With the impending release of Windows Server 2016, we will soon have a new version of AD FS available to use with our various cloud deployments. I thought this would be a good time to start looking at the new features and functionality of Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) in the new version of Windows Server.
In this post, I’m going to introduce three new features to AD FS in Windows Server 2016: The upgrade process, improved auditing, and the AD FS rapid restore tool. In a future blog post (after Windows Server 2016 is released), I’ll dive into the specifics of setting up and using each of these features.
Read moreMicrosoft has been busy releasing features for Exchange Online over the last couple of weeks, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about three new features: Focused Inbox, Outlook Mentions and Certificate Based Authentication.
What is Focused Inbox?
Focused Inbox is a feature that came from Microsoft acquisition of Acompli in December 2014. Focused Inbox has been a part of the iOS Outlook app since it was launched shortly after Acompli was brought into Microsoft.
Read moreOffice 365 Groups (that’s Groups with a capital “G”) are a newish feature of Office 365 that allow for collaboration across several different cloud applications. Office 365 Groups are the cloud only evolution of Site mailboxes, a technology introduced with Exchange and SharePoint 2013 that gave users a single place to access data stored on both Exchange and SharePoint.
Since those days, Office 365 Groups has grown to include significant functionality. The problem has been that, at least until recently, there was no native migration path to transform your on-premises distribution lists into Office 365 Groups other than manually recreating them. In this post, I’m going to walk you through the process of migrating on-premises distribution lists into Office 365 Groups.
Read moreSecurity and compliance are big concerns for corporate customers moving to Office 365. As such, Microsoft is putting a lot of resources into ensuring that customers have the tools they need to ensure their data is kept securely and compliantly.
Recently, I went through the new Security and Compliance Center in Office 365 and wrote about the features and functionality that existed there. One section of the Security and Compliance Center that I did not dedicate much space to was a new feature called “Supervisory Review.” Today I plan to circle back and take a look at this new functionality in Office 365.
Read moreMicrosoft recently announced a new DAG copy activation feature that will be available in Exchange 2016 CU2, but before we talk about that, I’d like to do a quick refresher on how database copy activation works currently and will continue to work for Exchange 2013 and 2010.
Read moreOffice 365 is a collection of online services that allow organizations to use Exchange, Skype for Business, and SharePoint in the cloud. In the nearly five years that Office 365 has been available most of the organizations using Office 365 have used it just like that; for Exchange or Skype for Business or SharePoint in the cloud. Some organizations are using more than one of those services, but for the most part they are still using them separately.
Read morePhishing attacks are ever more common for all email users. These attacks can be specifically targeted to organizations and individual users, allowing them to appear very convincing. Most phishing email are easy to spot, but even the savviest of us can be caught off guar, end up clicking on a dangerous link in an email message, then all the sudden a bunch of servers start getting encrypted and your whole weekend is ruined. In an attempt to help reduce this problem, Microsoft is currently rolling out email safety tips as part of Exchange Online Protection in Office 365.
Read moreSome of the more observant of you may have noticed the new link to a “Store” section of my site, where there is currently a single txt file available for an insane price. Obviously my plan is not to trick people into spending $99 for that, then parlay all that cash into a huge txt file empire. Today seems like as good a time as any to share my plans, so here we go.
Read moreMoving to Office 365 means a pretty big adjustment. Administrators who were used to doing things one way are going to have to make adjustments as their organizations migrate their infrastructure into Office 365. One of the areas where new Office 365 administrators often feel most in the dark about is changes in their environment.
Read moreA few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post here covering how to deploy Azure Active Directory Connect 1.1. Due to popular demand, today I'm going to circle back and review some of the advanced configurations of AAD Connect as well as some troubleshooting tips to cover you in case you run into a hitch with your AAD Connect deployment.
Since there is a lot to cover, and I have limited space in which to do it, I’m not going to go super deep into each of these topics. Instead I’m going to give you a high-level overview. I’ll try to link to resources where you can get more information on each topic as appropriate, and you can reach out to me via the comments below or on Twitter if you’d like me to answer any specific questions.
Read moreIn Part 1 of this series we started to explore the auditing functionality natively available within Exchange Online as part of your Office 365 tenant. If you’re not caught up, go back and read that blog post first. If you’re all caught up, then let’s get to it.
Read moreSpam is the bane of all messaging administrators, as well as a major pain for all email users. Using email means a consistent battle against spam, malware, and unwanted nonsense flooding your inbox. There are a number of different tools and tactics we, as administrators, can use to reduce the impact of these attacks and recently Microsoft has added another one to the toolboxes of Office 365 customers. In this blog post I'm going to explain what DKIM is, and how you can use it to help make the world a safer place for legitimate email messages.
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