Exchange Online Protection Enhancements

Microsoft team recently released seven new features to Exchange Online Protection, EOP is currently enhanced at an rapid rate with many strong features added periodically that ensures that Microsoft is providing a secure email environment.

Below are the new enhancements,

Scheduled EOP reports
Domain-based email traffic support
Simplified block and allow
Quarantined message preview
Bulk release
Improving backscatter detection with Boomerang
Non-delivery report (NDR) backscatter storm prevention

Access the Official blog post her to know more: 7 new Exchange Online Protection enhancements

Its Update time again for Exchange Servers...

As a part of quarterly update release Microsoft team released updates for Exchange Server 2013 as well as updates for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 and Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3.

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Cumulative Update 9 for Exchange Server 2013 (KB3049849)

Download here

Refer the Knowledge base here

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Update Rollup 10 For Exchange 2010 SP3 (KB3049853)

Download here

Refer the Knowledge base here

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Update Rollup 17 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB3056710)

Download here

Refer the Knowledge base here

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As stated in the official EHLO blog post, Update Rollup 10 is the last scheduled release for Exchange Server 2010. Both Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2007 are in extended support and will receive security and time zone fixes on-demand on a go-forward basis.

For Hybrid deployments ensure that your On premises environment is updated to the current update or the one before to stay inline with Microsoft best practices for Hybrid.

As always deploy these updates in your Lab environment and plan for production upgrades, since the current Rollup and cumulative updates seems stable for a while we can expect this release also to be a standard one, but we never know until the community confirms the same in the upcoming days. stay tuned for further updates.

ADFS Deep-Dive Series

Organizations that require granular control over the application access and true SSO deployed ADFS servers in their environment for quite sometime, implementing and managing these servers is quite challenging and the Administrator who is going to handle the day to day operations should have strong knowledge on ADFS, from how it works to some more advanced topics in a nutshell.

Microsoft team has released the below ADFS Deep-Dive Series to provide adequate knowledge to ITPros, reading these blog posts are quite essential for every Administrator who work with ADFS and a crucial requirement for an consultant, who works on Office 365 deployment for larger enterprises, that involves true SSO experience.

• ADFS Deep-Dive- Primer
• ADFS Deep-Dive- Comparing WS-Fed, SAML, and OAuth
• ADFS Deep Dive- Planning and Design Considerations
• ADFS Deep Dive- Certificate Planning
• ADFS Deep-Dive- Onboarding Applications
• ADFS Deep-Dive: Troubleshooting

Along with this series you can also give a read to this essential related post to know more on ADFS Claim rules.

An ADFS Claims Rules Adventure

You can expect fewer more posts in the upcoming days in this series with more deep dive stuff... stay tuned...

What's coming next in Office 365 - with Julia White

Hope many of you are aware about the recent Office Mechanics video session presented few weeks ago by Julia White MSFT on what's coming next in Office 365, an excellent walk-through session that provides an clear overview on the new innovations ahead with Office 365.

If you missed it and not watched it yet, view here: Quick tour of what's coming next in Office 365 - with Julia White

Workload-Specific Admin Roles now Available for Office 365

Admin roles in Office 365 was introduced to provide delegation of access to appropriate individuals for managing Office 365 workload, now Microsoft team has moved one step further and provided us with the ability to assign workload-specific admin roles for managing  your Office 365 organization with more control over how your Office 365 administrators access your data.

When an admin assigned to a workload-specific admin role, he would only have access to the relevant controls and settings associated with that workload, that provides more granular level access assignment as required rather than assigning Global Administrator role for managing only one service.

More information is available in this Office blogs post : More control over data access with workload-specific admin roles

Update:

Review the below support article to know more information on the topic along with the detailed walk-through on assigning the new roles.

Review here: Assigning admin roles in Office 365

Azure AD and Microsoft Identity Manager Reporting Now available!!!

Reporting plays a major role in any Technology and with Microsoft Azure reporting capabilities are consistently enhanced over time, and now its time for the new Azure AD Hybrid reports. These reports give customers visibility into both Azure AD in the cloud and Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) on-premises.

Following activities are currently available in the reporting,

Self Service Password Registration

Self Service Password Reset

Self Service Group Management

Access the Official Announcement here to know more:Azure AD and Microsoft Identity Manager Reporting – we’ve gone hybrid!

