If you’re looking to migrate out of a GoDaddy Microsoft 365 tenant and into a commercial, education, or government tenant, this article is for you!

Not only is GoDaddy a popular domain registrar and web host, but it’s also arguably the most successful Microsoft 365 syndicate in the CSP market. While there are hundreds of CSP’s offering value-added software licenses, GoDaddy’s approach is a little different.

In this context, “syndication” refers to a backend configuration that allows GoDaddy to sell and administer Microsoft 365 alongside their own proprietary solutions (rather than just being a reseller). The result is a unified portal that allows GoDaddy to control the core Microsoft 365 experience. Unlike standard Microsoft 365 tenants where the customer can choose a custom subdomain like ckts.onmicrosoft.com, GoDaddy tenants utilize a generic, serialized subdomain that cannot be modified (which may be a problem for some customers). Behind the scenes, the resulting Entra ID is federated to GoDaddy’s platform, resulting in two separate user directories. Users and fundamental administration tasks are managed from the GoDaddy portal and synced over to Microsoft 365, allowing for a simplified account management experience. Unfortunately, this configuration makes migration more complex for most organizations.

For more detailed information about the fundamentals of Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migrations, see here. Now on to the tips…

The trickiest part of a Microsoft 365 tenant to tenant migration is the domain migration, which is a requirement of most organizations and comprised of several critical steps. GoDaddy customers may be tempted to request that the GoDaddy helpdesk handle the first step for them, but with the strongest warning I could possibly give: DO NOT DO IT! To make the process easy on their support team, GoDaddy will delete your accounts (and data) during the process!

Managing the domain release yourself (or hiring a professional) will allow accounts and data to be preserved, laying the groundwork for the other critical aspects of migration.

Again, relating to domain migration, you may want to consider brushing up on your PowerShell and performing a pilot run prior to cutover. To remove a domain without deleting users and groups you must first change their usernames and email addresses to a generic domain that you are not migrating (like 12345.onmicrosoft.com). If you have a small user footprint or no downtime limits you can likely get away with manually performing this step in the admin GUI, but the professionals use PowerShell. Not only does PowerShell allow for timely execution, but also error checking and a paper trail (if done right).

At GoDaddy, admin accounts typically utilize the company vanity domain for their usernames and email addresses, just like standard users. To avoid locking yourself out during cutover you should create a separate admin account, in advance, specifically for migration purposes. The account should use the GoDaddy-assigned onmicrosoft.com domain so you don’t have to worry about renaming it during cutover and locking yourself out.

Remember when I mentioned the GoDaddy users are synced to Microsoft 365? Well, that sync is based on the federation status of your vanity domain(s).

Each of your vanity domains must be defederated from GoDaddy before they can be released and migrated. Defederation stops the directories from syncing and allows you direct control of objects and domains in Entra ID (rather than from the GoDaddy portal). Defederation forces a password reset on all Microsoft 365 accounts, effectively blocking your users from accessing Microsoft 365 (but not the GoDaddy console). For reasons I will not go into here, blocking user accounts is advisable and generally a safe thing to do, but certainly a concern for admins.

Using the onmicrosoft.com domain for your admin account (as outlined above) ensures that neither its username nor password will be disrupted during cutover.

Do you actually care what your onmicrosoft.com domain looks like?

At the risk of losing a lot of business I’m going to fill you in on a little-known secret. Remember when I mentioned that GoDaddy assigns you a generic onmicrosoft.com subdomain? Well, if you want your tenant to be independent of GoDaddy but you don’t mind using that subdomain long-term, there is a great option made just for you:

As a GoDaddy customer you can submit a support request to have your domain(s) defederated from GoDaddy, thus separating your Microsoft 365 from GoDaddy. This stops the sync and resets all your passwords, but leaves all your usernames, email addresses, and data completely intact. Once performed, you can replace your GoDaddy licenses with licenses from your preferred vendor and go about your business. It’s a quick, simple, and free solution for businesses on a budget.

Cheers