Just announced on The Exchange Team Blog, “We're happy to announce that the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant (ExDeploy) has been enhanced to include support for configuring hybrid deployments using Exchange 2010 SP2 and the Hybrid Configuration Wizard.”

The first in several upcoming scenario additions for configuring hybrid deployments when using the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, this new scenario is for Exchange 2003 organizations interested in maintaining some users on-premises and some users hosted in the cloud…

- The Exchange Team Blog Exchange Server Deployment Assistant Update for Exchange 2010 SP2 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployments

We expect new checklist guidance for hybrid deployments with Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 SP2 to be available in the future. If you need access to the previous step-by-step checklists for Exchange 2003/2007 and Exchange 2010 SP1, then you can find it at TechNet Library > Office 365 Hybrid Deployments with Exchange 2010 SP1.

View The Exchange Team Blog announcement
Exchange Server Deployment Assistant Update for Exchange 2010 SP2 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployments

Try out ExDeploy
Exchange Server Deployment Assistant

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Thanks for joining us today!

Zion Brewer

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This was a question asked by a large university in Ohio moving towards Office 365.

Diagram showing non-SIP based PBX connecting to Exchange Online Unified Messaging

The good news is Exchange Online UM is almost the same in functionality to the Exchange 2010 on premises UM offering.  It offers the following capabilities:

• Call answering
• Outlook Voice Access
• Automated attendant
• Message Waiting Indicator for on premises phones
• Text transcription of all voicemail
• Play on phone

What are the differences between Exchange 2010 UM on premises vs. Exchange Online UM offerings? 

The major feature differences in UM capabilities are around speech recognition. Three areas that are different:

1) Autoattendants with Exchange Online UM are DTMF only. Speech works with on prem Exchange UM only

2) Directory look-up with Outlook Voice Access is also DTMF only. Speech recognition works with on prem Exchange UM only

3) Not all UM powershell cmdlets not available such as UMserver cmdlets.

Other functionality differences:

• Management interfaces If your UM deployment is cloud-based only, you use the Web-based Exchange Control Panel to manage UM. In a coexistence scenario, where you have both on-premises and cloud-based UM users, you use the Exchange Management Console.
• UM server requirements If your UM deployment is cloud-based only, you don't need to set up and maintain UM servers on-premises. You use the UM service in the cloud instead. This means you don't have to associate your UM dial plans with a UM server, and many server-side configuration options, such as language pack management and server logs, aren't necessary. If you are setting up your organization for UM coexistence, you have to set up and maintain UM servers for your on-premises UM deployment.
• VoIP security options In a cloud-based UM deployment, communication between your Private Branch eXchange (PBX) and the UM servers occurs over the Internet, so the VoIP security setting is automatically set to Secured. This enforces Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) when VoIP traffic is routed between your on-premises session border controller (SBC) and the UM service in the cloud. In an on-premises UM deployment, you can choose the security setting.
• UM IP gateway configuration When you configure your UM IP gateway in the cloud, point the gateway to your on-premises SBC, instead of directly to the IP PBX. For more information, see Create a New UM IP Gateway. In an on-premises UM deployment, you point your UM IP gateway directly to your IP PBX.
• Forwarding address For an on-premises deployment of UM, you point your UM IP gateway directly to your UM server. In a cloud-based UM deployment, the UM server addresses aren't static, so you have to configure your SBC to point to a forwarding address for the UM service in the cloud. For more information, see Forward Calls from Your Physical Telephone Device to UM.
• Licensing For Microsoft Office 365 for education, you must have a subscription license that includes UM for the mailboxes that you UM-enable. You manage licensing in the Microsoft Office 365 portal. For more information, see Assign a License to New Mailboxes in Office 365.

Can I have a mailbox on prem with UM in the cloud or Exchange Online mailbox with UM on prem?

No, the rule to follow is wherever your mailbox resides is where your UM server must reside. You cannot have a hybrid mailbox and UM scenario.  You can however have some on prem mailboxes with on prem UM combined in hybrid fashion with Exchange Online mailboxes with Exchange Online UM

What additional hardware do I need to connect my on prem PBX to Exchange Online UM?

Your hardware requirements will vary depending on what you are using for call control:

Non IP PBX:

SIP gateway – an appliance to translate TDM to SIP to talk to Exchange Online UM.  See tested SIP gateways with Exchange UM here.

Session Border Controller – an appliance for secure voicemail with Exchange Online UM

SIP PBX:

No SIP gateway needed provided your SIP PBX is listed here.

Session Border Controller – an appliance for secure voicemail with Exchange Online UM

Lync Server 2010 enterprise voice:

No additional hardware required other than Lync Edge server if not already present.

Can I use any SBC with Exchange Online UM?

