beany1 Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Afternoon all, Not sure where to put this. Currently in the process of moving over to Schools Broadband, having read the nice sales man email "Our solution also includes Microsoft 365 email with as many email addresses for staff & pupils as required" I didn't give it a second thought and assumed this would be suitable for our pupils. I know that our current provider (LLN) filters emails based on keywords etc. to make emails safe for children, looking into Office 365 the safety is not that comprehensive...I was considering using mail flow to block external emails, but have found that to be licensed to use this you have to be on the A3 plan - which for amount of staff/pupils would be way too much (going from completely free A2 to around £9000 A3 is ridiculous licensing). I have contacted Schools Broadband but they never got back to me. If anyone has any opinions that would be great, I know other primaries are with Schools Broadband so would be interesting to know there thoughts. Is our only option to buy into some type of pupil safe email / VLE package? Or would Outlook on Office 365 be OK in this environment? Is there any guidance/restrictions email solutions for children? Thanks in advance!
timbo343 Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 We use Mailflow on our students Office365 email and dont pay a penny for it. We block all external emails to in and out for students but only allow certain domains that we trust such as vivomiles, beatbullying, kudos etc to email them.
synaesthesia Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 If @SchoolsBroadband see this, is it possible to move off the FarceHosts based email for the earlier customers onto O365 as above? (solving the 100mb mailbox issue!)
timbo343 Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 I just signed up for the email side when it was live@edu and when it moved over to office365 it came with it. Just checking my licenses now and ive got Exchange Online (plan 1) for students - Cost: £0.00/month and Office 365 ProPlus for Student - Cost: Product Key.
beany1 Posted January 8, 2014 Author Posted January 8, 2014 @timbo343 I signed up for Office 365 A2 plan earlier last year and when you go to exchange settings > mail flow > add rule you are informed the following: Rights Management Services (RMS) is a premium feature that requires an Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) or a RMS Online license for each user mailbox. Learn more I've contacted Microsoft cloud something or other support who informed me that the only way for me to license this was to move from the free A2 plan to the A3 plan.
timbo343 Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Yeah i see that at the bottom of my screen, see attached screen shots but i have rules in place for all the students rather than individual email addresses. I guess you want to block specific groups of email addresses?
beany1 Posted January 8, 2014 Author Posted January 8, 2014 Really confused. I called Microsoft, told them I want any incoming mail not on our domain blocked for any member of the student group. They told me to use any of the mail flow features you have to upgrade to A3?
beany1 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 I've contacted Microsoft again, however I get the feeling the answer will be the same... I take it nobody would use Office 365 email for primary years 4 to 6 if I can't block external? Or am I being overly cautious? Does anyone have any suggestions for suitable email? Found a couple of providers, such as Exa PupilMail.
dcwhitworth Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Really confused. I called Microsoft, told them I want any incoming mail not on our domain blocked for any member of the student group. They told me to use any of the mail flow features you have to upgrade to A3? I'm worried if they've changed this. We're using Mail flow / mail rules for students on an A2 licence. And we have a rule that blocks mail coming from outside the domain to members of a selected group.
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 I'm worried if they've changed this. We're using Mail flow / mail rules for students on an A2 licence. And we have a rule that blocks mail coming from outside the domain to members of a selected group. Same here, works without trouble. Here's how to setup rules
beany1 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 Well Pugh and Phoenix software have both told me that you have to be on A3 or above, I contact Microsoft Online Services Support who did indeed confirm that: This is just a quick email to confirm that for the feature Tech Support have advised you is necessary to manage your emails as required - to only be able to send/receive internal emails, not external ones - it will be necessary to upgrade to the A3 subscription. You can see this on the "compare plans" table here: Isn't there a lot of Microsoft people on Edugeek that could help clear this up...?
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Well Pugh and Phoenix software have both told me that you have to be on A3 or above, I contact Microsoft Online Services Support who did indeed confirm that: Isn't there a lot of Microsoft people on Edugeek that could help clear this up...? It simply isn't true, honestly I'm looking at it on my screen now.
beany1 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 @Michael ???? What isn't true...? Looking at what...? Should I ignore said companies and do it anyway, because Michael said so?
mats Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Whatever you do, just don't buy RM Easymail. RM 'goes down every now and again, awful and infuriating web interface'mail would be a better name. 1
witch Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 @Michael How about a screenshot? *I would believe Michael. I always believe Michael 1
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) Updated for Office 365 (Exchange 2013): Login to Office 365 (as an admin), select Admin > Exchange Select Mail Flow Click New > Create a new rule... From the first drop down menu choose The sender is located..., Outside the organisation From the second drop down menu choose 'Do the following' Delete the message without notifying anyone Select 'More Options' (towards the bottom), then select Add Condition The recipient... is a member of this group Add the group or users required. Save your rule and that's it. This is definitely running on A2 Edited January 9, 2014 by Michael
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 A screenshot proves nothing, try it for yourselves with my updated instructions above
Edu-IT Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 I agree, you can use mail flow rules on the free plan.
beany1 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 @Michael Haha thanks, but I'm aware of how to set it up, for Office 365 its possibly the simplest thing about it. What confused me was the little information box at the bottom of the setup window I contacted Microsoft, Pugh and Pheonix, with the attached screenshot. I told them I wanted to block email from an external domain to any members of the pupil group. All 3 informed me that to use any part of Mail Flow I have to upgrade to the A3 plan, as you are not licensed to use it with A2.
dcwhitworth Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 @Michael Haha thanks, but I'm aware of how to set it up, for Office 365 its possibly the simplest thing about it. What confused me was the little information box at the bottom of the setup window I contacted Microsoft, Pugh and Pheonix, with the attached screenshot. I told them I wanted to block email from an external domain to any members of the pupil group. All 3 informed me that to use any part of Mail Flow I have to upgrade to the A3 plan, as you are not licensed to use it with A2. I have never been told this. We used RM's migration service (which was very good BTW) and as part of this they set up some rules for us using mail flow.
timbo343 Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Can you not set a mail flow rule up to see if it blocks say everything apart from a test domain and see if it works. It seems that we are all saying the same thing on here.
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Thing is if a license was required then I'd expect the interface to be hidden (knowing Microsoft). I suspect that for a lot more complex rule functions, A3 probably is required. What we require is a fairly basic rule to protect pupil mailboxes. It hardly justifies a large price tag in my opinion
beany1 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) @timbo343 ... it does work, but I didn't just want to ignore the licensing requirements? @Michael I agree it should be hidden, and I wouldn't ever suggest paying for it. However, if for example you enable the data loss prevention that requires Exchange online plan 2 - it will still work even though I'm not licensed to do so... I don't want to migrate to Office 365 - get everyone on using it, then be informed that we need to pay for a license that is way out of our price range... Edited January 9, 2014 by beany1
Michael Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 That's a fair point, but I'd be extremely surprised A3 was identical to A2 in terms of functionality. I can confirm I've had the mail flow rule in place for years - ever since the Live@Edu and Office 365 2010 days to the current day on Office 365 2013.
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