How to migrate files from old on-premise server to cloud australia

Cloud Migration & Modern Workplace KB-1305

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to migrate files from old on-premise server to cloud australia. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

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Common Causes

Moving your business files from an on-premises server to the cloud removes the burden of managing physical hardware in your office. Instead of worrying about server failure, power outages, and cooling costs, your data and identity services live in secure Microsoft 365 and Azure data centres. This guide walks you through planning and executing a migration from a local server to Microsoft cloud services, helping small business and home office users retire ageing hardware with confidence.

Why retire your on-premise server

Keeping a physical server on-site comes with ongoing costs and risks that many small businesses overlook. Beyond the initial purchase price, you are responsible for:

Electricity to run the server 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Air conditioning or dedicated cooling to prevent overheating
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units and regular battery replacement
Hardware warranty renewals and replacement parts
Physical security and access control for the server room or cupboard
Manual backups and offsite rotation of backup media

A single hardware failure can become a single point of failure, leaving your business without access to files, email, or line-of-business applications until repairs are completed. Moving to Microsoft 365 and Azure shifts infrastructure management to Microsoft, reducing administrative overhead and providing enterprise-grade redundancy.

Quick fix steps

Audit your existing on-premise server and identify all shared folders, user accounts, and applications that rely on it.
Verify your internet connection has sufficient upload bandwidth for the initial data transfer.
Provision Microsoft 365 licences and an Azure subscription for your organisation.
Set up identity synchronisation between your local Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID.
Migrate file shares to SharePoint Online or Azure Files.
Redirect users to cloud storage and decommission the physical server.

Detailed instructions

Step 1: Inventory your on-premise server

Log on to your local server using an administrator account.
Open File Explorer and note the drive letters and folder paths used for business data, such as C:\Data or D:\Shares.
Review Share and Storage Management to list all active file shares and their NTFS permissions.
Export a list of user accounts from Active Directory Users and Computers so you can recreate or sync them in Microsoft Entra ID.
Identify any applications installed on the server that store data locally and determine whether they have a cloud equivalent.

Schedule the inventory during quiet business hours to avoid disrupting staff who are accessing shared files.

Step 2: Assess your internet connection

Cloud migration depends on your upload speed. A slow or unstable connection will extend the time it takes to move terabytes of data.

Run a speed test from a workstation connected to the same network as the server.
Record the upload speed in megabits per second (Mbps).
Calculate the estimated transfer time. For example, 1 terabyte of data uploaded at 50 Mbps can take approximately 46 hours under ideal conditions.
If your upload speed is too slow, contact your internet service provider to discuss a business-grade plan with higher upstream capacity.

Step 3: Set up Microsoft 365 and Azure

Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin centre at https://admin.microsoft.com.
Purchase or assign the appropriate Microsoft 365 licences for your users, such as Business Premium or E3/E5 plans.
Verify your business domain name, such as yourcompanyname.com.au, by adding the required DNS records.
Sign in to the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com and create a subscription if you do not already have one.
Create a storage account in Azure if you plan to use Azure Files for server message block (SMB) shares.

Step 4: Synchronise identities

You do not want to recreate every user account manually in the cloud. Microsoft Entra Connect (formerly Azure AD Connect) synchronises your on-premise Active Directory with Microsoft Entra ID.

Download Microsoft Entra Connect from the Microsoft download centre.
Run the installer on a domain-joined server with network access to your domain controllers.
Choose Express settings for a standard password hash synchronisation deployment.
Provide enterprise administrator credentials for your on-premise Active Directory forest.
Provide global administrator credentials for your Microsoft 365 tenant.
Complete the synchronisation and verify that user accounts appear in the Microsoft 365 admin centre under Users > Active users.

Do not change user passwords in Active Directory during the initial synchronisation unless you are prepared for temporary sign-in mismatches.

Step 5: Migrate file shares

You have two primary options for moving file data to the cloud:

SharePoint Online: Best for team collaboration, document libraries, and access via web browser or OneDrive sync client.
Azure Files: Best for legacy applications that require SMB protocol access and lift-and-shift server replacements.

Migrating to SharePoint Online

Sign in to the SharePoint admin centre at https://admin.microsoft.com/sharepoint.
Create site collections and document libraries that mirror your existing folder structure.
Install the SharePoint Migration Tool from Microsoft on a workstation with access to the on-premise server shares.
Create a new migration task and select File share as the source.
Enter the UNC path to your server share, such as \\Server01\Data.
Select the destination SharePoint site and document library.
Run the migration and monitor progress in the SharePoint Migration Tool dashboard.
After completion, compare file counts and sizes between the source share and SharePoint library to verify integrity.

Migrating to Azure Files

In the Azure portal, navigate to your storage account.
Select File shares and create a new share with the required quota.
Use AzCopy or Azure Storage Explorer to copy data from your on-premise server to the Azure file share.
Example AzCopy command (replace mystorage with your actual storage account name): azcopy copy "\\Server01\\Data\\*" "https://mystorage.file.core.windows.net/fileshare" --recursive
Map the Azure file share to workstations using the SMB endpoint provided in the Azure portal.

Step 6: Redirect users and decommission the server

Install the OneDrive sync client on user workstations if you migrated to SharePoint Online.
Map network drives to the new Azure file share or SharePoint library using familiar drive letters.
Update shortcuts and application settings that pointed to the old server path.
Keep the on-premise server powered on for a minimum of two weeks as a read-only fallback.
After confirming all users can access their data, back up the server one final time.
Power down the server and disconnect it from the network.

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