08Oct2018
04Sep2018
Replacing your traditional file server with Microsoft Teams and OneDrive, part 1: Overcoming the hurdles
There is no doubt about it, more and more workloads are moving to the cloud these days, especially in the SMB space. Nevertheless, more often than not organizations (even small ones) remain completely disorganized when it comes to their legacy file servers, and this can be the most difficult piece...
22Aug2018
Why MDM for Office 365 may be obsolete, with updates to Exchange Active Sync
Disclaimer: This is not breaking news, what I am about to describe has been available for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it. Previously I wrote about MDM for Office 365, and I had to update that article since Microsoft keeps changing the interface and...
05Apr2018
Meet Microsoft 365 Business: The new Small Business Server(less) Solution
I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. And I can't tell you how happy I am that it is finally here. Today we're going to talk about Microsoft 365 Business (not Office 365). Actually, I've been sitting on it for a while, because I wasn't sure if it...
12Mar2018
New OME Encryption Template, Criticism Revisited…
Spooky. Lately it's like Microsoft is following this blog or something. I have been working on a number of posts that I'm rather excited about. First, I had one of my biggest wishes come true, with the release of Files On-Demand for OneDrive (included in Fall Creator's update). Additionally, I've been piloting...
06Mar2018
Can OneDrive and SharePoint replace my file server? Probably, with Files On-Demand.
The real answer to this question is: it depends. But the shorter version is: probably. You'll just want to enable Files On-Demand first.* OneDrive has been great for personal files for a long time--I usually recommend clients start by replacing redirected "Documents" folders with OneDrive for Business. The problem with SharePoint,...
02Nov2017
Is Azure Backup as good as offline backup?
I am posing this question, not just for Azure Backup, but any cloud-based backup. Here's the question: Is Azure Backup (or any cloud-based backup for that matter) as good as having an offline backup? The Benefits of Azure / Cloud Backup Certainly one of the biggest benefits of a cloud-based backup is that...
19Oct2017
Azure Virtual Network: What is the difference between Policy-based and Route-based VPN?
You want to configure a Site-to-Site (S2S) VPN tunnel from an on-premises hardware VPN device, such as your firewall, and an Azure Virtual Network. For this, you require several objects in Azure. One of those is a "virtual network gateway"--which is basically just a software VPN appliance with a public...
31Aug2017
The next evolution of SBS
In a previous article, I compared two alternative deployments for a new kind of "Small Business Server" (being defined in this case as a network of 25 users or less). Microsoft used to have a widely adopted product for this market called Small Business Server, but since it has been discontinued...
10Aug2017