the source tenant and the target tenant will require the opening of
administrator accounts. Also, specific migration tools might need the creation of
additional admin accounts.
• It is also necessary to create user mailboxes, resource mailboxes, and distribution
groups in the target tenant.
• At times, performing Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) consolidation
using AD DS tools might be necessary. The synchronization of the source and the
target domain is the next step to follow.
 • The final step of the domain preparation stage is to train the end-users on how to
use Office 365 post-migration.
Step 2 – Verification of the Domain
• Commence the process of verifying the target tenant domain in Office 365.
• The addition of a source domain in the admin center of the target Office 365 and
the creation of TXT records in DNS have to be performed.
However, one should ensure that the domain is in use for only one target tenant
lest the verification process should fail. It will now take around 3 to 12 hours for the
change to take effect.
Step 3 – Scheduling the Migration
• The first step involves generating a list of user mailboxes for migration and
creating a CSV file for mapping.
• Note down the lowest value of Time To Live (TTL) on the Mail Exchanger (MX)
record of the primary email domain.
• The next step is to disable the directory sync for the source tenant.
Step 4 – Facilitating the Migration
• Change the primary MX record to an unreachable value to stop the flow of
inbound mail to the source tenant. It becomes easy because of the noting down of the
lowest value of TTL on the MX record.
• Ensure erasure of all objects from the primary mail domain in the source tenant
before the transfer of Office 365 mailbox to another account.
• The final step is preparing the target domain by verifying the source tenant in the
target domain. One should ensure to initiate this step one hour after performing the
previous actions.
• If one uses Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS), one has to configure a new
domain in the target tenant for AD FS.
• One should also activate new users in the target domain as well as assign new
licenses.
• The primary email address for the new users must be the source domain.
Communicating the passwords to the new users is also necessary.
These steps mark the end of the pre-migration process. One can now use
PowerShell scripts or third-party migration tools.
The Migration Process
Depending on the number of users, one can have two different methods for
migration.
Migrations for less than 200 users
There can be a cut-off date that can help limit the volume of data migrated. One
can fix up a specific period, say 30 minutes to 1 hour for migrating mail, calendar
data, and contact information of high volume data users.

How To Merge Office 365 Tenants

The Office 365 Merger tool scripts helps to merge Office 365 tenants.
• Execute the Office 365 merger tool script.
• Log in to the system using the user ID of the first Office 365 account and entering
the password.
• Add the second user by entering the necessary credentials.
• Insert the corresponding CSV file by selecting the Import CSV option.
• Choose the location for the CSV file for combining multiple O365 accounts.
• Complete choosing all such IDs that require a merger.
• Users can apply the necessary filters and grant the required permissions.
• Select the Import CSV option.
• Use the date filter option for specifying the interval to decide the volume of data to
be exported.
• Choose the Export option to merge the accounts.
• Options are available to save the report and view it at any time.

Office 365 Tenant To Tenant Migration OneDrive

A significant proportion of Office 365 users avail the services of OneDrive. The Office
365 tenant to tenant migration in OneDrive is one of the most complex
tasks involved in the process. One can use a migration engine to enable a smooth
transfer process.
• The first step is to create a source connector.
• Configuring the source is the next part of the process, followed by the creation of a
target connector.
• Configuring the target and creating the users is necessary before proceeding with
the migration.
Set up your Microsoft 365 tenant
1. Create app catalog site
2. Create a new site collection
3. SharePoint Workbench
4. Next steps

To build and deploy client-side web parts using the SharePoint Framework, you
need a Microsoft 365 tenant.

If you already have a Microsoft 365 tenant, see the section Create app catalog site.

If you don't have one, you can get a Microsoft 365 developer subscription when
you join the Microsoft 365 Developer Program. See the Microsoft 365 Developer
Program documentation for step-by-step instructions about how to join the
Microsoft 365 Developer Program and sign up and configure your subscription.

Create app catalog site

You need an app catalog to upload and deploy web parts. If you've already set up
an app catalog, see Create app catalog sites.

To create an app catalog site

1. Go to the SharePoint Admin Center by entering the following URL in

your browser. Replace yourtenantprefix with your Microsoft 365
tenant prefix.

Commercial Tenant

HTTPCopy
https://{your-tenant-prefix}-admin.sharepoint.com

GCC High Tenant

HTTPCopy
https://{your-tenant-prefix}-admin.sharepoint.us
 2. In the left sidebar, select More features
3. Locate the section Apps and select Open.

This is start the automatic creation of the SharePoint app catalog to the tenant if it
does not exist. If the app catalog already exists, you will be redirect to it. SharePoint
app catalog is used to manage and deploy SharePoint Framework solutions.

Create a new site collection

You also need a site collection and a site for your testing. You can create a new site
collection by using any of the available templates.

1. Navigate to SharePoint Admin Center by entering the following URL

in your browser. Replace {your-tenant-prefix} with your Microsoft 365
tenant prefix:

Commercial Tenant

HTTPCopy
https://{your-tenant-prefix}-admin.sharepoint.com

GCC High Tenant

HTTPCopy
https://{your-tenant-prefix}-admin.sharepoint.us

2. In the left sidebar, select Sites > Active sites.

3. Select Create from the toolbar at the top of the page.
4. On the Create a site panel, select Team site.
5. In the new view that appears, enter required details to create the site
(Site name, Group owner, and language):
6. Select Next to create the site collection.

