We currently have a SBS 2008 server in place running all SBS features and Exchange.  The organization has about 15 users/desktops (a portion of the users also have the email/calendar setup on their phones) and 400GB of server data.

I have bought a new new server and WS 2012 R2 Essentials.  We want to host the new Essentials instance in Hyper-V and then tie in Office 365 for Office & hosted Exchange.

Has anyone gone through this process or can you tell me the steps I need to take for a successful migration?

What I am struggling with is the best way to migrate user accounts, server settings (AD, etc), and domain PCs to the new server as well as when/how to migrate the Exchange part to Office 365?

Thanks in advance for your insight!

Hi,

As Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, you may set up the Hyper-V role and virtualize the environment. The license allows you to set up another guest operating system that is running Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. 

Detailed steps about Deploying Windows Server Essentials on virtual machines you may reference:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn281793.aspx

And:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2013/09/16/installing-and-configuring-the-windows-server-essentials-experience-role.aspx

Besides, you may reference link below for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Migration Keys to Success(Exchange and O365 are also mentioned in this blog):
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2014/03/31/windows-server-2012-r2-essentials-migration-keys-to-success.aspx

Best Regards,
Eve Wang