29Feb2016
25Feb2016
What is the Azure Cloud?
It would be quite literally impossible to list all of the Azure-based products and their corresponding feature sets, since the list would be out of date as soon as I hit "Publish." Microsoft is constantly releasing new features into Azure everyday--some are all new products, while others build on existing ones....
22Feb2016
Azure Virtual Machines: Were you aware of the MAJOR caveat to their SLA?
I think this is important to many Azure customers, but very few seem to be aware of it. So, I decided to record this caveat into a blog post, for future ease of reference. Most people think of the cloud as a great way to provide up-time to applications without a large investment...
18Feb2016
How-to migrate Email from Small Business Server 2008/2011 or Exchange Server 2007/2010 to Office 365 with Zero Downtime
Update: Please refer to this newer article. Some of the details here are very dated--like there is no hybrid key anymore--and the activation only works on 2016, not 2019, plus we have minimal hybrid now, etc., etc. A "minimal hybrid" approach is preferred if you're just doing a quick migration...
15Feb2016
Key Differences between Essentials Dashboard Azure AD Integration and Azure AD Connect
Windows Server Essentials Dashboard allows you to connect your on-premises domain to Azure Active Directory and Office 365. Arguably the best feature of this mechanism is similar to the primary benefit provided by Azure AD Connect or DirSync--the ability to sync local passwords into the Microsoft Cloud.* But we need to...
11Feb2016
Microsoft Intune vs. MDM for Office 365
I have previously written about configuring Mobile Device Management for Office 365. The Office 365 Admin Center has a great subset of features lifted from Microsoft's cloud-based Intune service, which is admittedly a much more "full-blown" MDM solution. Whether you are using MDM for Office 365 or Microsoft Intune, the enrollment process works basically the...
08Feb2016
Azure Multi-factor Authentication vs. MFA included with Office 365
I have previously described MFA for Office 365. It's a great way to add an extra layer of security to your cloud-based applications. Here are the features included with MFA for Office 365: Administrators can protect accounts with MFA Mobile app as a second factor Phone call as a second factor SMS as a second...
04Feb2016
How-to set up Multi-factor Authentication for Office 365
Note that there are multiple layers to Microsoft's Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) service. In this post, we are only covering the MFA included with Office 365. Additional Azure MFA features are available, for example, through a subscription to the Enterprise Mobility Suite. In order to begin setup for multi-factor authentication, go to the Office 365 Admin...
01Feb2016