Office 365 migration practice with windows azure

Question

I have been asked to "help" a client migrate their on premise AD/Exchange 2010 implementation to the cloud (office 365).

i have no idea where to start and although I have watched quite a few videos on the topic via technet I feel I need some practical experience.

As such I was wondering if anyone knew of some step-by-step guides on how to setup a mock environment on windows azure (setting up a new AD server with multiple users) and then migrating that environment into office 365?

Answer 1

I would certainly recommend setting up a lab environment on Azure IaaS so that you can walk through the process.

Here's the basic process I use...

• Set up a new Virtual Network via the Portal
• Create an affinity group to ensure that resources are co-located
• Create a storage account to host your VHD's
• Create a PowerShell script to set up an AD VM
• Install AD DS on the AD VM and configure your domain
• Create PowerShell scripts for other domain-joined VM's
• If you want federated authentication, create an AD FS VM
• Create a VM to host DirSync
• Configure directory synchronisation in Office 365
• Install DirSync from the Office 365 portal on your DirSync VM
• Create a VM to act as a test client or configure point-to-site VM and add an existing machine to your lab domain

Here's an example script to create an AD VM...

Import-Module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\Azure\Azure.psd1"
Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile 'C:\Lab\credentials.publishsettings'
Set-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName '{your Azure subscription}' -CurrentStorageAccount {your storage account name}
Select-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName '{your Azure subscription}'

#Deploy the Domain Controller in a virtual network
#-------------------------------------------------


#Specify my DC's DNS IP (127.0.0.1)
$myDNS = New-AzureDNS -Name 'LabDNS' -IPAddress '127.0.0.1'
$vmname = 'LabDC'

# OS Image to Use

# Get the latest Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 image
$family = "*Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1*"

$images = Get-AzureVMImage `
| where { $_.ImageFamily -like $family } `
| Sort-Object -Descending -Property PublishedDate

$image = $images[0].ImageName

Write-Host "Using image: " + $image

Read-Host "Continue or Ctrl-C to cancel"

$service = 'LabDomain'
$AG = 'LabAffinityGroup'
$vnet = 'LabNetwork'
$user = "LabAdmin"
$password = 'LabPassword123'
$subnet = 'Subnet-1'

#VM Configuration
$MyDC = New-AzureVMConfig -name $vmname -InstanceSize 'Small' -ImageName $image |
    Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -AdminUsername $user -Password $password |
        Set-AzureSubnet -SubnetNames $subnet

New-AzureVM -ServiceName $service -AffinityGroup $AG -VMs $MyDC -DnsSettings $myDNS -VNetName $vnet