Tag Archive: Office 365


Office 365 Preview – 2013 Architecture

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, Exchange, Lync by Matt — Leave a comment
August 8, 2012

Now that the Office 365 Preview site is up for those that want to see what the new wave of Office 365 looks like, I am taking the opportunity to provide a high level preview for those that are interested.  This is by no means an in-depth look at any new features (those will be next), but rather a bird’s eye view of things to get excited about.  The screen prints below are rather small, but you can click on them to expand to a larger size.

For those that have taken part in the Office 2013 preview (http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en), the new Office 365 environment will offer many similarities.  Obviously all the Microsoft teams are working together on the upcoming wave of software/services rollouts to ensure a consistent look and feel.

Additionally, the often annoying characteristic of multiple windows popping up when navigating the Office 365 portal has been changed to a more streamlined single-window pane.  You can see below that the majority of the administration options are presented in the same location, with the selected user’s data displaying off to the right.

Of course, a separate window still pops up for editing the user, but I like the more neutral tones and classier fonts:

Ok, enough of the “look and feel” you say, and on to the new stuff!  Well, in case you didn’t see it in the earlier screen print, Office 365 is now supporting Public Folders! (That’s right…despite years of being told they would go away at some point even for Exchange on-premises…).  Now you will be able to create Public Folder Mailboxes and populate them with Public Folders:

Data Loss Prevention templates are now available to actively monitor all email for sensitive content and enforce protection requirements.  A subset of the templates are seen here:

As has been Microsoft’s tendency, they have again added even more functionality in to the GUI, rather than leaving admins as dependent on PowerShell as they were in previous versions.  For example, you can now create Equipment mailboxes straight from the GUI:

Lync Online provides more customization, and includes more GUI access to their newly available Lync Online Plan 3 (Lync to Phone).  Additionally, Meeting Invitation customization is now available:

Although SharePoint isn’t my forté, it’s clear to see that a change has been made here as well:

Above and beyond the Office 2013 download being available, Office 365 now also includes SharePoint Designer 2013 as well:

The whole experience is very exciting, as Microsoft continues to rapidly grow their Office 365 offerings while staying competitively priced in the market.  I’m anxious to see what the final product will look like!

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Lync-to-Phone Is Now Available in Office 365!

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, Lync, Uncategorized by Matt — 2 Comments
July 19, 2012

Lync to Phone is the latest offering from Microsoft Office 365 that allows users to go beyond the existing IM/Presence capabilities of Lync Online and start the take advantage of telephony. Customers who subscribe to this plan (Lync Plan 3) are able to make and receive phone calls to/from external telephones with their Lync Online client. Additionally, combined with these voice capabilities, you can expect all the previously existing features and functionality of Lync Online:
•   Real-time presence information—including photos, availability status, and location—and enhanced instant messaging (IM) to connect efficiently and effectively.
•   Make voice calls through your computer to other Lync users in your organization or in other organizations that use Lync.
•   Get a single work number to make and receive calls to any phone number.
•   Create, moderate, and join pre-planned and on-the-fly audio, video, and web meetings with people inside and outside your organization.
•   Enhance online presentations with screen-sharing and virtual whiteboards.
•   Let customers participate in your Lync conference calls even if they are not Office 365 customers.
(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/lync-online.aspx)

There are a few considerations to keep in mind at this point in time:
1.   Lync Plan 3 is currently not available with the E4 License suite with Office 365 (though it will be soon!)
2.  A calling service provider is required for Lync to Phone functionality

a.  There is only one approved vendor for this service at this time, Jajah Voice (http://office365.pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-us/applications/jajah-voice-for-office-365-12884930736/company)
b. There is a separate charge for the calling service above and beyond the “per user, per month” price for Lync Plan 3, ranging from $14-$30 per line, per month (https://voice4lync-us.jajah.com/pricing/plan-details/8a617b03-2ef6-45f4-9f7f-be72357b17ff)

3.   30-day trials are available for both Lync Plan 3 and for JaJah Voice, so you can try it out without the 12-month commitment

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is a giant leap forward in making Lync Online as attractive as Lync 2010 on-premises, and a great opportunity to get all the benefits of Lync over a traditional PBX environment without having to incur the costs of on-premises deployment.

