New Office 365 ProPlus deployment guide for IT pros

Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus deployment team recently released a new guide with Preferred Practices for Office 365 ProPlus Deployment.

The guide is available for download in the Office 365 onboarding resources at fasttrack.microsoft.com and features actionable guidance and real-world scenarios, including:

• Recommended guidance for discovery of applications.
• Preferred deployment scenarios and practices.
• Recommended approaches for channel management.
• Reporting capabilities for licensing and usage.

Access the Guide here: Preferred Practices for Office 365 ProPlus Deployment

Official Blog post here: New Office 365 ProPlus deployment guide for IT pros now available

Update: 

Get to know the latest significant Office 365 ProPlus updates as of April 2017

Access the Microsoft Tech Community site to know more: Office 365 system requirements changes for Office client connectivity

Stay tuned for more updates...

AzureAD Pass-Through Authentication and Seamless Single Sign-on Public Preview

When Organization plan to make their move to Office 365, they need to decide on the right Identity model they are going to adopt and make proper planning for Integrating their existing infrastructure with the Cloud.

Currently we can choose from three main identity models in Office 365,

Cloud identity: Manage your user accounts in Office 365 only. No on-premises servers are required to manage users; it's all done in the cloud.

Synchronized identity: Synchronize on-premises directory objects with Office 365 and manage your users on-premises. You can also synchronize passwords so that the users have the same password on-premises and in the cloud, but they will have to sign in again to use Office 365.

Federated identity: Synchronize on-premises directory objects with Office 365 and manage your users on-premises. The users have the same password on-premises and in the cloud, and they do not have to sign in again to use Office 365. This is often referred to as single sign-on.

Read in-detail here: Understanding Office 365 identity and Azure Active Directory

Read the below article to know how to Integrate Office 365 with your existing directory services 

Office 365 integration with on-premises environments

Most Large Enterprise Customers have adopted the federated Identity Model for SSO and also to meet their complex business requirements, and for other customers who need to have SSO with Office 365 and also want their passwords to stay on-premises, we now have a good news from Microsoft, you have the new "Azure AD Pass-Through Authentication and Seamless Single Sign-on" available and now both are in public preview.

Pass-Through Authentication and Seamless Single Sign-on features are added to Azure AD Connect, These new capabilities allow customers to securely and simply integrate their on-premises identity infrastructure with Azure AD. You are no longer required to have a complex Setup like AD FS to achieve SSO.

Read the Official Announcement here:  Introducing AzureAD Pass-Through Authentication and Seamless Single Sign-on

Access Product documentation articles directly below

What is Azure AD Pass-through Authentication

What is Single Sign On (SSO) (preview)

Update:

Latest enhancements for Azure AD Pass Through Authentication Preview are now available

New Enhancements to the Azure AD Pass Through Authentication Preview are live!

Update:

Upgrade your preview Authentication Agents 

Azure Active Directory Pass-through Authentication: Upgrade preview Authentication Agents

Also review the excellent blog post from Veteran MVP Jeff Guillet on this topic below for more understanding.

Microsoft Releases Azure AD Pass-Through Authentication and Seamless Single Sign-on

Explaining Conditional Access and Azure Pass-Through Authentication

Add-on Read:

Take a look at the below session from Microsoft Ignite conference 2016 to  know the new enhancements for Identity and Access management with AD FS and Windows Server V Next.

View here: Discover what’s new in Active Directory Federation and domain services in Windows Server 2016

Stay tuned for more updates...

Get ready for Microsoft Tech Summit 2016-17

Get ready for the upcoming Microsoft Tech Summit 2016-17, Free, two-day technical training for IT professionals and developers with experts who build the cloud services across Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Windows 10.

This is a event scheduled to occur in different parts of the world, similar to last years' Microsoft Cloud Roadshow.

Access the Official site here and Register for the event today: Microsoft Tech Summit 2016-17

Also Access Microsoft Tech Summit Spaces here:  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Tech-Summit/ct-p/MicrosoftTechSummit

Stay tuned for more updates...

Azure Onboarding Guide for IT Organizations

Microsoft has published this document to provide an overview, guidance, and best practices for enterprise IT departments to introduce, consume, and manage Microsoft Azure-based services within their organization. The target audience is enterprise architects, cloud architects, system architects, and IT managers.

