Installation process

Before installing CodeTwo Exchange Migration, you need to decide on which machine you want to install it. The main factor you should take into consideration is your migration source.

In migrations from on-premises Exchange Server, the program should be installed in the source server domain – either directly on the source Exchange server or on any workstation within the source server network. Installing the program on the most powerful machine in your network or directly on the source Exchange Server will most likely work best – find out why. You do not have to install any agents on the target server or reconfigure connectors. The software accesses your source server mailboxes through Exchange Web Services (EWS) or a MAPI profile, and copies specified items to target server mailboxes via EWS. However, if you intend to migrate via MAPI, there are additional requirements you need to meet.

When you migrate from Office 365, you need to install CodeTwo Exchange Migration on any machine with a connection to both the source and the target Exchange Server environment. We recommend installing on a target server, to maximize the upload speed. The program uses EWS to connect to both environments.

In the case of migration from a hosted Exchange server, the software can be installed on any machine with the connection to both source hosted Exchange server and target Exchange Server. However, we recommend installing it on a target server, to maximize the upload speed.

As for migrations from other servers (e.g. Gmail), the program can be installed on any machine with a connection to both the source and the target environment (installing on a target server is recommended to speed up the process). Emails from the source will be migrated via Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).

Installation wizard

The program is installed using a typical installation wizard. In the first step, click Next and you will see the license agreement that you need to accept (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Accepting the License Agreement.

Next, you will be asked to specify the location where the program will be installed. The default location will display and can be left unchanged unless it's necessary to choose differently (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Choosing the location of the program's installation.

After the installation, the program starts automatically with the Quick tour opened on top of the Dashboard view (Fig. 3.).

Fig. 3. The Quick tour.

Impact of the software on your IT infrastructure

During the installation and configuration of the program, CodeTwo Exchange Migration makes the following changes to your system:

Changes to operating system

The program lets you install the required .NET Framework version or MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects, if either of these is not already installed. The program requires also Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Changes to source on-premises Exchange server

The program lets you assign the required management roles (ApplicationImpersonation and View-Only Configuration) to the admin account used to configure a connection to a source Exchange server. This action grants impersonation permissions over all users in an organization.

Changes to target Exchange server

The program lets you assign the required management roles (ApplicationImpersonation, View-Only Recipients and View-Only Configuration) to the admin account used to configure a connection to a target Exchange server. This action grants impersonation permissions over all users in an organization. The program also lets you assign the following roles: Public Folders, Mail Recipient Creation and Mail Recipients, which are optional.

Changes to Office 365 (Exchange Online)

The program needs to be registered in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) in each Office 365 tenant that will be used in the migration process. The program lets you perform the registration automatically in the source server connection wizard.