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User Guide

Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration Orchestrator User Guide

Learn how to use Microsoft's native cross-tenant OneDrive migration with Cloudiway's user-friendly orchestrator interface.

12 min read Updated: 2025-01-15 Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant

Introduction

The Cloudiway Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration Orchestrator automates migrations using the Microsoft native migration engine. All complexity is hidden behind a user-friendly graphical interface.

This guide will show you how to perform your Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration using the Cloudiway Orchestrator.

Enterprise License Required: This solution is reserved for Microsoft Enterprise customers who have the Cross-Tenant migration licenses available for purchase on their Microsoft 365 tenant.

In addition to the Microsoft migration license, you need a Cloudiway license to run this service.

Key Benefits

  • Leverages the Microsoft Cross-Tenant OneDrive migration engine
  • User-friendly graphical interface - no PowerShell required
  • Automatic prerequisite validation
  • Permission mapping and preservation
  • Metadata preservation (CreationDate, ModifiedDate, CreatedBy, ModifiedBy)
Performance Issues: The solution leverages the Microsoft Cross-Tenant OneDrive migration engine. Any performance-related issues should be reported to Microsoft Support.

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What's Migrated

The Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration uses Microsoft's native migration engine. This is a OneDrive move operation - everything is migrated without loss.

Files
Folders
Permissions
Metadata
Sharing Settings
CreationDate
ModifiedDate
CreatedBy / ModifiedBy

Limitations

  • Version history not migrated (only latest version)
  • Deleted items not included
  • Max 2 TB or 1 million items per OneDrive
  • Cross-tenant links must be re-established manually
  • OneDrive with Hold policy must have hold removed first

Prerequisites

Before starting your cross-tenant OneDrive migration, ensure you have the following:

Microsoft Cross-Tenant User Data Migration License

Required for each user to be migrated. One-time fee per migration.

Cloudiway License

Required to run the orchestrator service.

Microsoft Enterprise License

This solution is reserved for Microsoft Enterprise customers.

Cross-Tenant Wizard Completed

The Cross-Tenant Migration Wizard must be completed to establish organization relationships.

Admin Credentials: Administrator credentials are required only during the setup of Cross-Tenant settings.

Migration Workflow

The Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration follows a structured workflow. Here are the steps you need to complete in order:

1

Get User List

Run a discovery task to populate the list of OneDrive accounts to migrate from the source tenant.

2

Get Mapping

Map source users to their corresponding target users in the destination tenant.

3

Add to Migration Group

Add users to a migration group to organize and manage the migration batches.

4

Provision Users

Create OneDrive accounts for users in the target tenant if they don't already exist.

5

Create Batch

Create a migration batch to group users for migration execution.

6

Assign License

Assign Microsoft Cross-Tenant User Data Migration licenses to users before migration.

7

Start Migration

Launch the migration and monitor progress until completion.

Tip: Follow these steps in order. Each step depends on the successful completion of the previous one.

Step 1: Get User List

Important: Before you can migrate users, you must first run a discovery task to populate the migration lists. This step is essential to identify all the OneDrive accounts that can be migrated from the source tenant to the target tenant.

There are three ways to retrieve or upload your user list:

Run Get List

Automatically discover and retrieve all users from your tenant.

Upload CSV

Upload a CSV file with the list of users to migrate.

Create Single User

Manually add individual users to the migration list.

Cross-Tenant Migration Menu
Cross-Tenant Migration Menu

GetList (Discovery)

Click on GetList to automatically discover all OneDrive accounts from the source tenant.

GetList interface
GetList button in the toolbar
GetList popup window
GetList configuration popup

The discovery task retrieves the list of all users in your tenant for all domains defined in the Source connector. Specify the following parameters:

1

Select Connectors

In the popup window, select your Source and Target connectors.

2

Matching Rule

Choose how source emails should be mapped to target emails:

3

Target Domain

Specify the target domain for the migrated users.

4

Run Discovery

Click on GET LIST to start the discovery process.

Monitor Progress: You can monitor the progress of this task in the User List: Get List Logs.

CSV Import

Click on Import to upload a CSV file containing the users to migrate.

CSV Import interface
Import users from CSV file
1

Prepare your CSV file

Create a CSV file with the source and target email addresses. For more details on the syntax of the CSV file, read our guide: How to Fill the Users/Groups CSV File

2

Click on Browse

Click on the BROWSE button to open the file selector.