It covers the following Topics:

• Moving to the Cloud
• Managing security, compliance, and data privacy
• Azure enterprise administration
• Integrating Azure into the corporate network
• Extending Active Directory to Azure
• Operating Azure IaaS Services
• Migrating existing services to Azure
• Offering management for cloud-based services

Download here: Azure Onboarding Guide for IT Organizations

Office Training Center Bill of Materials

The Office Training Center Bill of Materials provides a searchable list of all learning assets for Office 365 and Office 2016. Search on the list by title, product, asset types, or work place scenarios.

Download here: Office Training Center Bill of Materials

The Office Training Center BOM is not yet updated to reflect the resources for new "Microsoft Teams" the chat-based workspace in Office 365, you can know more about Microsoft Teams here and take an in-depth look here 

Stay tuned for more updates...

Azure Active Directory V2 PowerShell module GA

Earlier this Month Microsoft announced the General Availability of Azure Active Directory PowerShell 2.0 module, To maintain equivalent capabilities between Microsoft Graph API and PowerShell cmdlets, all these new cmdlets are built on top of the Graph API.

Two important notes from Product Team below to keep in mind:

• The new Azure AD PowerShell v2.0 module don’t provide full functional parity with the older MSOL module yet. We’re working hard to make that happen in the coming months and will keep you updated on our progress.

• We are not planning to publish new functionality in the MSOL PowerShell module. Over time we will implement all the functionality of the old MSOL cmdlets in the new module, and this new module contains quite a few new cmdlets that haven’t been available before.

Access the Official Blog post here: AzureAD PowerShell V2.0 is now GA

You can Check the release notes and download the Module from PowerShell Gallery here: Azure Active Directory V2 PowerShell Module - General Availability Release 2.0.0.33

Follow the instructions to install the module according to your Operating System.

Make sure you review all the new cmdlets here : Azure Active Directory V2 PowerShell module

Access the release history here: Microsoft Azure Active Directory PowerShell Module Version Release History

Also read: Updates for the new Azure Active Directory V2 PowerShell module

You can install the new PS Module in your pre-production or Test environment and see how the new V2 cmdlets work in comparison with V1 cmdlets, and once V2 cmdlets have equivalent capabilities as V1 cmdlets you can start update your existing scripts accordingly.

Advance your Azure skills from today!

Whether you’re new to Azure or already a cloud professional, training is one of the best investments you can make in your career. Microsoft is offering a free online training option and great deals on certification.

A new addition to the list of existing variety of technical training, tools and resources from Microsoft, This new Free Online training is based on a modern learning model called a Massively Open Online Course, or MOOC. MOOCs are so much more than online videos and demos – they incorporate videos, labs, graded assessments, office hours, and more.

You can access the growing catalog of MOOCs right now, for free. Finishing each MOOC includes a digital certificate of completion ready to share on professional networking sites like LinkedIn.

Access the Official Blog post here: New cloud trainings for next-generation tech professionals

Why to wait, choose the best option for you, your Organization and your Customer, begin your Azure Learning today and level up your skills.

Start here: Advance your Azure skills

Currently Available Modules in this MOOC are below and active till June 2017.

Register for these courses today and advance your Azure skills.

Update:

To sharpen your Azure Skills access the "Azure Skills Training" today, and by Completing any course from the below catalog will earn you a digital certificate of completion, ready to share on your professional networking sites.

Access here: Sharpen Your Azure Skills

Add-on Resources:

Your One stop for all Azure Resources

Access here: Azure Architecture Center

Practice with the latest cloud products and services in a live environment and advance your cloud skills for free using the Hands-on-Labs

Get hands-on with cloud technologies from Microsoft

Join the Azure Master Program today to build and prove your expertise, advance your career and expand your organization’s technology footprint with hands-on Azure trainings and certifications. And in the process, get recognized as Azure Masters.

Know more and Join here: Azure Master Program

Stay tuned for more updates...

Learn How global organization can adopt the Microsoft cloud

Adopting Cloud in a Global Organization is an evergreen process, Choosing the Right Cloud Platform and also having the right knowledge and skill set in that platform becomes essential when it comes to planning, deployment and Managing the new Cloud IT Infrastructure.

