Author: Ryan McKay

March 2021 Quarterly Exchange Updates

Your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix is a friendly reminder to patch your on-premises #MicrosoftExchange Servers! #Microsoft has released cumulative updates for Exchange Server which include the fixes that were released earlier this month in response to the zero-day vulnerabilities for Microsoft Exchange Server that are being actively exploited.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/released-march-2021-quarterly-exchange-updates/ba-p/2205283

Decommission your on-premises Exchange servers?

I had a customer ask if after they were done migrating all their mailboxes and services from their local on-premises Exchange Server to Exchange Online if they could remove their local Exchange server. You certainly cant blame them for wanting to with the recent news of zero-day vulnerabilities for Microsoft Exchange Server that are being actively exploited and that Exchange Online was not at risk.

I remembered a great article posted a few years back by Paul Cunningham on Practical365.com and in it the following:

“If you have directory synchronization in place, then you need to manage the mail attributes of users, groups, and contacts in the on-premises Active Directory, and then allow those changes to synchronize to Azure Active Directory. The only ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ way to manage the mail attributes on-premises is using the Exchange management tools, which requires at least one Exchange server to be running.”

https://bit.ly/38HYltb

The key word is ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ and sadly no new updates from Microsoft have come since 2017 so for now the answer is no you must keep at least one Exchange Server on-premises and this has been your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Cloud Skill Challenge is open!

Here is your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix – #MSIgnite may be over but the Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skill Challenge is open until March 30, 2021!

There are 7 challenges to choose from and once you complete a challenge you choose you earn a ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ exam credit for a Microsoft Certification exam on your #MicrosoftLearningย account!!!

https://msft.it/6007V8D8U

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftIgnite2021 #MSIgnite

Free Microsoft Certification Exam!

Want a ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ exam credit for a Microsoft Certification exam? Here is your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

Register for #MicrosoftIgnite next week, its all online and a great source of information about #Microsoft products and services, then register for Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skill Challenge. When you complete the free training you will be awarded an exam discount on your #MicrosoftLearning account!!!

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFixย #Microsoftย #Microsoft365ย #MicrosoftIgnite

170 days until Skype for Business online End of Life

170 days until the Skype for Business Online – End of Life on July 31, 2021 and at that point, access to the service will end. Here is some incredible free learning material onย #MicrosoftDocsย to help you plan your upgrade journey.

Upgrade to Microsoft Teams

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoftย #Microsoft365ย #SkypeforBusinessย #MicrosoftTeams

Reminder: Configuration Change in Guest access for Microsoft Teams

Friendly reminder per #Microsoft365ย Message Center message MC228482 that “๐—•๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ฒ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐Ÿด๐˜๐—ต, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿญ, we are turning on Guest access in Microsoft Teams by default for any customers who have not configured this setting.”

If your organization is not ready for this #MicrosoftTeams capability simply take a moment and ensure your guest access setting in the Microsoft Teams admin center is set to “Off”

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftTeams