Microsoft 365 Email | Migrating Emails | Rehosting Email

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Email Hosting | Microsoft 365 Email

ServMe IT has had a question from a customer using cPanel for his email accounts. He wants to migrate to Microsoft so he can use Teams and Calendar, but he wants to keep some of his emails in cPanel.

Problem

A customer has used several business emails just for logging in to various websites. The emails do not send and receive email, but may be required for password resets. As the address isn’t used as a “live” mailbox, the customer doesn’t want to purchase licenses from Microsoft to keep the address. Is there a way of doing this for free?

Answer

The simple answer is yes.

The bigger question is, should we try configure two hosting providers with the one business domain, or can we do this with Microsoft alone?

The answer is, we can do it either way. It is much higher risk using two providers as there is a complex configuration we would need to go through to ensure mail is routed to the correct provider, depending on the email address used.

This is achieved using:

  • Microsoft 365 as the primary mail server (MX records point to Microsoft)
  • Mail flow connectors in Exchange Online
  • Shared domain configuration
  • Forwarding / routing rules between Microsoft and cPanel

Microsoft calls this a “shared email domain” or hybrid mail routing.

This works, but:

  • More complex to set up
  • More difficult to troubleshoot
  • Can cause mail loops if configured incorrectly

I generally only recommend this when a customer is migrating gradually.

I would like to move my emails

to Microsoft 365 Business
Email Support

Preferred Solution

Move Everything to Microsoft 365 (Recommended)

This is usually the best solution if the customer wants:

  • Microsoft Teams
  • Shared calendars
  • Outlook integration
  • OneDrive
  • SharePoint
  • Exchange Online email

In this setup:

  • Email is hosted in Microsoft 365.
  • The domain’s MX records point to Microsoft.
  • cPanel email accounts are migrated and then retired.

This gives the cleanest experience and avoids mail routing issues.

The “inactive” Mailbox Solution

How do we then handle our “unused” email addresses?

The Shared Mailbox

A common trick is:

  1. Create a licensed user mailbox (e.g. info@company.co.nz).
  2. Convert it to a Shared Mailbox.
  3. Remove the licence.

The mailbox continues to work as a Shared Mailbox provided:

  • It stays under 50 GB.
  • No Exchange Online Archive is required.
  • Nobody logs in directly to the mailbox.

Users with their own licensed accounts can then access the shared mailbox.

If they want:

and each person has their own login, Outlook, Teams and Calendar, then each user needs a licence such as:

  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic, or
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Example

A common setup is:

Mailbox Licence
grant@servmeit.co.nz Business Standard
accounts@servmeit.co.nz Shared Mailbox
support@servmeit.co.nz Shared Mailbox
sales@servmeit.co.nz Shared Mailbox

 

That gives you one paid licence and multiple departmental addresses.

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