Last week marks the end of support for the legacy synchronization tools which are used to connect on-premises Active Directory to Office 365 and Azure AD. Specifically Windows Azure Active Directory Sync (DirSync) and Azure AD Sync are the tools which are transitioning out of support at this time. Note also that version 1.0 of Azure Active Directory (AAD Connect) is also transitioning of support. The tools were previously marked as depreciated in April 2016.
The replacement for the older synchronization tools is Azure Active Directory Connect 1.1. Customers must have this version of AAD Connect deployed. This is the tool which is being actively maintained, and receives updates and fixes.
Azure AD will no longer accept communications from the unsupported tools as of December 31st 2017.
If you do need to upgrade, the relevant documentation is below:
On April 6 i was attending the Dutch Skype for Business user groups event at Microsoft Netherlands. Especially for those present in the Netherlands, we will explain the new telephony capabilities Netherlands in Office 365 (PSTN calling).
The agenda:
17: 30-18: 00 Registration
18:00 to 18:30 Skype for Business Online developments in the Netherlands (van Houttum, MVP)
18:30 to 18:45 Welcome and Key Note Session
18:45 to 19:10 Session 1 (Nordic)
Cloud PBX – Options (AA CQ CCE and more) (Lasse Nordvik Wedo, MVP), support from (Stale Hansen, MVP)
19:10 to 19:35 Session 2 (Germany)
Online Dial Pans with CloudPBX (Thomas Poett, MVP)
19: 35- 20:00 Session 3 (UK)
Trusted Server API SfB (Tom Morgen and Ben Lee, MVPs)
8:00 p.m. to 20:15 BREAK
20:15 to 20:40 Session 4 (Benelux)
Teams in O365 (Johan Delimon, MVP) with support from (van Houttum, MVP)
20:40 to 21:05 Session 5 (Italy)
Hybrid Skype4B Best Practice for Cloud PBX with PSTN Connectivity (Alessandro Appiani, MVP)
Lync Basic 2013 provides all the basic functionality that’s available in the full version of Lync (Lync 2013). However, if you want to use any of the following features, you will need to upgrade to Lync 2013:
Advanced call features (not available with all Office 365 subscriptions); advanced call features include team ring, call forwarding, simultaneous ring, voice mail, call park, call delegation, response groups, and remote call control
Calendar delegation
Gallery video view
OneNote sharing
Recording
Skill search (not available with Office 365)
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (not available with Office 365)
Microsoft has published a new course on Office 365 Performance Management at the Microsoft Virtual Academy, which contains 11 modules across planning and troubleshooting areas including:
To download your free PDF eBook, click here or click on the picture. Updates to this eBook, as well as additional eBook formats, will become available in the future, so check this blog for updates.
Introduction
Let’s hear it for freedom. Freedom from your desk. Freedom from those boring managers’ meetings. Freedom to work anywhere, with anyone, anytime, on almost any device. Sounds good, right?
Office 365 is Microsoft’s smart and simple answer to cloud computing. Using the various programs in Office 365, you can do all the tasks you’re used to doing in your favorite Office applications—write documents, create presentations, check email, manage your calendar, crunch numbers, and more—and then share what you create in real time on a team site, design and publish a website, and even create and host live online meetings while you’re traveling on the train, sitting in a coffee shop, or dialing in on your phone.
This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and specifically, Office 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more flexibly than you ever have before. From the necessary how-tos about creating and administering your Office 365 account and working with the various Office 365 programs to sharing files with your team, creating a team site, using Office Web Apps, and holding online meetings, you’ll discover how easy it is to work online and off, accessing and sharing your files whenever you need to. After you learn about each of the core programs, you can try strategies for building successful teams, and get some good ideas on practical ways you can put all this cloud power to work.
Who This Book Is For
Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is all about cloud solutions for small businesses, focusing on the core software services (Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Office Web Apps, and Microsoft Lync), and demonstrating ways you can create, manage, and lead teams effectively using the communications and collaborative online tools.
