Archive for the ‘Exchange’ Category
Expanded Access Online
There is a variety of good stuff coming out related to Exchange 2013 and the new Office 365 such as this post from the Exchange team comparing the two. I’m sure you’ll want to follow their blog if you aren’t already as they put out more content during MEC. There is some other interesting posts I recently came across that I wanted to share though that aren’t specific to Exchange…
One interesting one is this post on Using PowerShell from a web console - definitely an awesome idea for setting up an alternative method to troubleshooting in the event your direct access or VPN solution is down!!
Then there is this awesome post about Using WAAD with Office 365 - putting domain controllers and other services into Azure is really going to be the next step for organizations looking to take advantage of Office 365 and reducing the on-premise footprint entirely.
SMUCUG Meeting – 9/4
You’ve heard the announcements and now you want to get the details!! With the new wave of products coming out Exchange 2013, Lync 2013, Office 2013, Windows 8, Windows 2012, & the Office 365 Preview… Over here at SMUCUG we’ve been getting ready for the launches ourselves… installing software, testing scenarios, and preparing our thoughts.
All the new releases are exciting enough, but the coming revamp of MEC is also coming and like you we are excited about this as well! If you are planning to go that is awesome – perhaps we can get a SMUCUG dinner together out there or at least a trip report on what you learned out there at a future event.
For those of you not going, we are sneaking in a preview this month from our own Devin Ganger (Exchange MVP & Master) – He’ll be testing his presentation – Is Virtualization Right for Exchange? – exclusively for us. He is looking for feedback on it though so you have to promise to be honest.
Of course we won’t leave you hanging on updates about Lync. Chris Norman will start to explain why he is so excited about Lync 2013. Chris has shared a little on his blog – http://voipnorm.blogspot.com/ but if you want a bit more, a bit deeper, this session will be the perfect place for you to see where Lync 2013 will fit into your UC and voice strategy.
To register head over to the SMUCUG Registration Page
Managing Mailbox Safe Senders and Other Multi-Valued Attributes
Sometimes I run into customers who have very large multi-valued attributes that they need help cleaning up for one reason or another. A common one is Safe senders. Others include receive connectors, etc. Dealing with them in the default view in PowerShell leaves a truncated view that is difficult to work with. To get around this problem, the best thing to do is to put the attribute itself into a variable.
This can be accomplished with PowerShell as follows:
$Trusted = (get-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration Josh).TrustedSendersAndDomains
Then you can easily list all of the trusted sendrs and domains by simply typing the variable into PowerShell:
$Trusted
This outputs a list format and allows for easy manipulation. For example if I wanted to add my personal email address to the list I could simply add it to the variable:
$Trusted += joshmaher@hotmail.com
And then use the variable to update the Multi-Valued Attribute…
set-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration josh -TrustedSendersAndDomains $Trusted
Three Great ADFS + Office 365 Resources to Use and Share
In case you are going stir crazy like I am with a mid-week holiday just as the year is getting started. I wanted to share three great articles with everyone to read about Office 365 & ADFS.
Have you come across any others recently that are helpful and worthwhile to share?
- The #Office365 Client Access Policy Builder for #ADFS – http://awe.sm/a0bwe
- Useful UI customizations when using #ADFS with #Office365 http://awe.sm/d0cCr
- Good walk through of using #ADFS Claim rules with #Office365 – http://awe.sm/n04Uo
Ok… one more…
Finally – you can use #Shibboleth with #ADFS to provide access to #Office365 – http://awe.sm/f0X6I
Have a happy 4th!
Exchange and Lync positions
A few of the members of the community have asked me recently if I know of any great Exchange and Lync resources. Of course I know a bunch of great resources – I know there are a lot of great resources here in the SMUCUG community – so who out there is interested in changing roles or looking for freelance work? It would be great to put you in touch with the right people hiring!!
Open Other Domains Using ADUC
As most of you know, my day job entails a lot of Office365 work. I guess a lot of the content I have been posting reflects that. One trick I came across that I wanted to share with everyone is how to access different domains using ADUC.
The scenario is that you are logged into a computer as a domain user and you find that you have a need to look at a different active directory. There isn’t really a way in ADUC to point at different domains outside of the forest that you are logged into. This is where the trick comes in, it is pretty easy…
- From a command prompt open an instance of the MMC by using runas such as:
Runas /netonly /u:<account from other domain> mmc
- Add ADUC to the MMC
That’s it, super simple!!
Calendar Sharing Matrix
With Exchange Online and Exchange On-Prem both penetrating the marketplace more equally, I see more requests for information about how to make the two integrate or work together between companies and in M&A situations. Luckily the Exchange team is on top of it as usual and have put together a nice matrix that covers all of the scenarios… Here is a sample screen shot, the full document goes into more detail – Download the EHLO Exchange Calendar Sharing Matrix!
Thanks to Jesper Osgaard for passing the link along.
More FREE o365 Tools and Features
First up – in the Exchange Online category
- PST Capture - This is the long awaited centralized PST capture and upload tool. More details can be found on the Exchange Team Blog or on Loryan Strant’s blog
Second up – Lync Online Category
- Lync Online Web Scheduler – Of course that link assumes you are a Lync Online subscriber, if you aren’t go check out the details on the Office Blog
- Lync Conversation Analyzer - definitely a must have for those interested in how effective their communications are.
- Lync Information Dashboard - international team? Another must have!
- Lync Conversation Translator - not to be confused with the analyzer above, this is a translator
- Lync Adoption and Training Kit - the neverending need to train people to use the new tools.
- Lync How-To Training - Yes more training!!
Don’t fret regarding those last two, training people to use new modes of communication is the norm. In fact, when the telephone was introduced ATT had to undertake a HUGE training excercise as evidenced by this video…
AT&T Archive Video
Also good to note, RIM is finally supporting o365!!
Hardening Exchange Server
If you are interested in hardening Exchange, this is the way to go. I worked on this project a bit so know that it is rock solid!! It was reviewed by a lot of people internal to Microsoft and external to Microsoft – all with the highest level of security for Exchange in mind. Go grab the beta, test it out and provide feedback! I am not working on the product any longer but still think it is important to integrate into your environment…
Security Compliance Manager 2.5 now available for beta download!
Security Compliance Manager 2.5 (SCM 2.5) is now available for beta download! In addition to key features from the previous version, SCM 2.5 Beta 2 offers new Exchange Server 2007 and 2010 baselines! Additional SCM 2.5 client product baselines are included in the beta download, including Windows 7 SP1, Windows Vista SP2, Windows XP SP3, and Office 2010 SP1, and Internet Explorer 8.
Download the SCM 2.5 Beta 2 from Microsoft Connect.
Check out the video and learn how SCM can strengthen your environment.