After SharePoint creates the site, you can browse to your site collection by
selecting Finish & entering the URL of the new site.

Note
In this case, we are creating a new group associated team site with modern user
interface experience. You could just as well create a communication site to be used
as your test site collection supporting your development.

Note

You can potentially use same tenant for developing SharePoint Framework
experiences, especially for initial development experiences. We do however
recommend to use isolated developer tenants for each of the developers for best
isolated developer experience.

SharePoint Workbench

SharePoint Workbench is a developer design surface that enables you to quickly

preview and test web parts without deploying them in SharePoint. SharePoint
Framework developer toolchain contains a version of the Workbench that works
locally and helps you quickly test and validate solutions that you're building.

It's also hosted in your tenant to preview and test your local web parts in
development. You can access the Hosted SharePoint Workbench from any
SharePoint site in your tenancy by browsing to the following URL:

HTTPCopy
https://your-sharepoint-site/_layouts/workbench.aspx

Steps to Migrate SharePoint Online to Another Tenant

Step 1. Assess your Current SharePoint Online Environment

Before initializing the process, it is important to first analyze the current

environment before moving to another tenant. Under this evaluation
process, you should check the type of data that you need to migrate and
list all the customizations (if any) to the environment.

Additionally, you should also assess the size and complicacy of the
environment as it directly impacts the migration process. If you have a
smaller environment with less complexity, then it will be easier to migrate
rather than having a large environment with high complexity.

Step 2. Determine the Destination Environment

The second step for migrating SharePoint Online to another tenant is to
detect the destination tenant to where you are planning to move your
data. The factors that you need to consider while identifying the
destination environment are security requirements, compatibility, and
storage capacity.

It is crucial to identify all the factors and compatibility of your destination

tenant with the current tenant as it will help in a seamless transition
process.

Step 3. Prepare Destination SharePoint Online Tenant

Before you begin migrating SharePoint Online from one tenant to

another, the first step is to prepare the destination tenant. Some of the
basic tasks are creating new user accounts, assigning licenses, granting
required permissions, etc.

You can also create a test environment in the destination tenant to be

completely sure of the migration process before moving your data to a live
environment. If there are any issues in the configuration or migration tool,
then you will have time to fix those issues.

Prerequisites & Configuration for Manual SharePoint Site Migration to

Another Tenant:

• Ensure you have the latest Microsoft SharePoint Online PowerShell

version, downloadable from the Official Microsoft Download
Center.
• Check that the source SharePoint tenant does not use Service
encryption with Microsoft Purview Customer Key. Migration will fail
if this feature is enabled.
• Source SharePoint sites must be set to Read/Write; migration will
fail if set to Read-only.

Target SharePoint sites and Group-connected SharePoint sites

Important Notes:

• Do not create target SharePoint sites before initiating migration, as

migration will fail if the site already exists. Overwriting or merging
existing sites is not possible.
 • For group-connected SharePoint site migrations, Microsoft 365
Groups must be created in a specific manner, independent of
existing SharePoint sites.
• Before migration, ensure source SharePoint sites are set to
Read/Write mode; read-only settings will result in migration failure.

Path size limits:

• Ensure Microsoft character path remains under 400 characters.

Consider shortening Target User/Site URL names.
• Longer names might cause migration failures, as the source’s path
combines with the new user/site name on the Target.
• In case of failure, rename User/Site URLs or collaborate with users
to shorten paths below the threshold for a successful migration.

Supported SharePoint Features:

Migratable sites include:

• Microsoft 365 group-connected sites, including those linked to

Microsoft Teams
• Modern sites without a Microsoft 365 group association
• Classic SharePoint sites
• Communication sites

Important Note: Teams content, channels, and structures are not

covered. Migration of a Teams-connected SharePoint site only moves the
SharePoint site content.

Communication During Migration:

• Explain the migration’s impact on users.

• Clarify if users can continue working during migration.
• Provide start time, duration, new URL, and other tenant-related
details.
• Advise users to avoid edits during migration and be aware of
possible changes in permissions or sharing.

Getting Started – Manual Steps for SharePoint Online Migration:

• Step 1. Connect to source and target tenants.

• Step 2. Establish trust between both tenants.
• Step 3. Confirm trust establishment.
• Step 4. Pre-create users and groups.
• Step 5. Prepare for identity mapping.
 • Step 6. Initiate Cross-tenant SharePoint migration.
• Step 7. Complete post-migration tasks.

Limitations and Recommendations:

• Each SharePoint site for migration should not exceed 2 TB of storage or 1

million items. Larger sites may encounter timeouts and fail, while smaller
ones will continue until completion.
• Total “items” (files, folders, list entries) should not surpass the 1 million
limit.
• Pre-create all migration-identified users and groups in the target tenant.
• Appropriate licenses must be assigned to users in either Source or Target
tenant.

After successfully migrating your data, the next important phase is to verify that
all your essential data items are migrated. You can open the destination tenant’s
account and check that the entire Document Library’s data and Generic Lists
are migrated without any manipulation or errors.

The final step after migrating SharePoint Online from one tenant to another
and verifying the content, is now it is time to update the DNS records and point
them to the new tenant. Performing this step will help users use the destination
tenant without any issues.