John Policelli's Blog

Covering Identity and Access Solutions, Unified Communications, Collaboration, and Infrastructure

New Office 365 Tenant Reports

The next release of Office 365 includes new tenant reports focusing on Mail, Protection, and DLP. A complete list of available reports, and description, can be found here. The following is a list of the available reports:

  • Mailbox login activity
  • New and deleted mailboxes
  • New and deleted groups
  • Filtered inbound mail
  • Filtered outbound mail
  • Inbound malware detection summary
  • Outbound malware detection summary
  • Outbound suspicious filtering summary
  • Inbound rule summary
  • Outbound rule summary
  • Inbound DLP summary
  • Outbound DLP summary

Updated Active Directory Maximum Limits and Scalability

I posted back in 2008 about a Microsoft article that speaks to the maximum limits for Active Directory. Microsoft has updated their content to include Active Directory in Windows Server 2012. Specific updates include:

  • Increase in the number of RIDs that can be allocated over the lifetime of a domain with Windows Server 2012
  • Update regarding the maximum number of objects to reflect garbage collection batch size, which is 5000.

The new content can be found here.

A View into the Future of Skype and Lync

Lync

Tony Bates, President, Skype Division at Microsoft released a post following a keynote he gave at the inaugural Lync Conference that speaks to the future of communications. Within the post, there is some interesting information regarding the integration of Skype and Lync, and some new enhancements to Lync. Some highlights include:

  • 5 million seats of enterprise voice have been deployed, which is a gain from 3 million seats 14 months ago.
  • 90 of the Fortune 100 companies are Lync customers.
  • Lync-Skype connectivity for presence, IM and voice will be available to all Lync users by June.
  • Lync 2013 mobile apps for Windows Phone 8 and iOS will be available in early March, with Android coming roughly a month later. VoIP and video over IP has been added to all of the apps, and the ability for iPad users to view shared desktop and application content in a Lync meeting has been added as well.

The post also highlights some of Microsoft’s plans around product delivery over the next 18 months, including:

  • Lync Online updates will be delivered quarterly and a new Lync server version will be released in Q2 of 2014.
  • Enterprise voice support will be added to Lync Online/Office 365.
  • Structured meeting support to will be added to Lync Online, and the next version of Lync Server, enabling remaining Live Meeting customers to fully transition to Lync.
  • Video to Skype + Lync connectivity will be added and native interoperability between Lync and 3rd party VTCs.

Now Available: Hosting and Multi-Tenancy Guidance for Exchange Server 2013

Exchange

Microsoft has released the Hosting and Multi-Tenancy Guidance for Exchange Server 2013 document, which is available for download here.

Similar to the guidance with Exchange 2010, Microsoft states that you should only use the built in tools, cmdlets and interfaces for configuring your solution, and you should not under any circumstances directly manipulate objects in AD to meet your desired configuration.

The document also highlights features that might not work as hoped when Exchange is configured for multi-tenancy, and makes recommendations for configuration, or for disabling where necessary.

There are some important changes for Exchange 2013, so the document is definitely worth a read if you are planning to deploy a hosting or multi-tenancy solution with Exchange 2013.

Lync Connectivity Analyzer

Microsoft has released the new Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer. This tool will help Lync administrators determine whether the deployment and configuration of their on-premises Lync Server environment meets the requirements to support connections from Lync Windows Store app and Lync mobile apps.

Lync Connectivity Analyzer attempts to connect to your server by using the same services and protocols that are used by the apps themselves. The tool tests the following Lync Server components:
• Autodiscover service
• Authentication Broker (Reach) service
• Mobility (MCX) service
• WebTicket service

Lync Connectivity Analyzer tests the configuration of the following additional components:
• Publication of DNS records for Autodiscover URLs
• Certificates
• Proxy servers

Lync Connectivity Analyzer also provides a detailed report so you can see exactly what URLs, services, and protocols are used at each step to help you understand how the Lync apps operate and debug and troubleshoot problems.

To obtain the Lync Connectivity Analyzer, visit the Microsoft Download Center:
• Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer (32 Bit)
• Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer (64 Bit)

Changes to Servicing in Exchange 2013

Microsoft has changed the way Exchange is serviced in Exchange 2013. Quarterly Cumulative Updates (CU’s) will be used to distribute routine product updates. Additionally, each quarterly CU package will be released as a full refresh of the Exchange product and will be installed as a build to build upgrade. The version of Exchange shipped to on-premises customers in each CU will be the same version used to host Exchange Online on Office 365. Security updates will be delivered via independent packages that can be applied to a previously released Cumulative Update package or installed during the upgrade to the current Cumulative Update package.
For more details, and FAQs, pertaining to Exchange 2013 servicing, refer to this link.

Identity Whitepapers Published by Microsoft

Microsoft released two new Identity whitepapers this month.

The first paper covers the fundamental pillars of identity as defined by the Microsoft solution architects, that can be useful in creating a strategic direction for an identity infrastructure in your organization.

The second paper covers identity infrastructure capabilities specific to both on-premises and cloud computing that we at Microsoft are most often asked by our customers to implement. This paper also contains introductory information on the existing Microsoft solutions that can help you obtain these popular identity infrastructure capabilities.

Windows Server 2012 Group Managed Service Accounts

windows-server-2012-logo1Windows Server 2012 includes new functionality, called Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA), which provides a useable solution for password management for service accounts. Specifically:

  • A single gMSA can be used on multiple hosts.
  • A gMSA can be used for scheduled tasks.
  • A gMSA can be used for IIS Application Pools, SQL 2012 and potentially other applications.

More information on gMSAs can be found here.

Guidance on Upgrading Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012 Published

windows-server-2012-logo1Microsoft has published guidance on upgrading DCs to Windows Server 2012. The article covers:

  • What’s new in Windows Server 2012?
  • What’s new in AD DS in Windows Server 2012?
  • AD DS server role installation changes
  • Deprecated features and behavior changes related to AD DS in Windows Server 2012
  • Operating system requirements 
  • Supported in-place upgrade paths
  • Functional level features and requirements
  • Operations master roles
  • Virtualizing domain controllers that run Windows Server 2012
  • Administration of Windows Server 2012 servers
  • Application compatibility
  • Known issues
  • Verifications to make before installation and recommended hotfixes
  • Domain controller upgrade workflow

The article can be found here.