Microsoft Cloud Advisory Board team published the new Contoso in the Microsoft Cloud poster shows how the Contoso Corporation, a fictional but representative global organization, is embracing a cloud-inclusive IT infrastructure that includes all of Microsoft’s cloud offerings (Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Intune).

These resources gives you the right confidence to embrace your Journey to the Cloud.

Access the Resource here: Contoso in the Microsoft Cloud

Source Blog post here: "Contoso in the Microsoft Cloud” poster describes how a global organization is adopting the Microsoft cloud

Be sure to read the additional Content provided in the Blog post

Want to Know more, Access the below essential Video Series from Microsoft Virtual Academy 

How Microsoft does IT” with regard to the cloud? - Cloud at Microsoft

Why wait start your Journey to the Cloud!!!

Go to Microsoft Fasttrack Center or contact a Microsoft CSP to begin, Stay tuned for more updates..

Enterprise Organizations and Office 365 Content Set

Microsoft team published a One stop Resource for IT Admins to learn and to plan, deploy and manage Office 365 and hybrid environments, Office client deployment and Office 365 services (including Exchange Online, Skype for Business Online, SharePoint Online and more) all in one place.

Access Enterprise Organizations and Office 365 Content here: aka.ms/O365ITPro

OneDrive for Business key features and Roadmap

Learn about the latest key Microsoft OneDrive for Business innovations and a detailed update of Microsoft's strategy and roadmap through this below Microsoft Ignite Session,  Watching this On-demand session is essential if you are using OneDrive for business in your Organization to enhance Collaboration and productivity.

Access here: BRK2118 - Explore OneDrive for Business key features and roadmap

Review the Official Office Blogs post here: Major OneDrive updates at Ignite 2016 include SharePoint Online sync preview

If you are an Office 365 customer and planning to migrate your existing data to OneDrive, you can utilize the Data Migration benefit with the help of Microsoft Fasttrack Center provided you have an eligible plan with 150 or more seats as outlined.

Add-on Read:

Access the following Microsoft Ignite On demand sessions to know the future road-map of SharePoint and Office 365 Groups

BRK1025 - Learn how SharePoint is reinventing content collaboration: vision and roadmap updates 

BRK2033 - Discover Office 365 Groups - overview, what's new and roadmap (Microsoft Ignite 2016)

Here is the new Office Blogs post for Office 365 Groups update at Ignite : Office 365 Groups update at Ignite 2016

Update:

Access the below post to know the New Enhancements to OneDrive Sync

Announcement: OneDrive Sync Updates

Here comes the Announcement for the New OneDrive Admin Center preview

Announcement: New OneDrive Admin Center Preview

Update:

Below is the OneDrive Roadmap for 2017 available as of today.

Update:

Microsoft announced the  availability of several new capabilities in OneDrive for Business that make it easier than ever to sync, share and collaborate on all your files in Office 365.

Announcement includes,

Sync all your files anywhere, anytime across PC and Mac

• Syncing SharePoint sites and OneDrive for Business shared folders
• Standalone Mac client
• Activity center

Simplified file sharing in and outside your organization

• A new onboarding experience
• Simplified sharing options
• Streamlined guest access

Empowering administrators to manage with confidence - New OneDrive Admin Center Roll-out.

Review the FAQs and also share your thoughts and ideas through UserVoice and the Microsoft Technical Community. Also, be sure to attend “Ask Microsoft Anything” (AMA) session on OneDrive for Business in the OneDrive AMA group on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. GMT.

Access Official Post here: OneDrive brings new file collaboration and management features to the enterprise

Latest updates for OneDrive for Business as of May 2017

• See all your files in File Explorer with OneDrive Files On-Demand
• Share files directly from File Explorer on Windows and Finder on Mac

Introducing OneDrive Files On-Demand and other features making it easy to access files

New SharePoint and OneDrive capabilities accelerate your digital transformation

Stay tuned for more updates...

Cloud Platform Release Announcements for September 2016 aligned to Microsoft Ignite!

Microsoft team made lot of exciting announcements during the Microsoft Ignite 2016 conference last week, this whereto post is written to point you to the latest Cloud Platform Release Announcement blog post, that includes all of the Cloud Platform announcements aligned with Ignite event in a nutshell.