3

Select your CSV file

Locate your CSV file on your computer and select it.

4

Select Connectors

Select the appropriate connectors in the Source and Target fields.

Create Single User

Click on Create to manually add individual users to the migration list.

Create single user
Create single user interface
1

Enter Source Email

Enter the source user's email address (the OneDrive account to migrate from).

2

Enter Target Email

Enter the target user's email address (the OneDrive account to migrate to).

3

Select Connectors

Select the appropriate Source and Target connectors.

4

Click Create

Click the CREATE button to add the user to the migration list.

Step 2: Get Mapping

The Get Mapping feature retrieves permission mappings for users and groups. This is essential to preserve access rights during migration.

Get Mapping interface
Get Mapping button in the toolbar

User Mapping

Retrieve user mappings to ensure permissions are correctly transferred:

Get Mapping User List
User mapping list

Group Mapping

Retrieve group mappings for shared permissions:

Mapping Group Get List
Group mapping list interface
Get Mapping Groups
Get Mapping Groups result
Permission Preservation: All users and groups included in the identity mapping file maintain their permissions in the target tenant, provided they were mapped accordingly.

Step 3: Add to Migration Group

The Microsoft Cross-Tenant migration engine migrates only OneDrive accounts that are members of the selected Security Group. You need to add users to this security group before migration.

Add to Migration Group
Add users to Migration Group

Procedure

  1. Select the users you want to migrate
  2. Click on Migration in the toolbar
  3. Select Add to Migration Group

Step 4: Provision Users

This task provisions the users in order to allow them to be migrated using the Microsoft Cross-Tenant Migration engine. Attribute prerequisites are automatically set.

Provision Users
Provision Users interface

Procedure

  1. Select the users that you wish to migrate
  2. Click on Migration in the toolbar
  3. Select Provision Users
  4. Select if you want to provision for Mail Migration and/or OneDrive Migration
  5. Click OK to start provisioning
Automatic Attribute Setup: Cloudiway automatically handles the complex attribute configuration required by Microsoft for cross-tenant OneDrive migration.

Step 5: Create Batch

Organize your migration by creating batches of users. This allows you to run validation tasks and migrate users in groups.

Create Batch
Create Batch interface

Add Users to Batch

After creating a batch, add users to it:

Add Users to Batch
Add users to migration batch

Step 6: Assign License

Cloudiway facilitates the management of licenses by automatically assigning and transferring the requisite Microsoft Cross-Tenant User Data Migration licenses during the migration period.

Assign License
Assign License interface

Procedure

  1. Select the users to assign licenses to
  2. Click on Migration in the toolbar
  3. Select Assign License

Step 7: Start Migration

The migration task starts the Microsoft Migration engine (New-MigrationBatch). Once all prerequisites are validated, you can start the migration.

Start Migration
Start migration for a batch

Procedure

  1. Go to the Batches tab
  2. Select the batch you want to migrate
  3. Click on Migration
  4. Click Start to begin the migration

Delta Migration

Delta migration is a Cloudiway functionality that allows you to migrate incrementally. Changes are migrated during delta passes. Note that deletions are not propagated.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions when using the Cross-Tenant OneDrive Migration Orchestrator:

OneDrive account exceeds size limits

Each OneDrive account has a cap of either 2 TB of content or 1 million items. If a user's OneDrive exceeds these limits, you'll need to reduce the content before migration or use an alternative migration method.

OneDrive has Hold policy applied

OneDrive accounts with a Hold policy applied are blocked from migration. To migrate these accounts, remove the hold policy, perform the migration, then reapply the hold as needed on the target tenant.

Permissions not preserved after migration

Ensure all users and groups are included in the identity mapping file. Only mapped users and groups will retain their permissions in the target tenant. Re-run the Get Mapping task if needed.

Cross-tenant sharing links not working

Cross-tenant links and shares need to be re-established manually after migration. The migration moves content but cannot preserve links that point across tenant boundaries.

Migration performance issues

The solution leverages the Microsoft Cross-Tenant OneDrive migration engine. Any performance-related issues should be reported to Microsoft Support, as Cloudiway does not control the migration speed.

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