Skype for Business Server 2015, Debugging Tools

Troubleshooting issues is an evergreen process in the IT Industry, Its now time for Microsoft to introduce the new Skype for Business Server 2015 like its predecessors Lync Server 201x.

These Debugging Tools are provided to help IT Administrators with troubleshooting deployments of Skype for Business Server 2015.

Download here: Skype for Business Server 2015, Debugging Tools

Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone E-Book now Available

Its time for a new E-book from fellow MVP Matt Landis for the new "Skype for Business Server 2015". Matt's renowned E-book on Lync Server 2013 was the most downloaded E-book on TechNet till date, and now this new E-book had gained the momentum. We could see few more new topics will get added in the future days.

Download here: Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone eBook

Microsoft Ignite 2015 Sessions on Demand!!!

Microsoft's largest Technology Event Microsoft Ignite completed successfully this May, Now its time to view the sessions on demand to know what was presented during the event and the innovations we are about to experience, which is going to shape the future of Technology powered by Microsoft.

You can now watch the sessions on demand in the Ignite website and download the sessions from Channel 9

Watch here: Ignite On Demand

Download here: Microsoft Ignite 2015

Fellow MVP Michel de Rooij has written an excellent PowerShell script that helps you to download the sessions from Channel 9 at ease in one go.

Access here: Channel9 Session Downloader v1.81

Microsoft team also announced the dates for Microsoft Ignite 2016 and the count down has begun.

Visit live Ignite Countdown here and follow @IgniteCountdown for live updates.

Microsoft Technology Center now Available!!!

Today Microsoft team announced the availability of "Microsoft Technology Center" a new way to know the recent updates from Microsoft on the current Technology Virtually.

Access the Official Announcement here: Live from a Microsoft technology center—Office virtual events

Register for the virtual event series to stay up-to date.

Exchange Server 2016 Architecture is Here!!!

Exchange Server 2016 Architecture is now here,We have more changes which we never expected in the new Architecture and much more enhancements beyond our imagination.

Access the EHLO Blog post here to know more: Exchange Server 2016 Architecture

Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition E Book

Its time for one more E-book to read from Microsoft to know more on Windows 10 Technical Preview for IT Pros.

Know more and download here: Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition E Book

Office 2016 Preview now Available !!!

Microsoft team during yesterday's Ignite event announced the availability of Office 2016 preview, you can download and enjoy the new experience from now on.

Access Official Announcement here for more details : Office 2016 Public Preview now available

Skype for Business Server goes GA !!!

Among various great announcements made today during the Microsoft Ignite event , the most significant announcement was the General availability of Skype for Business Server from today.

Here is the announcement extract,

Today, we’re also pleased to announce that Skype for Business Server is now generally available, and Office 365 and Skype for Business Server customers can now reach anyone in the entire Skype directory with Skype Directory Search.

Access the Official announcement in the Office Blogs post for more details : Skype for Business gains momentum

Microsoft Ignite has begun!!!

Today is the big day for Microsoft, most awaited Unified event "Microsoft Ignite" went live and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is delivering the Key note session followed by various sessions on the Microsoft Technology.

Watch the Keynote Live stream here

Follow @MS_Ignite in twitter and  the has tag #MSIgnite for live updates.

Access the full list of Speakers and Sessions here

More Announcements are on the way, Watch out the Microsoft Community and Official websites for latest updates getting firing out now.

Update:

Some key resources you can review to know what was announced yesterday and new innovations or on the way from Microsoft.

Modern productivity–Office news at Ignite - Office Blogs

What’s new in Office 365 administration from Microsoft Ignite - Office Blogs

Manage change and stay informed in Office 365 - Office Blogs


Announcing first network partners to offer ExpressRoute for Office 365 - Office Blogs

Cloud Platform Release Announcements for May 4, 2015 - Cloud Platform News Bytes Blog

Ignite: Microsoft’s next chapter in Enterprise Mobility - Enterprise Mobility Blogs

Microsoft Ignite Keynote Announcement Summary - WindowsIT Pro

Satya Nadella launches Microsoft Ignite - Tony Redmond's Exchange Unwashed Blog


Microsoft Ignite Debrief with the Exchange Experts  - Podcast

Stay tuned everyday to experience the future of the Technology.