So it seems that Exchange 2010 hybrids are still alive and in demand even though the product is out of support and most certainly should have been replaced by now. However when customers are still running Exchange 2003 what can you do!

So as you can see by the title Exchange 2010 hybrids are still doing well out in the wild and customers who want to go through this transition have some challenges to say the least!

You might say why don’t I use 3rd party migration tools? Why are you doing a hybrid which is a valid point but lets not go there for now!

Well I wanted to highlight some of the technical challenges that Microsoft haven’t fully published out there for this product.

First of all as you are all aware the Hybrid Configuration Wizard is downloaded online so you can get the latest build/updates/etc (the same still applies to 2010). Generally most people would run this from their Exchange platform and this is where the HCW has some challenges although the HCW doesn’t have many hard pre reqs it won’t download unless .net 4.5.1 is installed on the server and furthermore won’t even start installing unless you have .net 4.6.2 of which neither are supported on Exchange 2010.

Now I am sure you are all aware but if not you can run the HCW from any server/workstation within your LAN as long as you have the .net requirements and you have defined the Powershell URL in your Exchange 2010 setup. If not you should publish this internally to allow the remote workstation to connect to Exchange and run the HCW! Ensure the firewall ports are open.

Then hopefully a few clicks later everything is in place and you are ready to go with your Exchange 2010 Hybrid to o365!