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Remote Powershell for Office 365 – Connect Faster

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, PowerShell by Matt — 3 Comments
May 15, 2012

In order to manage Office 365 via Remote PowerShell, there are a number of commands required.  For anyone finding themselves jumping in and out of a remote powershell session, or moving between multiple tenants, continuously going through the authentication commands can be tedious. Upon opening a standard PowerShell command prompt via Windows 7, the following commands are run to authenticate:

$cred = get-credential

$s = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell -Credential $cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

$importresults = Import-PSSession $s

import-module msonline

Rather than typing this in to a PowerShell command prompt every time I want to connect, I instead added all of these commands in Notepad and saved the file as a .ps1.  Additionally, I’ve set my Execution Policy to allow unrestricted scripts (set-executionpolicy unrestricted).  Now, when I want to connect, all I have to do is drag and drop my MSOnline.ps1 file in to PowerShell, fill in the appropriate Office 365 administrator credentials, and I’m logged in and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

Much easier!

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Office 365 Deployment Considerations

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, Exchange, Lync, Migration by Matt — Leave a comment
April 3, 2012

During my client interactions, a couple of recurring confusions continue to plague the decision making process to move to Office 365.  I wanted to take a moment to document them for other to get some fast answers.

1. Directory Synchronization is Required for Single Sign-On with Office 365.

The two main components of SSO with Office 365 are Directory Synchronization and Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 (ADFS 2.0).  They are both necessary for a client to log on to Office 365 using their current Active Directory credentials.  The key road block for some clients is that Directory Synchronization synchronizes the entire directory; all users, all groups.  Yes, there are ways around this; no, they are not supported by Microsoft.  Additionally, Directory Synchronization is limited to a single AD Forest at this time.  Future functionality may provide solutions to these two concerns, but they are facts that have to be communicated today.

2. Lync Federation is Not the Same as Active Directory Federation Services.

Lync Federation is  the ability to IM other companies that also use Lync Online or Lync on-premises, as well as see Presence and limited status information (depending on the configuration settings).  This is not SSO.

3. Exchange Federation is (also) Not the Same as Active Directory Federation Services.

Exchange Federation allows Exchange Online and Exchange 2010 environments to share Calendaring information, depending on configuration settings.  This is not the same as SSO.

3. Lync On-Premise and Lync Online Cannot Share the Same SIP Domain

At this time, Lync On-Premise and Lync Online cannot share the same SIP domain.  In order to have coexistence between the two within a single organization, two separate SIP domains and Lync Federation between those domains needs to be configured.  This will likely change in the future.

4. ADFS 1.0 is Not Used for Office 365

ADFS 1.0 is the version available in Windows Server 2008 within the Roles configuration settings.  This will not work for Office 365 federation configuration.  ADFS 2.0 is a separate download that will need to be installed.

Hopefully these points will help clear up any confusion during your planning process and allow you to focus on the other hurdles that come along with any migration effort.

What other deployment confusion have you seen in the field?  I’m always ready to learn from someone else’s hard work…

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AD Synchronization (DirSync) Deactivation

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365 by Matt — Leave a comment
January 11, 2012

Active Directory Synchronization in Office 365 differed from BPOS in a major way in that once it was activated, you could not turn it off – until now… (trying to make the topic as exciting as possible)

Keep in mind that if you choose to deactivate AD Synchronization in Office 365 it can take up to 72 hours to complete, during which time no synchronization from the existing environment would occur (obviously) but also you cannot immediately configure synchronization to another environment until this is completed.

 

 

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DirSync Object Limit

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365 by Matt — Leave a comment
January 4, 2012

While waiting for DirSync to finish for the first time at a client site, we received the following email (partially edited for confidentiality):

Hello <user>,

See Directory
Synchronization errors for more information about the errors listed in this
email message.

The Directory Synchronization batch run was
completed on Tuesday, 03 January 2012 23:54:02 GMT for tenant <client>, Inc..

The following errors occurred during synchronization:

Synchronization has been stopped. The company has
exceeded the number of objects that can be synchronized. Contact Technical
Support and ask for an increase in your company’s quota..

Tracking ID: cb441337-5739-4d70-9b2e-4f10d87598a0

_____________________________________________________

Directory Synchronization has a 20,000 object limit (or 10,000 for tenants created before Oct. 5, 2011); that may seem like a lot, but remember you do not get to control with the application synchronizes.  DirSync will grab every user, contact and group.  Luckily the way around this is simply to request a quota increase from the MSO support team.  Keep this in mind during design sessions and it can save you a time-consuming hurdle during implementation.

