About this Guide
This guide is intended for use by Kerio Connect mail server administrators to prepare the migration process to Axigen using Automatic Migration. It outlines each step of the email data migration process, how it works, what is required from you, what we do, and what are the outcomes.
Axigen offers 24/7 technical support to make your migration as smooth as possible.
Given the complexity and risk of a migration between e-mail platforms, the Axigen auto-migration functionality was critical. Axigens’ project management and technical support was fantastic throughout the process, allowing us to migrate to the new platform with minimal disruption to our customers. Their expertise and experience were an invaluable resource.
Alex Breedon, Gibtelecom IT ManagerAbout Automatic Migration
Automatic Migration is a self service migration module that allows you to configure the migration of domains previously managed in a legacy mail server to Axigen.
Versions supported
The current guide applies to migration from Kerio Connect 9.2.6 version to Axigen 10.2.2.
Continuous IMAP Auto-Migration.
How it works.
The purpose of the migration is to populate Axigen with the data from your existing Kerio Connect solution
The automatic migration process is designed to pull the data for each email account when the user performs the first login into the new Axigen platform.
The standard Automatic Migration process implies to run both the legacy mail server and the Axigen platform in parallel until all the users have logged in and all the data has been successfully pulled into the new system.
Practically, during the migration, Axigen will act as an email client pulling all data associated with every email account at the login time. The migration is configurable for each domain.
Things to consider
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The migration is configurable for each domain.
The automatic migration performs the migration of email accounts data only at domain level.
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Enable Axigen Migrator for migration of PIM data
The migration of PIM data (contacts, calendar items, or tasks) is possible only when you enable Axigen Migrator external application in the Automatic Migration tab.
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IMAP connection is required
The Axigen Migration module requires an IMAP connection (SSL or non-SSL) to the remote server and the respective server must allow plain login authentication for the IMAP service.
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Enable automatic migration for the domain.
Automatic Migration process requires the 'Enable automatic migration for this domain' checkbox enabled for the account class used for created users (be it the domain default or a specific account class).
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Rename the folders containing ’/’ character
When migrating to Axigen mail server, please have in mind to clean up all your legacy folder names of the "/" character in order to ensure that the process is completed successfully.
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Pay atention to POP3 duplicate
When using POP3 protocol for your email clients in some cases duplication of messages could occur if the same profile of the legacy platform is used for the new one.
Key Differences Between Axigen Messaging and Kerio Connect
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When using CardDAV synchronization protocol in Axigen the process will refer to the My Contact folder.
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Configuration of Mac and iOS clients.
Starting with Axigen X3, the user will have a profile file available in Webmail interface to be used to automatically configure Mail.app for emails, Calendar.app for calendars, and Contacts.app for contacts.
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Axigen Let's Encrypt in product integration
Allows admins to generate SSL certificates using a simple command form CLI. Also, the Axigen system is configured for the SSL certificate to be automatically renewed.
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Axigen only supports the Outlook for Mac through IMAP or POP3 protocols.
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Free to rename users/accounts
In Axigen this process is very simple - change the name of the account in the WebAdmin interface and the update will be automatically propagated to the groups this account is a member of.
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Give group acces to a Folder/ Public Folder
You can give permission to a Folder / Public Folder for a group of users by sharing that Folder / Public Folder with an existing distribution group (e.g. Let's take a group named Sales@domain.tld with 100 members. If you need to allow access for all the 100 members to a public folder just share that folder with the Sales@domain.tld group).
Planning the migration Communication with stakeholders
Make sure you tell your users both delegated sys admins and end-users about their new web interfaces and the time of its availability. Include a list with some of the user experiences and benefits that the new Axigen platform provides.
Be clear about the date and time when the migration will be performed.
Make a presentation of Axigen
Fortunately, Axigen WebMail is most generous in terms of user experience and benefits. The Product Team keeps in great focus the development of Axigen WebMail and made it one of the top benefits of the messaging platform.
Set a procedure for login data
If you choose to perform the migration by populating the Axigen mailbox at first user login, take into consideration informing your users in advance that they will have to remember their login data. Alternatively, if you choose to include a password renewal - they will have to renew their password.
Collect feedback
Create a "collect feedback" procedure to mark any irregularities might come out of the migration process.
Resources
We recommend you to use the Axigen WebMail Live Demo to get your Axigen end-users accustomed to the new look and feel of the Axigen WebMail client.
Axigen WebAdmin Users
For your delegated administrators make a plan to communicate and educate them in terms of administrate the new platform.
Resources
We recommend you to use the Axigen WebAdmin Live Demo or Axigen Full-feature Trial to get your Axigen delegated admins accustomed to the new look and feel of the Axigen WebAdmin client.
Configuring the migration
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The Auto Migration configuration from WebAdmin
The Auto Migration configuration from WebAdmin in three steps:
- Create the domain to be migrated.
- Configure the domain with Automatic Migration section.
- Enable the automatic migration for the domain.
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The Auto Migration configuration from CLI
The auto migration configuration from CLI is similar to the one in WebAdmin only that we will use the CLI interface.
It is a manual configuration using CLI commands and is most suitable for atypical mail server data architectures by using MIGRATIONDATA context at domain level.
The Automatic Migration
configuration from Axigen WebAdmin
FAQ
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What if I want to migrate all email accounts at once (not at every user login)?
To minimize the admin effort, the Automatic Migration process is designed to perform pulling the email data and populating the new Axigen email account when the user is logging in for the first time.
However, if the activity specific requires it or if you find it more suitable for your needs, you can control triggering the migration if you know the password for all email accounts.
Alternatively, you can reset on the legacy platform all email accounts passwords in order to perform the migration. A "reset your password" action will be required from your users in order to maintain data privacy.
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What are the alternatives to Automatic Migration?
Using CLI based scripts. This type of migration allows managing migration processes for irregular mail server data architectures. Manual migration from CLI can be found here.
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How will this migration impact the mobile user experience?
If the Axigen server will use the same hostname like the legacy email server the mobile clients will work using the same configuration with the mention that the entire mailbox will be re-synced.
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What do I do if my users use Outlook Email Client?
Starting with Axigen X4, Axigen no longer includes an Outlook Connector. We recommend users to configure their IMAP account in Outlook. For Calendar sync, some of our end-users use the third party CalDavSynchronizer Outlook add-in.