GOOGLE WORKSPACE MAIL MIGRATION (GSUITE TO GSUITE migration)

1. GSuite to GSuite Migration Overview

2. Security

For more information about security, please refer to this article.

3. Performance

For more information about migration performance, please refer to this article.

4. Google Mail Migration Scope

5. Pre-migration configuration

5.1. Before you start

Before you start, you will need to ensure you have the details outlined in the following table.

Google Workspace Migration

5.4. Target Prerequisites

 

5.4.1. Google feeds

To perform the migration, you need to configure the permissions (Google feeds) for the target tenant.

This article explains how to add the Google feeds:

5.4.2. Create your user mailboxes Cloudiway migrates between existing user mailboxes and does not provides a tool to provision user mailboxes. Therefore, the user mailboxes must be created prior to the migration. You can set up user accounts on the target Google Workspace. 5.5. Mapping Table During the migration, Cloudiway uses a mapping table to perform the conversion of email addresses in email headers, calendar items and mailbox permissions. Important: the mapping table must be exhaustive, any missing email address will not be converted, and would end up with loss of mailbox permissions, unreplyable emails and broken calendar items. Cloudiway automatically populates this mapping table when source mailboxes are discovered by Get List functionality explained below. However make sure if the mapping table was populated automatically that you are not missing any email address.  

6. Use the Cloudiway platform to migrate your mail

6.1. Create your G Suite source and target connectors

For Cloudiway to migrate your email, it needs to be able to communicate with both your source and target domains. To do this, Cloudiway uses connectors, which are configured on portal.cloudiway.com. You will need to set up a connector for each source tenant you wish to migrate and each target tenant that mail should be migrated to.

Follow the steps from the page below to configure your connectors:

Mail Migration Global Setting

https://help.cloudiway.com/article/how-to-fill-the-users-groups-csv-file/

1. Ensure you’re still in the Mails Migration area of portal.cloudiway.com and go to User List

Mails migration UserLists
2. Click on MANAGE and select Import
Mails migration UserList Import
3. If required, click on Download sample CSV and add your users to the CSV file using the sample headers (FirstName; LastName; SourceEmail; TargetEmail; SourceRecipientType; TargetRecipientType; BatchName)
4. When you have a complete CSV file with the correct headers, click on the BROWSE button
5. Locate your CSV file within your own file system, and double-click on it to select it
6. Select the appropriate connectors in the Source and Target fields
7. Click on the UPLOAD button.
Google Migration user list Import
8. If you see any error messages, check your CSV file to ensure it has seven columns, each with a separator (including the last) and try uploading again.

6.3.2. Option 2: Get List

Cloudiway’s Get List tool helps you to retrieve mailboxes from your source tenant. There are 5 Get List tools corresponding to the different sections:

  • User List: to discover only user mailboxes.
  • Shared Mailboxes: to discover only shared mailboxes. In Google does not exist the concept of shared mailbox as in Office 365, so user mailboxes with delegate permissions won’t be discovered but you can import them manually to migrate delegate permissions to another Google user mailbox.
  • Room Equipment: to discover only resource mailboxes.
  • Distribution list: to discover only distribution lists.
  • Archive: to discover only Google Vault accounts. We do not support migrate from Google Vault to Google Vault.

Go to User List, Room & Equipment or Distribution Lists sections and then click on Migration, select Get List.

Get list

The tool requires you to enter the Source and Target Pool.

Google Migration get list

Then to specify:

  • The Matching Rule:
    • Mail Exact Match: the source email = the target email (bob.marley@sourcedomain.com > bob.marley@sourcedomain.com)
    • Keep Email Prefix Same as Source: only the domain name changed (bob.marley@sourcedomain.com > bob.marley@targetdomain.com)
    • FirstName.LastName (i.e. bob.marley@targetdomain.com)
    • F.LastName (i.e. b.marley@targetdomain.com)
    • FLastName (i.e. bmarley@targetdomain.com)
    • LastNameF (i.e. marleyb@targetdomain.com)
  • The Target Domain.

It will then add new users to the User List. You can monitor the progress of this task in the User List: Get List Logs.

Cloudiway User List Logs

6.3.3. Option 3: Create a single user

Many of our first-time customers create a single user for testing purposes. This provides a means of watching the migration process without affecting all users.

Click on MANAGE > Create User and enter the following details:

Mails migration Create User

For more information regarding the different fields, check out this article. Repeat the process for any more users you’d like to create.

6.4. Recreate your resources (using provisioning)

The Cloudiway platform provides a free resource creation tool to customers performing mail migrations. Recreate rooms and equipment using the steps below.

From the same Mail Migration area, click on Global Actions 

Mails migration Global Actions

In the Migrate Rooms section, click on START.

Select your Source that contains the rooms and equipment to be provisioned, click on START.

Google Rooms Migration

You will see a Scheduled status, and Completed when the process is finished.

Click on the User List sub-menu of the Mail Migration area and verify that all resources have been created in the User List.

6.5. Activate and monitor your migration

Cloudiway is an incremental migration platform that supports delta passes. Every time you restart the migration of a mailbox, only items that haven’t already been copied to the target will be migrated and for those already migrated items that have been modified in the source will be updated in the target. The platform, therefore, does not duplicate items in the target, just updates them.

The migration strategy usually consists of at least 2 migration passes, one before the cutover and another pass after the cutover:

  • 1st migration pass: which migrates the majority of the mailbox. Select mailboxes, click on MIGRATION, then the Start button. Explained below in more detail.
  • Cutover: You have to manually remove the domain from the source tenant, attach it to the target tenant and change the MX record in your DNS server. This is not automated by Cloudiway.
  • 2nd migration pass, delta pass: which migrates what hasn’t been migrated and updates modified items. Select mailboxes, click on MIGRATION, then the Start button. Explained below in more detail.
  • 3rd migration pass, delta pass: 24 hours after cutover you can submit an additional delta pass to make sure no residual email is left behind due to DNS propagation delays. Select mailboxes, click on MIGRATION, then the Start button. Explained below in more detail.

You can submit as many migration passes as you want for 3 months and until consuming the amount of GBs allowed by the assigned licenses but usually, you only need one before the cutover and another after the cutover. Find out more about the delta migration passes:

What a migration pass takes to complete depends on a lot of factors. Find out more about the migration performance:

If you have moved the source domain and need to perform one more delta pass, the Switch Domain global action will need to be used:

You can create user batches from the Batches tab to easily group subset of mailboxes. Click on the + icon and enter a batch name:

Batch

After creating the different batch, under Users tab, select the users you want to assign to a specific batch, click on BATCH button and Add to Batch:

batch

To start your migration, select the users or batch you wish to migrate.

  • For users, under Users tab, select all the users you want to submit and click on MIGRATION, then the Start button.
StartGoogle
  • For user batch, under Batches tab, select the user batch you want to submit and click on MIGRATION, then the Start button.
batch

Your migrations will be scheduled and will begin as soon as cloud resources are available.

NOTE: When migrating by user batches during a long period of time you may want to enable email forwarders.

For more information, please see this article:

7. Other migration options

Migrate permissions

NOTE: Once you start the process of permissions migration, it cannot be stopped.

8. Troubleshooting