More information on identifying and resolving the problem can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459803

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December Updates for Office 365

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, Exchange by Matt — Leave a comment
December 8, 2011

As promised, Microsoft continues to roll out new and improved functionality in Office 365 as it is available.  The following updates summarize what is planned for December (through April, technically).  The link at the end will show you all the updates rolled out since Office 365 was officially released.

 

Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard* (Not available for Professional and Small Business users)
This new wizard will help streamline the hybrid deployment process by simplifying the configuration of Exchange Online features and services, including calendar and free/busy information sharing, mailbox moves, secure mail flow and Exchange Online Archiving.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:
To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Released: Exchange Server 2010 SP2

For more detail on the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard, refer to TechNet What’s New in Exchange 2010 SP2

 

 

Exchange enhancements to email migrations*
Two new enhancements to migration features will bring greater efficiency to email migrations.
1.  Enhanced Management Capabilities: The new Exchange Online migration dashboard helps to improve administrative efficiency during a cutover Exchange migration, a staged Exchange migration, or an IMAP migration. Tenant administrators can schedule multiple migration batches, obtain migration status information for migration batches, view per user details, and see skipped items. Improved reporting and diagnostics tools also improve the troubleshooting experience.
2.  Number of Concurrent Migrations: Administrators can now use Exchange Management Shell to increase the value for a migration batch to as high as 50.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update

For more detail on email migrations, refer to the Help article E-Mail Migration Overview

 

 

Exchange enhancements to multi-mailbox search* (Not available for Professional and Small Business users)
Users can now launch a separate window to preview message hits and statistics for each query. Search performance has also been improved with reduced impact of retried query failures, as well as enhancements to scalability and availability.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

 

Additional Information:
To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update

For more detail on multi-mailbox search, refer to the Help article Multi-Mailbox Searches

 

 

Exchange retention policy and tag management*

We have improved the mailbox retention settings so it is easier to manage user mailboxes in an organization. Users can now use the mail control settings in Exchange Control Panel to create and manage retention tags and policies.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update
For more detail on retention policies, refer to the Help article Set Up and Manage Retention Policies in Exchange Online

 

 

Exchange group naming policy*

Administrators can now standardize and manage the names of distribution groups—also known as public groups—created by users in their organization. They can require that a specific prefix and suffix be added to names for distribution groups when created, and block specific words from being used. This feature helps to minimize the use of inappropriate words in group names.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update
For more detail on setting up a group naming policy, refer to the Help article Create a Naming Policy for Distribution Groups

 

 

Exchange high availability architecture enhancements*  (Not available for Professional and Small Business users)
We have extended the high availability architecture for Exchange Online across additional sites to provide greater resilience in the event of network failures. Administrators and end users may notice changes to server names in URLs and in protocol settings, although bookmarks for Outlook Web App should not be affected. The connection for client applications and devices, including those configured to connect directly to server addresses, will automatically redirect when the mailbox is migrated to the latest software. A very small percentage of mobile devices are not 100% compliant and may have to be reconfigured to connect to a changed pod address.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

 

Additional Information:

Refer to the Help article Mobile Phone Setup Wizard for connection procedures

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update

 

 

Outlook Web App in Internet Explorer 9 App Mode*
Outlook Web App can now be pinned to the task bar using Internet Explorer 9 App Mode. This feature gives users the ability to launch Outlook Web App with one click and run it with fewer distractions because it is separated from other browsing sessions. It also keeps users informed of incoming email and IM when minimized or hidden, and offers quick access to common Outlook Web App commands from the taskbar.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update

 

 

Sender photos in Outlook Web App*
Users can now match faces to names in their organization with photos displayed next to sender information in emails. The display of photos is enabled by default, but administrators can modify the settings of Outlook Web App mailbox policy to disable this feature.
* This update will roll out to customers over the next several months.  We expect that all customers will receive the update by April 2012.

Additional Information:

To lean more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update

 

User Name Self-Update for Admins
Admin users now have the ability to update their own alias after adding a domain. Previously, Admins required another Admin user to make this change or they needed to create one in the case of a single-user account. To complete this task, sign in to Office 365 and go to the user management experience. Selects your username and click edit.  In the edit experience, you can change your username from yourname@yourcompany.onmicrosoft.com to yourname@yourcompany.com.  Once you have clicked save, you will need to sign out and sign back in to complete the change.

 

Microsoft Online Services ID moniker changing to user ID
We have changed text in the product and in the sign-up pages from “Microsoft Online Services ID” (MOS ID) to “user ID” to reduce confusion around what the MOS ID is.

