Moving from Exchange to Zimbra

What moving from Exchange to Zimbra involves, and why the first step is to ask us.

How you move from Exchange depends on the version you run, whether it is on your own hardware or hosted, and how much mail there is. The right tool changes with those answers, so contact support before you start and we will tell you what to use. The rest of this article covers the shape of the work, so you know what to plan for.

Everyone at once, or a few at a time

Exchange and Zimbra can share a domain, with each address delivered to whichever system currently holds that mailbox. That arrangement is called a split domain, and it lets you move people in groups rather than in a single night. See moving some mailboxes before others.

Setting it up means routing mail so that each address reaches the system that currently holds it. We configure that with you rather than leaving you to do it alone, because getting it wrong bounces live mail.

Signing in during the move

Zimbra can authenticate people against your existing Active Directory, so nobody needs a second password while both systems are live. This is set up on the Zimbra side, and we do it with you.

Creating the mailboxes

Zimbra can synchronise accounts and groups from Active Directory, creating a mailbox when a new user appears there. Setting that up before the migration is worth the effort, because the accounts then exist when the mail arrives.

What to do first

Talk to support. Tell us the Exchange version, the number of mailboxes and the rough size of the largest ones. We will confirm the current tool and whether a staged migration or a single cutover suits you.