migration to a new primary domain

[Stephen B]

So when our charter school started, somebody was smart enough to get the school signed up for Google Apps. The problem was, instead of using the .org domain, they used the .com. Not a huge deal, but now we are looking at deploying Chromebooks and I don't like the idea of the students using a .com domain. 

BTW, I'm a parent volunteer who's been the Google Apps admin for my own company and a couple non-profits. So I'm not a complete newb, but this also isn't my full-time gig. I'm taking this on, as the current IT guy at the school has almost no experience with GAFE. 

The .org is currently set up as a domain alias. And I had considered changing it to a secondary domain, but due to the limitations, I don't think that will be a good long-term solution. So I'm stuck creating a new domain for the .org and migrating our users over. Then I'll move the .com domain as a secondary domain under the .org. 

I'm wondering why Google provides some really nice tools to leave Google Apps, but if I want to remain in the GAFE ecosphere, my selection is nil? I'm looking at a couple paid options, but our budget is nothing. Does anybody have any ideas? I'm thinking my Spring Break week will be migrating user data.

Also, it looks like I can alias users between the 2 domains. So that teachers and staff can have both address, but I can keep the students in the .org and volunteers in the .com. Any issues there? Any documentation?

Finally, I'm worried about losing email during this process. Google support seemed to think it wouldn't be an issue, but I'm not so sure. I was thinking about using a backup MX server, but the gmail servers aren't likely to go down, so they'll just reject email for the domain. 

thanks. 

Looking forward to getting back into this. 

[Bjorn Behrendt]

http://www.promevo.com/ has a domain migrate service that you can use.   (but I really wish there was one built into Google Apps.)

Bjorn Behrendt M.Ed ~ Never Stop Learning

   b...@askbj.net | (802) 772-0003

   Blog: Edlisten.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Apps User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to appsusergrou...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Suzette M Moskwa]

We did this process last year.  We used the free Google tool to migrate the emails and I have a checklist I followed to migrate the rest of the items—calendars, etc.

We didn’t lose any email during the process that I am aware of.

We did forward mail from the old domain to the new domain at the start of the email migration so we would not miss anything.

I changed people’s passwords while I was working so they would not forget I was doing the work and then try to make changes while I was working.  I communicated with them when I started their account and when I finished it.

Some of the email migrations ran 16-18 hours — I didn’t watch them all night; I just got up in the morning and looked at what finished and then moved on to the next.  Only one time did I have to redo someone’s email and there is an option to start over, so you don’t really get duplication in an event of an error.

I would not go to the trouble of setting up another email server.

I’m attaching the checklist I used as I did each person’s account…it helped me be more methodical.

I did look into paid options but we didn’t have the budget for them—and the one I investigated a bit only did the email anyhow.  I would still have had to do all the rest:  calendars, docs, etc.

Suzette Moskwa

The Phoenix Rising School

Rainier, WA

--

[Stephen B]

Thanks for the help. Looks like we'll be doing it by hand. We are too small for the VARs to help.