Hey everyone! I've been in a support role for about four years and now I'm managing our IT operations. We're a consultancy firm of around 70 people, and we're planning to migrate our on-premises file server (which has 2TB and over 100 client folders) to the cloud using Microsoft 365 services like Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Given that we deal with sensitive information, it's crucial we handle this transition smoothly.
Currently, we use NTFS security groups for permissions, and while we're moving towards a cloud-based setup, we still rely on Active Directory. We're getting ready for this shift, having started converting GPOs to Intune and are testing Azure AD joins without a domain.
Here's what I'm unsure about:
1. Should each client have a dedicated Team with SharePoint backing, or is it better to have one big SharePoint library with all client folders?
2. Does OneDrive play a role in this process?
3. I'm wondering how day-to-day tasks like sending files will work in this new system.
Also, I've got backup concerns regarding SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. Right now, we back up our on-prem VM using Veeam and I'm curious about how backup works for M365 in practice.
I'm looking for real-world advice from anyone who has experience with such migrations – what went well, what didn't, and what would you do differently? Thanks for your help!
5 Answers
If you're going SharePoint, I'd suggest using Azure File Sync instead. You get better management and can keep things organized in a more structured way. Once it's set up, you can access it remotely using VPN or gateway. It’s way smoother than a complete cloud migration.
I’m curious too – why give up a perfectly working system for a cloud setup that could complicate things for your team? If your staff is comfortable with current workflows, what benefits do you expect from moving everything to the cloud?
I’d advise against migrating entirely from SMB to SharePoint. I learned the hard way that SharePoint has a file sync limit of 300,000. If you hit that, performance suffers dramatically. I went back to SMB and it was a smart move!
Honestly, if you can avoid it, don’t switch to SharePoint. It can be a pain to sync and people often do prefer the ease of accessing files like they used to on mapped drives. Just be ready for a lot of complaints about syncing times. It’s a hassle!
Make sure to check with your team about their comfort with cloud tools. In my experience, most prefer Teams for interaction rather than heavy SharePoint use since SharePoint can get complicated. Also, regarding backups, Veeam for M365 works well for tenant backups, so definitely look into that if you’ve used Veeam before. Appreciate that permissions can get tricky too – I usually recommend sticking to strict management practices to avoid chaos!
Just like you said, it's key to have solid permission settings in place! We generally recommend limiting user access to prevent issues.
Exactly! The hassle of the OneDrive app can be frustrating. If you stay on a file server, you can avoid a lot of those pains.