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ClearGlass Workspace

Move your company email without losing a message.

Migrations rarely fail for technical reasons. They fail because the steps happened in the wrong order. Here is the order — and the rollback that makes it safe.

Why migrations go wrong

Almost never because the new system is bad. Nearly always because of one of these five, and every one of them is preventable with a checklist.

The cutover happened before the copy finished

Mail is redirected to the new server while the historical mailbox is still copying. Now there are two live mailboxes and no single complete one.

Nobody lowered the DNS TTL

A 24-hour TTL means some senders keep using the old MX record for a full day after the switch. Mail lands somewhere nobody is watching.

SPF was not updated

The new server sends, the old SPF record does not list it, and every outbound message is suddenly unauthenticated. This is the "why is our mail in spam" call, three days late.

Shared calendars and aliases were forgotten

Mailboxes copy cleanly. Distribution lists, shared calendars, room bookings and catch-all aliases are the ones that get discovered by their absence.

Mobile devices were never reconfigured

Phones keep polling the old server and appear to work, so nobody reports a problem until the old account is shut off.

There was no rollback

If the plan has no defined way back, then a problem at 4pm on a weekday becomes an outage instead of an inconvenience.

The migration sequence we use

Nine steps, in this order. The order is the method — most of the failures above are step-ordering mistakes, not technical ones.

  1. Inventory first. Every mailbox, alias, distribution list, shared calendar, forwarding rule and connected app. Written down before anything moves.
  2. Lower the TTL on your MX and related records to 300 seconds, at least 24 hours before the cutover.
  3. Provision the new accounts and configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC — but publish nothing yet.
  4. Seed copy. Historical mail, contacts and calendars are copied while the old system is still live and authoritative. Nobody is disrupted.
  5. Verify the copy. Message counts and folder structure compared per mailbox, not sampled.
  6. Delta copy, catching everything that arrived during the seed.
  7. Cut over the MX record. This is the only irreversible-feeling moment, and it takes minutes because the TTL was already lowered.
  8. Reconfigure devices with the team, in a single session, so nobody is left on the old server.
  9. Watch for a week. DMARC reports, bounce rates and delivery to the major receivers. The old mailbox stays reachable, read-only, for 30 days.
The rollback: until step 7, there is nothing to roll back — the old system is still authoritative. After step 7, reverting the MX record restores the previous state within the 300-second TTL. That is why the TTL comes down first.

What a migration costs

ClearGlass Workspace migration service pricing
ServiceScopePrice (CAD)
Domain & DNS setupDomain, MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured and verified$150
Standard migrationUp to 10 mailboxes, full sequence above$450
Extended migration11–50 mailboxes$1,200
Team onboarding session90 minutes, device setup and orientation$250

Prices are approximate, quoted in Canadian dollars and exclusive of applicable GST/HST, which is calculated at checkout from your billing address. Migration is included with the Complete plan. Above 50 mailboxes the work is quoted individually rather than priced from a table.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a migration take?

For a team of ten, typically one week end to end: two days of inventory and preparation, an overnight seed copy, a cutover that takes under an hour, and then several days of monitoring. The visible disruption to your team is measured in minutes, not days.

Will we lose email during the move?

No, if the sequence is followed. Mail keeps arriving at the old server right up to the cutover, and the old mailbox stays reachable read-only for 30 days afterwards. The risk is not lost mail — it is mail arriving somewhere nobody is watching, which is what step 2 prevents.

Can we migrate over a weekend?

Yes, and it is often the right call for a team that lives in email. What we avoid is a Friday-afternoon cutover with nobody available until Monday, which is the worst of both.

What about our historical email — do we keep it?

Yes. Historical mail, folder structure, contacts and calendars are copied across. Message counts are compared per mailbox afterwards so the copy is verified rather than assumed.

Do you need our domain registrar password?

No. We give you the exact records to publish, or work alongside you in the registrar's dashboard on a call. We do not ask for and do not want standing credentials to your domain.

What if something goes wrong mid-migration?

Before the MX cutover there is nothing to undo — the old system is still authoritative. After it, reverting the MX record restores the previous state within the DNS TTL we lowered in advance. That rollback is written down before the migration starts, not improvised during it.

Planning a move?

Tell us how many mailboxes you have and what you are on today, and we will tell you honestly how long it will take — including when the answer is that you should stay where you are.