If you are deploying ADFS with Office 365, we have a federation metadata update tool available which we strongly strongly recommend you to deploy with any ADFS deployment used for federation with Office 365.  This update tool will automatically update the Office 365 service using update-msolfederateddomain cmdlet when the ADFS token signing certificate renews on an annual basis. If you do not run this tool as a daily scheduled task on the ADFS server, you will have to manually monitor this token signing certificate renewal on the ADFS server by another means.  I put together a quick FAQ below about this tool:

Where do I get the update tool to install on my ADFS server?

Link to the Federation Metadata update tool is here.

What happens if I don’t install this tool?

The risk of not running the federation metadata update tool is an end-user outage (token signing certificate expires once a year) will likely occur unless you manually monitor your ADFS servers for renewed token signing certificates.

Do I have to run this update tool on every ADFS server?

The update tool script only has to run on ONE ADFS server not every server. It will then run as a scheduled task once a day and check for metadata changes. If found, it will update Office 365 automatically.

What if I have multiple UPNs serviced by ADFS?

You need to obtain a list of all of your Federated domains by running the Get-MsolDomain command. Then, edit the single instance of the .ps1 file, included with the federation metadata update tool, located in C:\Office365-Scripts so that Update-MsolFederatedDomain is executed for each of the Federated domains in your tenant (add an additional execution line for each domain in your list). Be sure to utilize the -SupportMultiple domain parameter in the Update-MsolFederatedDomain cmdlet if you have multiple top-level Federated domains.

Can you provide me more technical details behind the ADFS Token Signing certificate renewal?

ADFS 2.0 has a featured called AutoCertificateRollover which renews ADFS certificates once a year. AutoCertificateRollover (ACR) generates 2 brand new certs annually. One of those certs, the token signing certificate, signs ALL assertions leaving your federation server. If Office 365 doesn’t know about that brand new token-signing cert, your entire organization will fail to sign in to any O365 resource. You can maintain this yourself with manual checking or utilize the federation metadata tool provided which will check for this change and update the Office 365 service automatically.

Are you planning and preparing for your upgrade to Office 365 from Live@edu?   You may already have been notified that your institution can begin the upgrade. If you haven’t received a notice yet but would like to proceed, contact Live@edu Support to request the upgrade today.   

Where can you find out more information about the upgrade?

1. Live@edu Upgrade Center and Live@edu Upgrade Wiki - mark these sites for all the information and links you need to manage your Live@edu upgrade to Office 365 for education.

2. Live@edu Support - Contact Live@edu Support for assistance during the upgrade process.

3. Getting Started with Office 365 - comprehensive reference on the Office 365 services, setup, features and administration

3. Office 365 Community Site - Stay current on Live@edu and Office 365 topics and get tips from IT peers in our forums, blogs, and wikis.

What Office 365 services will be enabled once the upgrade completes?

After the upgrade, your domain(s) will be subscribed to Exchange Online Plan 1, and all accounts will have a new 25GB Exchange Online mailbox. Your institution can now take advantage of new services with Office 365 for education plans  Subscribe to Office 365 for education Plan A2 for free and get SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Office Web Apps. Students, teachers, and faculty can audio or video chat with one another, share documents, and collaborate in real time. Subscribe to Office 365 for education plans online at http://education.office365.com, or by licensing through your Microsoft Reseller.

What accounts will users have when the upgrade completes?

After the upgrade completes, users will have two accounts:

• A personal Microsoft account (formerly Windows Live ID) they can use to access SkyDrive, Messenger, and other Microsoft services, just as before with Live@edu
• A new Office 365 account enabled for email with Exchange Online

The Office 365 account will require a new password after the upgrade. Tell your Live@edu users in advance of the upgrade how to create this new password at https://eduupgrade.office365.com/.
This site lets end users create their own Office 365 password rather than rely on your institution’s help desk to create one for them. Learn more about Password Management and read about the Live@edu Upgrade to Office 365 for education in the Upgrade Help.

What assistance is available to prepare your environment for the upgrade?

Qualified Microsoft partners are available to assist with your preparations for the upgrade - to plan and deploy any required updates to servers or clients,  like the Office 365 Directory Synchronization server or Forefront Identity Manager server to automate provisoning, or Active Directory Federated Services for federated authentication with the cloud.   Find a deployment partner and contact them for more information on how they can assist with your upgrade.

What do you need to do to get started today?

1. Start promoting the upgrade with customizable templates. Download the End User Kit.

2. Complete the tasks in the before-upgrade checklist.

3. Contact Live@edu support to start the upgrade to Office 365 for education.

October 18th update:    the Live@edu upgrade team has just launched a site that allows you to walk through a demo of the upgrade process.  Go to http://www.office365demolabs.com and sign in with your LiveID. 

