Hybrid Organization Configuration Transfer

We are very happy to announce a new feature that will help you the admin reduce the amount of time needed to configure config objects once hybrid setup is complete.

What does this feature do?

This feature enables a one-time transfer of key organization policy objects during the onboarding process from Exchange on-premises to Exchange Online. This feature is tightly integrated into the existing Hybrid Configuration Wizard. The administrator running the HCW can choose to migrate either all the detected objects while onboarding from Exchange on-premises to Exchange Online or choose not to transfer any. This is only a one-time transfer though, to avoid the need to have you set them up manually. Once the one-time transfer is complete, you will need to manually update values in either On-prem or Online to keep them in sync if you change anything.

We’re supporting this config transfer whether you are migrating from Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013 or Exchange Server 2016, and we’re delivering this feature in phases. Phase 1 will be launched at the end of June 2018. Which is… kind of… pretty much now, really.

What kind of Policy objects are in scope?

The objects we’re including in phase 1 are:

• Retention Policy
• Retention Policy Tags
• OWA Mailbox Policy
• Mobile Device Mailbox Policy
• Active Sync Mailbox Policy

However, in phase 1 only new objects/policies will be copied over from on-premises to cloud. Any existing objects/policies in Exchange Online will not be modified.

How do I use this cool new feature?

This feature is completely integrated into the existing Hybrid Configuration Wizard. Just downloading the latest HCW is all you need to do. As you can see from the screenshot, we’ve added a checkbox at the bottom of the Hybrid Features page to allow you to enable this feature and to copy over objects from your Exchange on-premises organization to Exchange Online.

What’s next?

In phase 2, in addition to copying several new objects (Organization Config, DLP Policy, Active Sync Device Access Rule and Active Sync Organization Settings) from on-premises to cloud, the admin will be given a choice to update existing objects in the cloud if the attribute values are different from those on-premises.

We hope you enjoy this new feature and look forward to hearing any feedback or comments, either here on the blog or directly in HCW – we’ve built an awesome feedback system into the HCW and we love to hear what our customers have to say.

Kavya Chandra

Program Manager, Office 365 Enterprise Cloud