How the migration works¶

This chapter outlines how the actual migration process can look. Technical aspects are covered, along with tips for making the transition easier for users. Keep in mind that a migration project is not only about moving data but also about change management and a good project structure. Organizations need to make sure to cover both topics well, otherwise their change to Nextcloud will fail.

The technical migration¶

The most important topic is how to move files to Nextcloud, or at least how to make them available to Nextcloud. Instead of moving all data, existing network drives and even Sharepoint sites can be accessed directly from the Nextcloud instance. This allows progress can be made step by step while keeping the organization running. However, this approach creates additional costs since two file storage solutions need to be administered.

At a certain point, data can be moved. There are ways to move them yourself. First of all, the files can be downloaded from the old solution and placed into the Nextcloud desktop client’s sync folder which will automatically upload them to Nextcloud. If a central solution is preferred, tools like Rsync can be used which connect through the Nextcloud WebDAV API. Both ways do not include metadata like file versions, creation dates and shares.

At this point a note about shares: While internal shares (meaning shares with other users of the instance) can be preserved in theory, public ones cannot. This is due to the domain change from the Microsoft domains to the Nextcloud instance’s domain. Forwarding requests from the old link to the new one is also in most cases not possible.

Data can be moved on one’s own, this should only be done if metadata is not needed and if the risks of a custom migration can be taken. There are partners who can help with the migration with years of experience that can be beneficial. It is even possible to keep a Sharepoint linked with the Nextcloud so opening files from Nextcloud in Sharepoint is possible.

However, a M365 migration is not only about moving files, it is also about moving a lot of other information like tasks, calendars, emails, sites/wikis and much more. Those information can be moved via APIs and need to be mapped, since Microsoft behaves differently than Nextcloud does in most cases. Realistically, only two options exist: involve a partner who handles the migration or let the users migrate the data manually. Of course, migration scripts can be built, but that takes time, needs qualified people to write the scripts and thus might be more expensive than involving a partner.

Practical examples¶

This section outlines how a migration with partners could look. The first thing that needs to be in place is Nextcloud Files. With Sendent it is possible to use Nextcloud Files as backend for Teams - so every file uploaded to a MS Team gets automatically uploaded into Nextcloud and a link gets shared in the MS Team. Sendent also integrates with Outlook and enables file sharing from Nextcloud directly in Outlook. This means that file storage can be replaced and control over them is regained. It is not necessary to already move all files to Nextcloud at this stage, this can happen step by step. For convenience, it is possible to integrate other filestorages like network drives and Sharepoint sites using the external storage integration app in Nextcloud to create a single point to access files. With Partner MigrateDMS it is also possible to sync files from Sharepoint to Nextcloud and vice versa. Users can be imported using LDAP and SSO can be set up using SAML, OpenIDConnect or OAuth to integrate with Entra ID and Active Directory.

Replacing the filestorage already gives quite some sovereignty back since it is possible again to take backups and move the documents physically wherever needed. While the following steps can be planned more easily, replacing the filestorage is a task that needs to be done for the whole organization or at least for a whole Microsoft tenent at once due to technical limitations. However, as already mentioned, decisions about the speed of the actual data migration can still be made. To move the files including the metadata, Audriga has a lot of experience.

They can also help with moving emails out of MS Exchange. Calendars and address books can be kept in sync using the Sendent Exchange Connector. This means that the Nextcloud Calendar and Nextcloud Contacts can be used in parallel to the Outlook/Exchange calendars and address books.

From a planning perspective, moving all the other parts is totally up to the schedule. They will need a clear cutover, since syncing Sharepoint Lists and Nextcloud Tables isn’t possible, but data can be moved department by department. This means, departments have the full freedom to implement the migration strategies as needed. Just keep in mind that departments need to collaborate with each other, so separating them by tools can cause issues. It is recommended to include multiple departments in a cutover if they have to work a lot with each other.