Below are the latest announcements aligned to Microsoft Ignite,

• Enterprise Mobility + Security E5 | GA
• Microsoft Azure Information Protection | GA pre-announcement
• Windows Server 2016 | Launch announcement
• System Center 2016 | LTSB
• Operations Management Suite | OMS announcements at Ignite – Available to purchase
• Azure Stack | TP2
• Azure App Gateway WAF (Web Application Firewall) | Public Preview
• Azure Disk Encryption | Disk Encryption for Linux VMs GA
• Azure DNS | GA
• Azure Key Vault | Key Vault Certificates GA
• H Series | GA
• IPv6 for Azure VMs (Iaas) | GA
• Storage Service Encryption | GA
• Accelerated NIC | Public
• Azure Security Center | New features Public Preview
• Diagnostics for Network Security Groups and Routes | GA
• Multiple IPs Per NIC | Public
• Multiple VIPs for internal Load Balancer | GA
• UltraPerformance Gateway | GA
• VNET Peering | GA
• IT Pro Cloud Essentials and IT Pro Career Center | International launch
• Azure Service Fabric | GA – Service Fabric for Windows Server
• Azure Service Fabric | Linux Public Preview
• SAP HANA on Azure | GA
• Azure App Service – Logic Apps | Visual Studio Integration GA
• Azure CDN | CDN from Akamai Standard: HTTP2 Availability GA

Access the blog post here: Cloud Platform Release Announcements for September 26, 2016

Additionally, take a look all the related On demand Microsoft Ignite Sessions to know more.

Introducing Windows Server 2016 e-Book now available!

Microsoft team announced the Launch of Windows Server 2016 at Microsoft Ignite event last week, Following the announcement now you have the latest e-Book published on Windows Server 2016,  written by either field experts or members of the product group, giving you the latest information on every improvement or new feature that is included in this version of Windows Server.

Download the e-Book here: Introducing Windows Server 2016

Access the Windows Server 2016 Announcement post here: Announcing the launch of Windows Server 2016

Update:

Windows Server 2016 goes GA : Another big step in Hybrid Cloud – Windows Server 2016 general availability

Get started with the evaluation today and share your feedback to the product team.

Update:

Official TechNet Documentation now available

Read here : Windows Server 2016 Documentation

Update: 

Get to know the changes made to the documentation:  Windows Server 2016 docs are now on docs.microsoft.com

Update:

Review the Performance Tuning Guidance here: Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2016

Review the Windows Server Blog to stay updated with the latest enhancements.

Additionally, watch all the related On demand Microsoft Ignite Sessions to know more.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Microsoft Certification Updates!!!

Microsoft team released five new Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) and Developer (MCSD) specialties.  These credentials are aligned to Centers of Excellence, used by the Microsoft Partner Network to identify technical competencies that are widely recognizable by both Microsoft partners and customers.

The five new expert certifications are:

• MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure - focusing on skills validation for Windows Server and Microsoft Azure
• MCSE: Mobility - focusing on skills validation for Windows Client and Enterprise Mobility Suite
• MCSE: Data Management and Analysis - focusing on skills validation for both on-premises and cloud-based Microsoft data products and services
• MCSE: Productivity - focusing on skills validation for Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, and Skype for Business
• MCSD: App Builder - focusing on skills validation for Web and Mobile app development

To earn each of these credentials, you must first earn a qualifying Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) certification and, then, pass a single additional exam from a list of electives associated with the corresponding Center of Excellence.

The resulting MCSE or MCSD certification will be added to your transcript and will never expire.  Instead, the achievement date will signify your investment in continuing education on the technology.  Every year, you will have the opportunity to re-earn the certification by passing an additional exam from the list of electives, demonstrating your investment in broadening or deepening your skills in a given Center of Excellence.  Each time you earn the certification, a new certification entry will be added to your transcript.  This process will replace the existing recertification requirement  of taking a specific recertification exam every 2 years (MCSD) or 3 years (MCSE) in order to prevent your certification from going inactive.

Also the existing MCSE and MCSD exams will be retired on March 31, 2017.

Access the Born To Learn blog post here to know more in detail: Microsoft Streamlines Technical Certifications

If you have already earned the required certifications, Microsoft team is aligning you to the new road-map as updated in the blog post, and if you are in the mid of your Certification Journey, then this is the right time to earn an MCSA certification and choose the appropriate elective exam and gain your MCSE / MCSD certification. Be sure to remember that you need to continue your learning and pass one of the elective exam every calendar year to re-earn the certification to keep your certification status current.

