Assistance Needed for Final DNS Cutover to Google Workspace (for Nonprofits Edition)

[CarrieH]

I'm seeking help with a complex DNS cutover issue for our nonprofit. Here's the background:

We recently migrated our Microsoft 365 (M365) data to Google Workspace for nonprofits with the help of a volunteer. While the data migration was successful, we encountered challenges during the DNS record update phase. Unfortunately, the volunteer provided minimal instructions and is no longer responsive.

Here's the current situation:

We have two domains

• The .com domain is fully set up in Google Workspace for Nonprofits and works fine.
• the .org domain is partially tied to Microsoft/M365 because some users continue using M365 office applications, but not for email.

All email should be routing to the .org domain (which may still be the secondary domain in google).

The issue:

I was instructed by our volunteer to copy and paste DNS records from M365 to namecheap our domain registrar, I did so without any detailed guidance, which may have introduced errors, Since then the one user that was never migrated from M365 isn't able to access her email via her .org domain account. I suspect that the following are contributing factors:

1. The .org domain is still set as a secondary domain in Google Workspace (our original setup used the .com domain as primary)
2. Potential misconfiguration of MX records or other DNS settings in Namecheap (potentially in M365).

I need assistance with the final DNS cutover, that ensure that the .org domain email works exclusively in Google Workspace while maintaining compatibility for users that still utilize M365 for office applications. 

I'm autistic and work best with clear step by step instructions, I'm open to hiring a trusted partner to assist in completing this process.

Any guidance, resources, or referrals would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Carrie

[icrew]

Since you mentioned partners, https://cloud.google.com/find-a-partner/?products=Google%20Workspace will show you the list of Google-certified partners that specialize in Workspace, and will allow you to filter by location. (Thought it seems like there's some error with that page for me right at the moment--I'm sure it'll be back soon....)

Hope that helps,

Ian

[CarrieH]

Thanks Ian. I suspect that there's a sequence in how the final steps need to be done that I'm not aware of, and this might not be all that difficult, if I know what those final steps are. Thanks for the link - I've always had difficulty using that for some reason. I may not receive responses because (I forgot to mention this) we're on Google Workspace for Nonprofits, and generally they get paid based on licensing...

FYI I edited my original post to mention that we're on Google Workspace for nonprofits

[JesseNowlin]

Hey @CarrieH 

Ian sent me this thread (thanks @icrew!), I believe I can help. You are correct that generally partners get paid through licensing, but we are happy to work through consulting rates as well. I have a number of nonprofit clients and would be happy to work with you. Please submit the form on my site: https://www.tabgeeks.com/tabservicescontact and we can discuss privately.

Thanks,
Jesse

[CarrieH · Accepted solution]

Hi Jessie: I just filled out/submitted the form.

Thank you

Carrie Hall

[KrunalPatel]

Hi @CarrieH 

From the issue you are experiencing, it seems like DNS hosting has switched and MX records have been changed from Office365 to Google Workspace for your .org domain. Now a user in Office365 can not get new emails, this is expected since your MX records are pointing to Google.  We can help you resolve your issue with DNS and/or email delivery and set up an email routing rule where needed for user/s who are operating from Office365 while everyone else is switching to Google Workspace as the primary email platform.

We are Google Workspace's premier partner https://cloud.google.com/find-a-partner/partner/suitebriar-inc, we got lots of non for profile clients across the US Region. Feel free to reach out to us by filling out this form https://www.suitebriar.com/contact and we will be happy to help.

Krunal

[CarrieH]

Hi there:

Actually you have this in reverse, and I'll clarify this.

There are three users, two already had M365 accounts, and only these two users had their data migrated from M365 to Google Workspace. The one user that didn't have an M365 account, the IT guy that did the migration gave that person a M365 account so that email would route on the .org domain correctly for her.

This was previous to when I copied and pasted all of the DNS entries from MSFT over to namecheap.

Two users still need to use M365 applications but don't need it for email, the two users that were migrated from M365 aren't experiencing any issues, but the single user that wasn't migrated is having issues.

MX points to google for the .com domain, and not for the .org domain. We need to change MX records for the .org domain and then switch .com over as a secondary domain and  .org as the primary domain. M365 applications are managed by MSFT for .org domain.

Hopefully you got that straight. I think having two domains sort of complicated things and when we got google we used what was our secondary domain as the primary domain so there wouldn't be any interruptions during the migration. 

I know that running both Google Workspace and M365 isn't generally recommended.

Thanks

Carrie