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Ivarious90's avatar
Ivarious90
Copper Contributor
Apr 20, 2022

Setup Exchange 2013 hybrid environment

Hi there,

 

We have an on-premise Exchange 2013 server and would like to migrate to Exchange Online. 

We have an internal discussion if we first must migrate the current Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2019 and then setup the hybrid environment to Exchange Online or just go with Exchange 2013 and setup hybrid directly.

 

After the Exchange Online migration we would like to keep the on-premise server as administration server. 

 

We would like to know what is the best approach for this.

Thanks in advance!

  • Hello there hope you had a nice weekend!

    Since Exchange server 2013 has its EOL (End Of Life) In 2023 (Next year) I would recommend that you upgrade to Exchange 2019 before you set up the Hybrid.

    Also something to keep in mind regarding Administration moving forward is that Microsoft a few days ago announced that they now support removing the last Exchange server in a hybrid (For Exchange Server 2019) So this could be interesting for you if you after the hybrid setup dont have a need to relay emails via the on-prem Exchange. 🙂 And as long as you feel comfortable working in Powershell for administation.
    you can read more about it here (Under the Exchange Management Tools update)
    https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/released-2022-h1-cumulative-updates-for-exchange-server/ba-p/3285026

    And also here for some real life pros-Cons about this change 🙂
    https://practical365.com/removing-the-last-exchange-server/

    Let me know if you need further assistance or if something I said was unclear.

    Kind Regards
    Oliwer Sundgren
    • Ivarious90's avatar
      Ivarious90
      Copper Contributor

      oliwer_sundgren Thanks for your awnser Oliwer! 

      Then we go for a new Exchange 2019 Server solution with the hybrid connection.

       

      Is there (best practice) documentation/implementation steps to add a new Exchange 2019 server to an existing environment?

      Anything you could recommend in this?

       

      Thanks in advance!

      • Ivarious90's avatar
        Ivarious90
        Copper Contributor

        We had an internal discussion and would like to set the Exchange 2013 in Hybrid. Migrate all the mailboxes etc. to Exchange Online.
        After that we would like to upgrade the Exchange 2013 (hybrid) environment to Exchange 2019 (hybrid). Is this a supported and possible option?

        In this case we don't need to have 2 mailbox migrations but 1 instead.

        Would like to know your thoughts on this.
        Thanks!

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