12Dec2018
03Dec2018
How to require MFA for Azure AD Join, and enable Enterprise State Roaming
Hey folks! We have already covered a few posts on Azure AD Premium and Conditional access; and that's great--because you do things like enforce requirements like Multi-factor Auth, but only in situations where devices are unmanaged. This provides a way better user experience than enabling MFA across the board, and without...
26Nov2018
Coming soon to an Azure AD/Microsoft 365 subscription near you: Life without passwords?!
I previously commented when Microsoft released new password guidance, which is backed by their own research as well as that of NIST. A quick recap of that: Require passwords have at least 8 characters. Longer isn't necessarily better, as they cause users to choose predictable passwords, save passwords in files,...
01Nov2018
How to migrate from Windows Server Active Directory to Azure AD and Microsoft 365 Business (including Teams) in 5 easy steps
Microsoft 365 Business is a very compelling platform for the small business, particularly those that are "born in the cloud," or, those who have shed most of their on-premises server weight already, by moving their line of business apps to cloud-based alternatives. I can't tell you how many clients I...
27Sep2018
Security Reports and Identity Protection features available in Azure AD, Azure AD Premium P1 and P2
Azure AD Premium P1 is included with Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) E3. I have been experimenting with numerous aspects of this subscription, since security is such a high priority these days, especially for the SMB (small businesses are statistically far more more likely to be targeted than large enterprises). As...
15Jun2017
How to migrate from Office 365 Essentials Dashboard Integration to Azure AD Connect
As we've previously discussed on this blog, Windows Server Essentials comes with the ability to integrate with Azure AD & Office 365, using the Essentials Dashboard plugin. It is important to know that this technology is very different from the more widely adopted Azure AD Connect. While there is nothing...
08Jun2017
Soft (SMTP) vs. Hard (immutableID) matching with Azure AD Connect
If you are setting up Directory Synchronization from scratch (there are no users in the cloud yet), then Azure AD Connect will be pretty straightforward--the on-premises objects (and passwords if you choose that option) will be synchronized to the cloud, and you can assign services to the user accounts from...
18Aug2016
2016 Essentials Integration: Azure AD & Office 365
This post is part of a series on the Microsoft Cloud Services integrations that are included with Windows Server 2016 Essentials Experience. To begin we will connect our local on-premises Windows Essentials Experience Server to the Microsoft cloud by enabling the Azure Active Directory and Office 365 integrations. Please note that this is very different from using Azure...
19May2016
How to Remove a Legacy Hybrid Exchange Server and migrate to Windows Server Essentials Office 365 Integration
If you performed a Remote Move migration from a legacy system such as SBS 2011 or Exchange 2010, and now you want to remove your hybrid server without losing the ability to sync passwords to Office 365, I have some good news for you: it's totally possible. Update: This is no...
16May2016