on-premises

Cloud vs. On-prem and the future of Managed Services

Is the on-prem model (e.g. legacy AD with file shares, Windows Server-based apps, etc.) 'better' in some cases than SaaS alternatives like Microsoft 365, GSuite, Ping, Okta, Salesforce, DropBox, or whatever? In the SMB space, I really struggle to advocate for on-prem anymore, and I mean REALLY struggle. And that's...
Read more...

Office 365 Offboarding: Reverse Hybrid Migration to Exchange 2016 On-premises

Why would anyone want to off-board mailboxes from Office 365 to Exchange On-premises? Isn't that a bit like moving backwards? Well, I tend to think so, yes--at least in the SMB.  But what happens when a mid or larger-sized enterprise organization eats a smaller-sized business through acquisition? In this scenario, it...
Read more...

Multifactor Authentication Server is not compatible with password sync?

I was recently asked for help implementing Microsoft's Multifactor Authentication Server for an on-premises Remote Desktop farm.  There is a great resource on the web at RDS Gurus that steps you through this process.  Just for the sake of doing my homework, I decided to read up on...
Read more...

How to create an Anonymous relay connector in Exchange 2016

Hey, somebody moved my cheese again... If you configured an anonymous relay connector in Exchange 2013, for example to allow scan-to-email from an MFP device or other on-premise application, you probably remember that you needed to choose "Frontend Transport" and "Custom." If you left it on Hub Transport, it would fail, since the binding...
Read more...

Why I have a hard time recommending Exchange on-premises

Not that long ago, picking Exchange on-premises over Office 365 used to be a thing. As in, there were legitimate reasons I might choose to keep a self-hosted Exchange server rather than go to Office 365. However, I think it's time to put those days behind us, once and for all--especially in the...
Read more...

Comparing Costs: Azure IaaS vs. On-Premises Server Hardware

Most people do not compare costs of running infrastructure in Azure to traditional on-premises deployments appropriately. To begin with, it is almost impossible to compare them apples-to-apples. For example: as soon as you deploy a VM in Azure, all of your data will be written into 3 different storage locations by default. If you select...
Read more...

What is Advanced Threat Analytics?

Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) is a security product from Microsoft that is included with the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) subscription.  Unlike most of the other EMS components that tend to be a bit more cloud-centric, ATA is an on-premises-based security solution that helps identify Advanced Persistent Threats (APT's) and insider threats before they can cause...
Read more...

Helping IT Consultants Succeed in the Microsoft Cloud

Have a Question? Contact me today.