How to Migrate from Mimecast to Jatheon Cloud

This guide outlines the end-to-end process for migrating archived email data from Mimecast into Jatheon Cloud using the Ultimate Migrator toolset (UM) including prerequisites, discovery, migration planning, execution, and validation.

Before You Begin

• Access & Authorization
  • Mimecast SuperAdmin account preferred (covers all required permissions).
  • MFA disabled for the migration admin account.
  • SAML disabled for the migration admin account.
  • Static public IP available and allow-listed in Mimecast filter settings (used to safely disable MFA and allow automated export access).
  • Rights to generate reports and download/export data (per Mimecast contract/capabilities).
• Tooling
  • UM Central Application installed (IIS + SQL) and reachable.
  • At least one UM Remote Agent (RA) installed with multi-threading enabled.
  • RA sized for CPU/RAM and local disk (logs/temp); consider adding RAs for parallelism.
• Connectivity
  • RA can reach Mimecast export endpoints (DNS/ports/firewall/proxy verified; IP allowlist applied).
  • RA can reach Jatheon ingest endpoints; TLS/allow-lists confirmed.
  • Outbound bandwidth window agreed; note that source/destination throttling may cap throughput.
• Data Scope & Policy Mapping
  • Inventory ready (users/journal split, item counts, date ranges, size).
  • Retention & legal hold mapping defined for the target archive.
  • SMTP alias history and timezone considerations noted.
• Pilot & Acceptance
  • Pilot slice chosen (e.g., 10–20 users or 30–60 days of journal).
  • Success criteria set (counts, hash/COC checks, random sampling in Jatheon).
  • Reporting cadence and points-of-contact agreed.

Prerequisites

• UM components available — Central Application (IIS + SQL) for scheduling/management and one or more Remote Agents (RAs) for extraction/ingest. The console stores settings/logs only; message data does not pass through it. RAs perform the heavy lifting and can run multi-threaded.
• Source access (Mimecast) — SuperAdmin credentials with ability to generate reports and download/export data; MFA and SAML disabled for the migration account; static public IP entered in Mimecast filter/allowlist settings for access.
• Destination access (Jatheon Cloud) — journaling/ingest addresses and policies configured, plus any required allow-listing.
• Connectivity — firewalls/load balancers tuned to allow UM RAs to reach source & destination; note that many sources/destinations impose throttling, so adding threads may not always increase throughput.

About the Tooling

Ultimate Migrator is designed for distributed operation (Central Application + Remote Agents). It automates discovery, extraction, and ingestion with robust logging and error handling. Mimecast is a supported source; data moves directly from source to destination, held only in memory (no intermediary staging), with security and chain-of-custody controls.

Process Overview

1. Preparation — confirm data flows, roles, access, and system prerequisites; schedule installation.
2. Installation & Discovery — deploy UM components, connect to Mimecast, build inventory (message counts/volume), run a controlled test to baseline throughput, and produce the discovery report.
3. Migration — agree batching, pre-/delta runs, scheduling windows, monitoring and reporting cadence; execute and track to completion with acceptance criteria.

Installation & Discovery (What We Do)

• Install/verify UM Management Console, SQL database, and Remote Agents.
• Configure connection to Mimecast and test endpoint access (admin auth without MFA/SAML; IP allowlist applied).
• Scan the source archive to inventory volume and message counts; run a test migration to measure throughput and identify bottlenecks.
• Deliver a discovery report (data volume, item counts, and recommendations) and an estimated timeline based on measured throughput.

Migration Plan & Execution

After discovery sign-off, we agree the migration plan (scope, batching, pre/delta runs, scheduling, milestones, reporting, and comms) and initiate the production runs. UM Remote Agents move messages directly from Mimecast to the target, while monitoring screens and reports provide live status and exception handling.

Data Fidelity & Compliance

• No message content is stored on the Central Application/DB; items are passed unaltered from source to destination with headers, timestamps, senders/recipients, content, and attachments preserved.
• Comprehensive logging at the archive-item level supports audit and chain-of-custody requirements.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Customer — confirm data flows, ensure prerequisites are met (SuperAdmin, MFA/SAML disabled, static IP allowlist), provide required access, attend installation sessions, and review discovery findings.
• UM/Jatheon — install/verify components, run discovery and test extraction, produce reporting, tune for throughput, execute and monitor migration per plan.

Performance Considerations

Throughput depends on Mimecast/source throttling, network, and storage. Adding resources to Remote Agents and threads helps up to the point of external throttles; discovery test runs are used to measure and tune before bulk runs.

Troubleshooting

• Authentication failures — verify that MFA and SAML are disabled for the migration admin and that the static public IP is correctly allow-listed in Mimecast filter settings.
• Permission denied — ensure the account is SuperAdmin (or equivalent) and has rights to generate reports and download/export data.
• Slow/variable throughput — check source throttling, storage IOPS, RA thread counts; re-test and adjust batches/schedule.
• Connectivity issues — verify firewall/proxy rules and any load balancers that may shape high-bandwidth flows.

Completion & Handover

The migration phase is complete when all in-scope data is processed, validated against plan, and accepted by the customer. Final summary reporting is delivered; software/services are removed from customer assets after sign-off.