A Quick Roadmap
Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is organized in three parts to help you learn about different aspects of setting up and working with Office 365.
Part I, “Finding Your Place in the Cloud,” takes a look at the way people are working in the cloud today and introduces you to Office 365. Chapter 1 looks closely at teams, both inside and outside the office environment, and it takes a look at the way Office 365 offers a greener choice for small businesses. Chapter 2 shows you how to create an Office 365 account and set up a profile, and it gives you a big-picture tour of Office 365 so that you can begin planning just what you want to do with the tools. Chapter 3 is for the team manager or person who will be managing the Office 365 site; you’ll learn how to customize the site, add mobile devices, and set up and manage Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Lync online.
Part II, “Teamwork in the Cloud,” is your guide to setting up, organizing, managing, and helping your team be successful using Office 365. Chapter 4 spotlights all the team features you can use to get everybody on the same page, calendar-wise; you’ll also find out how to share files, hold online meetings, instant message each other, and broadcast presentations. Chapter 5 walks you through creating, editing, and sharing a team site. Chapter 6 shows you how to create document libraries, share files with team members, and manage the files in SharePoint Online. You’ll also find out about working with file versions, tracking file changes, and comparing and merging files. Chapter 7 shows you how to create and use workflows to keep your team moving in the right direction, and Chapter 8 introduces all things Web App by shining a light on the capabilities of the various tools and showing you how to work with files online, coauthor documents, edit worksheets, broadcast presentations, and share notebooks. Chapter 9 rounds out this part of Office 365 by focusing on mobile technologies: find out how to use the various Office Mobile applications to review, edit, and share the files you develop with your team.
Part III, “Connecting in Real Time,” shows you how to use the communication and instant-messaging options in Office 365 to stay in touch with your team in real time. In Chapter 10, “Email and Organize with Office 365,” you learn how to use Outlook Web App to import and manage contacts, set email preferences, organize mail folders, work with your calendars and tasks, and more. Chapter 11, “Talking it Over with Microsoft Lync,” shows you how to connect in real time to other online users through instant messaging, voice calls, and online chats. You’ll learn how to manage transcripts, invite others to the conversation, and host web meetings. Chapter 12, “Designing Your Public Website,” shows you how to use the web tools in Office 365 to create a website to showcase your products and services and give your customers a sense of who you are and what you offer. Chapter 13, “Integrating Office 365,” presents a set of examples that show how you and your team can use the various tools in Office 365 together to create and share business projects.
The Office 365 Deployment Readiness Tool provides analysis of your on-premises environment in preparation for an Office 365 enterprise deployment. The readiness tool is integrated with the guidance provided in the web edition of the Microsoft Office 365 Beta Deployment Guide.
Primary email domain suffixes with greater than 50 users: wardvissers.local Total: 1
User Identity and Account Provisioning
Active Directory
Statistics
Total number of domains discovered in your forest: 1 Estimated total number of users: 59 Estimated total number of contacts: 0 Estimated total number of groups: 54 Estimated total number of mailboxes: 53 Estimated total number of objects for Directory Synchronization: 113 Note: Filters were applied to obtain the above object counts for an Office 365 deployment.
Forest and Domains
The following domains were discovered in your Active Directory forest: wardvissers.local Total: 1
Trusts
No forest trusts found You may deploy AD FS 2.0 and Directory Synchronization without multi-forest constraints
Schema and Forest/Domain Functionality Levels
Active Directory forest schema level: Windows Server 2008 R2 Exchange schema level: Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Domain Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2 Forest Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2 It appears that your Active Directory schema is prepared for Exchange Rich Coexistence Deployment Guide: Exchange Rich Coexistence Requirements
No duplicates found Unsupported character test passed
Directory Synchronization
Object count assessment: Estimated number of objects for Directory Synchronization (entire forest): 113 Deployment Guide: Object Count Considerations Enterprise Admin rights: It appears that you are an enterprise admin Directory Synchronization admin requirement met! Deployment Guide: Directory Synchronization Required Permissions Active Directory recycle bin: Active Directory recycle bin is enabled in your forest this may impact your total object count quota for Directory Synchronization.
