Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is Microsoft's platform for deploying and managing resources within Azure. ARM allows you to build resource deployment templates using PowerShell and JSON scripts to build repeatable and consistent deployments in Azure.

I figure it's time for me to learn how this whole Azure thing works, and the best way for me to get it all straight in my mind is to be able to explain it to you. Some of what I cover in this blog post may be a little basic, so if you’re already using ARM effectively you might want to skip to the next blog post.

When you create a new mailbox in Exchange Online, that mailbox comes with specific settings, features, and protocols enabled. As an Office 365 administrator, you have the ability to go back and modify these settings later if—for instance—you don't want users to have their default mailbox size limit set at 100 GB, or if you want a specific retention policy applied to that mailbox.

If you'd like to take the next step with such customizations and have them automatically applied to mailboxes, then this is the blog post for you. The Office 365 roadmap shows that Microsoft is in the process of making enhancements to mailbox plans.

Back in September of last year, I wrote an article about Multi-Factor Authentication for Office 365. Since the cloud refuses to stand still, it looks like it’s time to update that post with some new information.

The original problem of Office 365 not being a single application, but instead a collection of applications, still exists. The Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) story for the individual parts of Office 365 is, unfortunately, still disjointed and inconsistent. It will most likely be years before Microsoft can build all of the services within Office 365 into a consistent and operational framework, if such a change could even happen.

For most the last 25 years or so, most people with “office” jobs have relied on email as their primary communications tool at work. During that time, Microsoft has added many ways for groups of people to collaborate within their email clients. Distribution lists, public folders, shared mailboxes, resource mailboxes, site mailboxes, and now Groups each give end-users different functionality. How does an organization decide which of these options to use? When are shared mailboxes the best choice?

I once read an interview with a NASCAR driver who said, "When there is a wreck on the track ahead of you, all you can do is aim right at it and hope for the best." The interviewer was taken aback. They asked why they would drive straight at the wreck. 

The driver replied, "When a car going at 200 miles a hour wrecks, there is only one place you know it's not going to be when you get there; wherever it is now." 

Somedays I feel like that with Office 365. The only place I know it's not going to be tomorrow is where it is today. As an IT professional, that means there will be need for our experience, but only if we put in the effort to know where Office 365 is going to be tomorrow. 

It's safe to assume if you're reading this you're very aware of "the cloud." Unless you've been under a rock for the last five or six years, you know Microsoft has gone all in on their cloud services. You've heard a thousand reasons why you should move your organization’s IT services to the cloud. But that doesn't mean every organization should. Here are some reasons not to move to the cloud. 

I should start off by saying I’m not against Office 365. It's a great service that fills a need. I’ve personally migrated hundreds of organizations and millions of people into Office 365, and I expect to continue that for years to come. 

It’s also not uncommon for me to talk to customers who have already decided they are moving into Office 365, but their organizational requirements are completely incompatible with Office 365. It’s important to take an honest look at cloud solutions like Office 365 and make an informed decision if it's the right solution for your needs.  

I had an interesting discussion recently with a customer about email encryption in Office 365.

The customer wanted to know the pros and cons of each encryption option in Office 365. I've written quite a bit about this, since it's an area of interest to me — this customer’s main goal was how to encrypt email messages so Microsoft can’t access them.

Today I’ll summarize the different encryption options in Office 365, and how to encrypt your data (and why you would want to) so Microsoft can’t access it inside Office 365.

Since June 2011, Office 365 has been the destination for many Exchange, Skype for Business and SharePoint migration projects. Depending on the range of estimates, somewhere between 20-50% of all Exchange mailboxes are currently run from Exchange Online in Office 365.

Moving your organization’s Exchange, Skype for Business and SharePoint services to Office 365 solves a lot of problems, but it can also create complications. One problem that Office 365 makes more difficult is getting your data out of the service, or re-configuring your data to another tenant within Office 365.

Microsoft is rolling out a new calendar sharing experience in Office 365. The change is intended to make sharing calendars between users easier and more reliable, although there are some unintended consequences for some Office 365 customers.

Today I’ll detail how the new calendar-sharing experience looks and functions and address potential confusion and frustrations end users might encounter.