We strongly recommend you leverage the tested SBCs that are known to work with our SBCs and our Exchange Online UM.  You can find the latest list of tested SBCs here.

Can I connect my Lync Enterprise voice deployment to Exchange Online UM?

Yes, it works and you can eliminate the need for an on prem SBC.   Here is a diagram:

Diagram of Lync voice on prem connecting to Exchange Online UM

For more information on deploying Exchange Online UM with Lync voice see here.

Where do I find the guide to setup Exchange Online UM?

Great information here.

Something I imagine a lot of you might be asking yourselves is whether or not there’ll be supervision policies for Exchange Online in Office 365 for education like there are in Live@edu? Policies like the bad word supervision policy, and the closed campus supervision policy.

Out of the box, those policies are not preconfigured in Office 365 for education, but they are really easy to set up! My colleague, and Office 365 legend, Tony Ison has provided me with a handy table to show you how to configure these policies in Exchange Online:

Have you configured your own custom policies differently to the ones in the table? Got any pro tips on managing Exchange Online in schools? Let us know in the comments!

Guest post by Office 365 Consultant, Tony Ison.

If you have just jumped on-board with Office 365, or are looking to migrate over once general availability has been announced, then here is a little gem that you might find useful.

Currently under Live@edu if your tenancy requires a full directory synchronisation after you have initiated your first complete sync, for example you have changed some AD settings and wish to re-sync all AD objects to the cloud then as you probably know the PowerShell command for Live@edu is:

      .\StartSync -FirstRun

Now, under Office 365 for education there is a different method which is not known that publically. Open up your registry editor and find the following:

HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSOLCoExistence

Search for the FullSyncNeeded key, set it to 1.

Then run the following command to start a full resync:

.\Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync

Enjoy your fresh synchronised directory!

How do you do it?

As always – we want to hear how you’ve been deploying Live@edu or Office 365 in your institution! Got any pro tips you’d like to share, or perhaps a story we could feature as a post? Let us know in the comments!

While sitting down with Bob Snellman, IT Manager from Southern State Community College I was able to ask
him a few questions about his recent Live@edu deployment at the institutions he
supports… here is what Bob had to say!

Q: Bob, can you elaborate on some basic background about SSCC?

A: Southern State Community College (SSCC) is a small junior community college in Southern
Ohio.  We have very limited budgets as most educational institutions do
these days.  We were offering a basic email service to our students using
a third-party app.  It didn’t offer a lot of options, no calendar, no
chatting, no storage space, but it did email decent for students to contact
teachers & vice-versa.  Can’t expect a lot on a shoestring
budget.  For storage space, we used Microsoft home drive/directory
technology on Windows Server 2003.  It worked well, but due to limited
storage space, it wasn’t enough for students save all there necessary data and
it was limited to only on-campus use.  Anyways, there was talk about using
Google Apps to replace the current services.  I recall Microsoft offering
something similar called Live@EDU.  So, a committee was formed and away we
went in discussing whether to keep what we had or consider Google Apps or
Live@EDU.  There was an overwhelming agreement to go with Live@EDU. 
It seemed to be perfect timing for Live@EDU to be available while we were
looking for a replacement.  I believe we met twice and then decided. 
It didn’t take long to choose Live@EDU.  It just made sense.

Q: In regard to migration options why did SSCC pursue a fresh start? 

A: We decided to start fresh with a new service and skip attempting to migrate the
old system.  It made the transition smooth.  Of course, we gave
students plenty of notice (4 months) that there would be no migration and they
would be responsible to save any of their data(emails, contacts, etc.) from the
old system before we decommissioned it.

Q: Why did you decide on just student e-mail and not Faculty/ Staff as well?

A: Just students because we were replacing the student email system, which was very
limited, but affordable at the time.  Staff/Faculty were already using
Exchange 2010.  So, we kept them there.  Plus, it kept the cost down
to “free” moving students on Live@EDU.  More affordable than the old
student system we were offering and so much more in services.  It was a
“win win” solution. 

Q: Overall what were some of the deciding factors as to why SSCC choose Live@edu?

A: It was 1000 times better than what we were currently offering students.  We are
already using Exchange 2010 for our Staff/Faculty and Live@EDU is based on the
same technology, so there would be little issues with compatibility for
students & teachers.  We are what most would call a Microsoft shop, so
choosing Live@EDU over Google Apps, just made sense.  And it was FREE!!!

How can you ignore FREE!?  

We’ve had an overwhelming positive response from our students switching them to Live@EDU.  I
honestly don’t know why anyone wouldn’t move their students to Live@EDU. 
It just makes sense.  The Live@EDU support staff was there the whole way
through the setup process and continues to be there when I need them, which has
not been very often.  Once it is setup, it just works. 

Gotta love it.