This new change has created mixed reviews in the Community, review the comments section of the Blog post to know the questions raised by fellow community members and answered by Microsoft, Submit your questions to get it clarified. Since this is the beginning we can see more updates to come in the next few days.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Office 365 New Updates Blog posts !

Lot of new updates and enhancements are made to Office 365 and announced this week in the Microsoft's Ignite Conference 2016. Office Blogs is filled with lot of great posts on these new exciting announcements.

I curated some key posts below, 

Begin with the cumulative announcement post that covers all the latest announcements at Ignite,

Access here: Office 365 news in September at Ignite—intelligence, security and collaboration

Another detailed blog post on the Security and Compliance Announcements, 

Improvements to Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, New Threat Intelligence and Advanced Data Governance feature availability, and Updates to Advanced Security Management with the new Productivity App Discovery features.

View here : Applying intelligence to security and compliance in Office 365

Related post that focus on the Conditional Access part of Office 365, showcasing Most awaited Security,Privacy and Compliance controls for SharePoint and OneDrive.

View here: Enhanced conditional access controls, encryption controls and site classification in SharePoint and OneDrive

A  series of new enhancements on user productivity and experience,

Long waited Ability to sync SharePoint Online document libraries and OneDrive folders shared with you (preview available) with few more enhancements covered in the article.

Major OneDrive updates at Ignite 2016 include SharePoint Online sync preview 

Delve Analytics has become MyAnalytics with some new features

Create better work habits with MyAnalytics (formerly Delve Analytics)

 Another New People Experience enhancement for better collaboration

Connect to expertise and content with new people experiences throughout Office 365

Most awaited integration of Yammer with Office 365 groups

Yammer strengthens team collaboration through integration with Office 365 Groups 

A new version of the Office 365 App Launcher, which will provide improved discoverability to new and recently used apps, additional customization options and search across all the services and applications you use in the Microsoft Cloud.

Introducing the new Office 365 App Launcher 

More Organizations blocked the usage of Outlook for iOS and Android apps as the service was initially running on AWS and now its fully powered by Microsoft Cloud.

Outlook for iOS and Android is now powered by the Microsoft Cloud

Make sure you review all the other latest posts from Office Blogs and few other greats posts made available outside by Technical experts in the global community.

Great post from our Veteran MVP Tony Redmond :  Wrapping Up Ignite: More Office 365 Snippets

Review the On Demand Ignite videos to know more on these features in visual and turn on First release to enjoy most of these benefits and share your feedback in the right channel provided and as usual in Office 365 User Voice forum.

Innovation doesn't Pause / Stop with Microsoft Office 365, if you are still waiting to make your move to cloud or haven't experienced Office 365, you would miss some great features out there waiting for you that will for sure enhance your Employee / Personal productivity and take your business to the next level.

Why to wait ? spin up your Trial Tenant, explore Office 365, Use Office 365 Dev/Test labs to evaluate more and finally make use of the Office 365 Fasktrack on-boarding center and start your journey to the cloud.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Skype for Business Network Assessment Tool now available

Microsoft team recently released the new Skype for Business Network Assessment Tool, which provides the ability to perform a simple test of network performance to determine how well the network would perform for a Skype for Business Online call.

The tool tests the connection to Microsoft Network Edge by streaming a set of packets to the nearest edge site and back for approximately 20s for a configured number of iterations. The tool reports:

Packet loss
Jitter
Round-trip latency
Reorder packet percentage

A Nice tool to assess your environment for Skype for Business calls quality.

Download here: Skype for Business Network Assessment Tool

Review the install instructions and perform the tests.

Additionally, access this excellent blog post from Skype for Business Expert Randy Chapman on the installation and usage of this new Tool : Hands on with the new Skype for Business Online Network Assessment tool

Make sure you review the Microsoft Ignite On demand Sessions on Skype for Business to know more on the latest enhancements.

Update:

Microsoft team released updated version of the tool in December 2017,  Starting around 12/15, older versions of the tool may stop working and will report an issue with the relay configuration. Download and update to the latest version accordingly.

Above Tool download link is updated to point to the new version.

Read here for more information: Updated Network Assessment Tool released on 12/8 - added network connectivity checks