Tupelo Company: Two Mail Platforms, Two Cutovers, One 14-Hour Day

Client: A Tupelo Company on Two Mail Platforms

Netcosa, a Memphis-based provider of managed IT services, moved 50 IMAP users at a Tupelo company into Microsoft 365. Four users were already on Microsoft 365 and the other 50 were on IMAP. Joe Pennel, President of Netcosa, ran it as two separate migrations with two separate cutovers.

Challenge: Two Mail Platforms and an Old Spam Filter That Would Not Budge

The company’s mail did not live in one place. Four users were on Microsoft 365. The other 50 were on IMAP. Joe described the starting point and the order of work this way:

“They had 365 for four users and they had IMAP for the other 50 users. So I did two separate migrations, two separate cutovers because I had to cut 365 over first so I could at least have the domain where it needed to be.”

— Joe Pennel, President, Netcosa

That split set the sequence: the Microsoft 365 side cut over first, so the domain would be in place before the IMAP users followed.

Joe did the initial cutover over a weekend, and he described it as working fine except for one problem. The IMAP platform’s spam filter kept kicking mail back because the mail was now coming from a new place. No matter what Joe tried, the fix did not take, and the old spam filter was not very configurable.

Running email on more than one platform, with a cutover date on the calendar? A free IT assessment is the place to start. Schedule your free assessment or call (901) 306-7575.

Response: Two Cutovers, Then a Change of Plan

Joe’s order of operations:

1. Cut Microsoft 365 over first. That put the domain where it needed to be before the IMAP users moved. The initial cut ran over a weekend and worked, except for the old IMAP spam filter kicking mail back.
2. Try to fix the filter. Nothing Joe tried worked, and the old filter was not very configurable.
3. Move the all-user cutover up. The plan was Thursday. Joe changed the schedule instead of the filter.
4. Cut all the users over Tuesday night. The day ran about 14 hours.

Joe’s account of the decision:

“So I ended up cutting them over early. We were going to cut them over all the users over Thursday. We ended up cutting them over Tuesday night.”

— Joe Pennel, President, Netcosa

Outcome: Cutover Moved Up Two Days, With Internal Mail the One Rough Spot

The all-user cutover ran Tuesday night, two days ahead of the planned Thursday. Joe’s Tuesday ran about 14 hours and wrapped up around 1 o’clock.

“I think Tuesday was a good like 14 hour day. We wrapped up around 1 o’clock and then the phone was ringing 6am when they … got to the office.”

— Joe Pennel, President, Netcosa

Here is the full picture, including the part that did not go cleanly. Joe on how the client’s staff fared:

“All those folks down at Tupelo were super nice and super patient. They didn’t really feel any pain other than internal emails inside of that.”

— Joe Pennel, President, Netcosa

Internal email inside the new tenant is where the issues showed up, even with the tenant set up as a relay and with the rules and connectors in place. The old spam filter was not the only mail problem in this migration.

Joe changed the plan when the old filter would not be fixed, and he put in the 14-hour day to make the new date work. That is what managed IT services from Netcosa looks like when a migration plan meets a system that is not very configurable.

Planning an email migration with more than one platform in the mix? Talk to Netcosa about your cutover plan.

Services: Managed IT Services | Cloud Services