Let us know in the comments what you think, and any other resources that would be helpful to you.

As you may have seen our Office Team is targeting simultaneous releases of the Office 365 service, Office 2013 clients, SharePoint 2013, Exchange 2013, Lync 2013, Project 2013, and Visio 2013.  More information on these exciting releases can be found here:

The New Exchange Reaches RTM!

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/10/11/the-new-exchange-reaches-rtm.aspx

Lync 2013 reaches RTM!

http://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2012/10/11/lync-2013-is-finished.aspx

SharePoint reaches RTM!

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blog/Pages/BlogPost.aspx?pID=1035

Office Division RTM’s Office

http://blogs.office.com/b/office-news/archive/2012/10/11/office-reaches-rtm.aspx

So you may be asking yourself, “should I move forward with Office 365 now or wait for the upgrade to take place?”  In the past the decision has often come down to your available resources, administrative readiness that is available, upgrade windows that align with academic years, and funding… just to name a few of the parameters. Additionally if you did decide to move forward with the current version of a server infrastructure, rather than waiting for the next version, most organizations locked this version for years in order to get the most out of their investment.  Office 365 changes this model, we will keep your organization current with the latest version of our productivity stack. 

A few points to consider -

1. All of our current Office 365 customers will be transitioning to the next version of Office 365.

2. The identity integration work that is built for the current version of Office 365 doesn’t change with the next version of Office 365.

3.  There is no data migration required from you in order to move to the next version of Office 365, that process will be handled in the backend and transparent to both you and your end users.

4.  You can setup a preview site to begin creating your training and professional development content here - http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en/office-365-enterprise.  The preview is completely disposable, and will not be transitioned into production.

5.  You can selectively roll out services today, for example if you want to just leverage Exchange Online and Lync Online you can, and move forward with SharePoint Online once you have been upgraded to the next version.

Why wait to talk advantage of the hosted platform that Microsoft makes available to our education institutions?  If you can think of any, we would be happy to discuss them with you. 

If you’re in the UK and can get to our London offices on December 4th then you might want to come along to Oxford Computer Group’s free event all about identity and access management – this is particularly relevant for Office 365 for education customers!

In their own words:

In Education, managing the entire lifecycle of a digital identity can be challenging. In fact Education probably presents more challenges than almost any other sector! In this free workshop we'll help you understand the vital role Identity and Access Management has to play in enabling the adoption of Cloud computing, managing users and entitlements and enhancing security whilst also delivering numerous other benefits, such as reduced support costs and a better, more competitive user experience for staff and students alike.

We'll start the day with an introduction from Microsoft highlighting their solutions for Education, including Microsoft Office 365, the Cloud services platform for mail, office apps and collaboration. We'll then go on to explore many of the typical scenarios and use cases in Education and give consideration to the impact Cloud computing can have on these. Next we'll hear a customer case study highlighting the real-world value of Identity and Access Management solutions in Education.

Following a short break we'll provide an overview and demonstration of Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010, the identity management platform being used by many Education providers to manage the entire lifecycle of digital identities, connecting to Cloud apps, Virtual Learning Environments, HR systems, Student Record Systems and more. This is then followed with a session sharing practical advice on how to prepare and get started with your own projects before concluding with a Q&A session.

When and Where:
December 4th, 2012 at the Microsoft offices, Cardinal Place, London, SW1E 5JL

Register Today

Agenda:

• 09:00 Coffee and Registration
• 09:30 Introduction from Microsoft
• 09:45 Cloud Preparation for HE Providers (use cases, challenges & business opportunities)
• 10:45 Customer Case Study
• 11:00 Break
• 11:15 Overview of FIM 2010 and Demo
• 12:15 Practical Advice on How to Get Started
• 12:30 Q&A with Buffet Lunch

Registration:
Click here and complete the form. Places are limited. Request yours today.

If you are a UK customer and in the midst of planning and preparing for your upgrade to Office 365 from Live@edu, then why not check out this free webinar from Microsoft partner Salford Software. They are running a series of webinars that discuss the options of upgrading from Live@edu to Office 365. In their own words:

“Salford Software has successfully delivered several Office 365 projects within UK academia and is experiencing an increasing interest from customers to find out more about the transition paths and options available to them.

Join us on one of the sessions to find out more, we’ll be discussing:

• Designing your ADFS deployment
• Resiliency, security and optimal user experience
• The different Sync Service options
• And … the most commonly asked question, “what happens to my SkyDrive?”

We’ll also be talking about how best to address the upgrade process, how to prepare, common concerns and what else you may need to consider for a smooth transition to take your users to Microsoft Office 365.

The session is being delivered by one of the team who has been heavily involved in the delivery of Office 365 projects and will be interactive, offering you and your colleagues the opportunity to ask questions.���

Check the dates and register now.