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Prepare sub-domain for Google-to-Google migration

Because only one Google Workspace tenant can validate access to a DNS namespace at a time, any Google-to-Google migration that preserves users’ original email addresses will need to transfer domains between tenants. Further, you may need to create a temporary DNS namespace to preserve access to the old tenant’s data after migration.

When adding an alternative domain you’ll need to register and validate it as a secondary domain in the source tenant and assign aliases for all accounts that need access. If users need to receive mail at these addresses you’ll also need to update MX records to configure delivery. It is recommended this is performed prior to migration. See Google’s tech notes.

After you’ve added the alternative domain to the source tenant you’ll want to make it the primary domain for user accounts in the source tenant. When performing a Direct Transition (all users transition to the new tenant at the same time) this will typically be after all migrations are complete. See Google tech notes.

To remove the domain from the source tenant you’ll need to delete or rename all accounts (setting the alternative domain as their sole domain, including groups, rooms, etc.) to purge references to the transferring domain. See Google’s instructions.

Once the original namespace is delisted from the source tenant you should be able to validate it as a secondary domain in the target tenant, which will allow you set the primary email address or create an alias with the source domain in the target tenant. See Google’s tech notes.