Update values once you have verified your organization does not have any other application dependencies on the UserPrincipalName attribute. Deployment Guide: Active Directory Cleanup Unsupported characters test passed Spaces in logon value test passed Unicode character test passed Note: All Unicode characters will be converted to underscores (_) in the UserPrincipalName field. No UserPrincipalName duplicates found Discovered users without a user logon name (blank value) for UserPrincipalName You will need to provide each user a UserPrincipalName in order for these users to sign into Office 365. Below is a list of your UserPrincipalName domain suffixes in use: wardvissers.local Total: 1 Note: During the Office 365 Beta only one namespace (root and child domains) per AD FS 2.0 farm Example contoso.com and root.contoso.com would require 1 AD FS 2.0 farm and fabrikam.com would require an additional AD FS 2.0 farm Password length per domain:
wardvissers.local = 7
Exchange Online
Discovered Exchange Server(s) on-premises: Estimated total number of Exchange Servers: 1 Statistics: Estimated total number of users with default mailbox size (True): 53 Estimated total number of users with larger than default mailbox size (False): 0 Estimated total number of objects with Exchange organization level quota: 6
Lync Online
Lync user assessment: Estimated total number of users leveraging Office Communications/Lync on-premises: 2 Sip domains: The following sip domains were discovered: wardvissers.local Total: 1
Below is an estimate of computer operating systems NOT ready for Office 365 rich client experience: Total: 0 Below is an estimate of computer operating systems ready for Office 365 rich client experience: Windows XP Service Pack 3: 3 Windows 7 Service Pack 1: 3 Total: 6
Network
IP Configuration: IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.60 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.254 Trace route to your default gateway: Tracing route to 192.168.150.254 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 2 ms 2 ms 192.168.150.254 Trace Route test to Exchange Online: Tracing route to outlook.com [65.55.94.40] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 3 ms 2 ms 1 ms 192.168.150.254 2 * 24 ms 25 ms 82.169.11.254 3 25 ms 26 ms 26 ms 195.69.145.20 4 145 ms 146 ms 144 ms 10.14.234.234 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 * * * Request timed out. 7 10.14.234.234 reports: Destination net unreachable. Trace complete.
Deployment Guide: Ports and Protocols portal.microsoft.com Made a TCP 443 connection to portal.microsoftonline.com Outlook.com Made a TCP 443 connection to outlook.com Outlook.com IMAP Made a TCP 993 IMAP connection to outlook.com Outlook.com POP Made a TCP 995 POP connection to outlook.com Outlook.com SMTP Made a SMTP TCP 587 connection to outlook.com Active Directory Federation Services End Point Made a TCP 443 connection to nexus.microsoftonline.com Directory Synchronization End Point Made a TCP 443 connection to adminwebservice.microsoftonline.com Office 365 PowerShell End Point Made a TCP 443 connection to ps.microsoftonline.com Outlook.com PowerShell End Point Made a TCP 443 connection to ps.outlook.com Office 365 Community End Point Made a TCP 80 connection to community.office365.com Lync Online SIP Connection Made a TCP 443 connection to sipdir.online.lync.com Lync Online Federation Made a TCP 5061 connection to sipfed.online.lync.com Domain Name System (DNS) name records checks: Found the following MX DNS record(s): Server: localhost Address: 127.0.0.1 wardvissers.local primary name server = ward-dc01.wardvissers.local responsible mail addr = hostmaster.wardvissers.local serial = 761 refresh = 900 (15 mins) retry = 600 (10 mins) expire = 86400 (1 day) default TTL = 3600 (1 hour) Information Gathered On: WARD-DC01 Date: za 07-05-2011 Start Time: 18:19 End Time: 18:21
