News, Blogs and Important URLs
These URLs are great places to frequent to stay up to date on Office 365 news and updates.
Office 365 Community Portal:Community Portal site with a wealth of knowledge and self-help. Always check here first!http://community.office365.com/en-us/default.aspx
Office 365 Blog Site: Another fantastic resource allowing you to stay current on Office 365. http://blogs.office.com/?filter=true&filter-product=office-365
Office Updates: News about security updates, public updates, service packs and product lifecycle from the Microsoft Office sustained Engineering team. http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/
Exchange Server Updates: A patched Exchange Environment is a happy one! https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh135098(v=exchg.150).aspx
IP Addresses and URL firewall exclusions: Microsoft publishes a list of URLs and IP addresses that MUST be allowed through your firewall. This list is updated frequently and I highly suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed within Outlook so you have awareness of any updates applied to this list. https://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh373144.aspx
Training
Office 365 Guide on Office Ignite Online:Short, topic specific training sessions. http://officeignitelabs.cloudguides.com/Office%20365%20Guides.htm
End user training resources for Office 2013 and Office 365: You wanted resources? Here you will find TONS. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj871004.aspx
Deployment and Troubleshooting
Guided walkthroughs for Exchange, Lync, SharePoint, and Office 365:http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2934107
Office 365 DIY Troubleshooter:http://community.office365.com/en-us/p/troubleshooting.aspx#31609269-0
Office 365 Deployment Center:Another great place to start for general information if you're just starting out. https://deploy.office.com/
Office 365 System Requirements: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-system-requirements.aspx
Office365 Deployment Guide: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh852466.aspx
Exchange Deployment Assistant:The Exchange Deployment Assistant allows you to plan deployments and upgrades. It's a fantastic troubleshooting tool. REPEAT, it's a fantastic troubleshooting tool. Use it as a baseline reference to check health or configuration during a break/fix situation. It also provides great references through each step should you have more questions regarding the step details. http://aka.ms/exdeploy
** The following tools are available from your tenant within the Office 365 Admin Center under "Tools"
Office 365 Best Practice Analyzer: Check your on-premises Exchange Server with the Office 365 Best Practices Analyzer (beta). http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/deploy/office-365-best-practices-analyzer-for-exchange-server-2013.aspx
Office 365 Readiness checks:The readiness checks for Office 365 are part of an automated tool that gathers configuration requirements for the services you want to set up and performs readiness checks against your on-premises environment to ensure that requirements are met. http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/deploy/office-365-readiness-checks.aspx
ECPA Exchange Client Performance Tool: You can use the Exchange Client Performance Analyzer (ECPA) tool to identify issues that affect performance between your company's client PCs and Office 365. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn774958(l=en-us,v=EXCHG.150).aspx
Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer:The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool is a downloadable client program that is used to identify connectivity issues that occur between email clients and a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server. The tool can also be used to identify connectivity issues between email clients and Office 365. The tool can be used both by email users, to identify common problems, and by IT Administrators, to troubleshoot issues that are affecting their Exchange Server deployments.https://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj851141(v=exchg.80).aspx
Common Questions
Q: We use Forefront Threat Management Gateway. Do I have to configure it for Exchange Online and Office 365?
A: Yes, you sure do! More details can be found here: http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/exchange/1042.how-to-configure-tmg-for-office-365-exchange-hybrid-deployments.aspx
Q: How do I migrate Mailboxes?
A: Use the following resources to get you started.
- Start here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj863291(v=exchg.150).aspx
- Overview: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200581(v=exchg.150).aspx
- Step-by-step: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj906432(v=exchg.150).aspx
Q: What is ADFS and Single Sign On or should I use Directory Sync (Dirsync)?
A: This really varies depending on your organization's needs. See the following for more information.
- Overview of single sign-on for Office 365 - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh852486.aspx
- Checklist: Use AD FS to implement and manage single sign-on - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj205462.aspx
- Prerequisites for SSO - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151786.aspx
- Deployment Options - ADFS -- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj573653.aspx
- Install and Configure - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj205462.aspx
Q:What attributes are synchronized when Dirsync runs?
A:Check out the followinglink. I want to note a handy reference at the bottom of the page. Direct your attention to the section noted: 'How directory synchronization determines what isn't synced from the on-premises environment to Windows Azure AD'. Here are some defined methods where object filters are applied. This is a great thing to know when troubleshooting and say you want to exclude an object from the next synchronization schedule.
Q: How do I initiate a full Directory Sync from PowerShell and is there a GUI for Directory Sync?
A:For a full synchronization from PowerShell; Execute: Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync –FullSync. To access the GUI for Azure Active Directory Sync, you will want to create a shortcut for the following:
"C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell\miisclient.exe"
Q: How do I connect to Azure Active Directory with PowerShell?
A: Details can be found here:http://aka.ms/aadposh
- First install both the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant for IT Professionals (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=286152) and Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=236297).
- Once you have read the information above and installed the two pre-requisites:
Open Microsoft Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell and type:
$msolcred = get-credential
connect-msolservice -credential $msolcred
Let's test. The following example will list all unlicensed users in Azure Active Directory.
Get-MSOLUser | where {$_.Islicensed –eq $false}
Q: How do I connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell?
A: Details can be found here- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj984289(v=exchg.150).aspx
Open Windows PowerShell and execute the following:
$UserCredential = Get-Credential
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session
Let's test by listing some of our Office 365 Mailboxex.
Get-mailbox
That's it for now!