See all the Office 365 changes implemented here: http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/office_365_service_updates/service-updates-for-office-365-for-enterprises.aspx

 

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64-bit DirSync Released

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365 by Matt — 1 Comment
November 21, 2011

I won’t belabor the release of the 64-bit DirSync software – plenty have already written about where it is and how to install it (http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/sso/555.aspx).  What I will do is focus on the important considerations for deploying it:

1. It is functionally the same as the 32-bit version

Aside from being able to install the software on a 64-bit Windows server, Microsoft has indicated that there is no additional functionality being provided at this time.  We are not looking at Microsoft support for OU exclusions from synchronization, multi-forest synchronization or any other capability that is not currently supported; Microsoft is still working on bringing those new features to the table.  FIM 2010  will help them bring those features to the public, but they  are not here yet.

2.  ADFS and DC installations are still NOT supported

This is really just an extension of the first point, which is that nothing has changed when considering how to deploy DirSync.  Do not install it on the ADFS 2.0 server and do not install it on a domain controller.

3. Upgrading from 32-bit DirSync requires some specific considerations

Be sure to read the documentation on upgrading DirSync before running the install.  The following two paragraphs from the link included at the beginning of this post are of particular importance:

“Although the functionality of the 64-bit version of the directory synchronization tool is identical to the 32-bit version, the underlying SQL schema is different. For this reason, you cannot perform a standard upgrade. To upgrade your 32-bit installation of the directory synchronization tool, you must first uninstall it, and then install the 64-bit tool on a new computer.

Although the 32-bit instance of the directory synchronization tool is removed, the overall state of the objects in your on-premises and cloud directories, respectively, is preserved. When you install and configure your 64-bit instance of the directory synchronization tool, it finds and matches objects in the cloud with on-premises objects. However, the 64-bit instance of the tool will not find and match objects in the cloud if on-premises object deletions occurred when the 32-bit instance of the directory synchronization tool was offline.”

In summary, it’s nice to have the new software but this does not yet introduce any new functionality to Office 365.  Some may chose to knock out a fairly simple upgrade during a slow holiday season but, if you find yourself busy this time of year, I’d keep it very low on the priority list.

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Microsoft EA and Office 365

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365 by Matt — Leave a comment
November 9, 2011

Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EAs) are required to be tied to a single tenant. Businesses with an EA in place need to keep this in mind when establishing an Office 365 tenant – especially if they have separate business units that make use of the EA discounts. It’s easy to let independent organizations under an umbrella corporate take advantage of discounts in Microsoft Office, Windows or Server software, but it is impossible (at this time) to establish multiple tenants under the same EA. Once the EA is tied to a tenant, any other subscribers will need to subscribe from the portal and pay the portal prices.

UPDATED: Microsoft now allows for multi-tenant support until a single EA.  The owner of the EA must agree to allow the additional tenants and sign an addendum to their contract, but the capability now exists.

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Using PowerShell with Exchange Online and Office 365

Filed Under: BPOS/Office 365, Exchange, PowerShell by Matt — Leave a comment
August 1, 2011

One of the great new capabilities in Office 365 is the extensive list of available PowerShell cmdlets for not only managing your Office 365 tenant, but also Exchange Online individually.  Where in BPOS it was recommended to setup DirSync and extend your schema to include Exchange 2007 attributes, now you can use PowerShell commands to manage your Exchange Online environment almost as if it were on-premises; using the Exchange 2010 Management Console is an option as well.

Recently a client was hesitant to move directly to an ADFS 2.0 implementation, which would’ve allowed him to utilize his local Active Directory password policy via federation.  However, despite his caution, he was not forced in to a Microsoft 90-day complex password policy separate from AD because PowerShell allowed him to turn off the complex password policy.  (Note: that functionality may not exist long-term in Office 365)  I do not condone any environment using a non-complex password policy, but the point is that this small business had the flexibility to override default settings and do what worked best for their business on an “as-needed” basis.

Managing groups of users via scripting for tasks other than migration is now a simple process, as is dumping data out for reporting.  Whereas BPOS required a local schema extension for Exchange or a manual, one-by-one process to work through objects such as External Contacts, now they can be managed in bulk without additional changes to your local Active Directory environment.  Office 365 has truly delivered a robust Exchange environment to the cloud.

The full list of commands available can be found here: http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/dd575549.aspx.

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