Office 365 instead of Exchange 2013

[jertsy]

Hi all

 

I am setting up an email service from scratch (just staff mailbox's to migrate). I had specc'ed up and intended to use exchange 2013, after reading a few post's on Edugeek I cant help thinking Office 365 is a no brainer. Mailbox size is massively more, it integrates with outlook and we don't have the overhead of managing exchange or maintaining it, licencing etc...

Am I missing anything, would you agree?

 

Thanks,

Jertsy

[foofighterjim]

If starting from scratch O365 is the winner for me. I would only ever use on site exchange in a hybrid environment now.

[jertsy]

If starting from scratch O365 is the winner for me. I would only ever use on site exchange in a hybrid environment now.

 

Cheers

[Mr.Ben]

Ditto to that - the only difficult part of setting it up is if you want SSO - Then you'll need 2 adfs servers to facilitate that.

[jertsy]

Ditto to that - the only difficult part of setting it up is if you want SSO - Then you'll need 2 adfs servers to facilitate that.

 

Is this required to run outlook locally (as if using exchange internally) without any credential prompts?

[FN-GM]

Is this required to run outlook locally (as if using exchange internally) without any credential prompts?

 

Yes.

 

The reason we didn't go for it is the internet connection restrictions and the cost of journaling. We can over come these so i am looking into it at the moment.

[jertsy]

Yes.

 

The reason we didn't go for it is the internet connection restrictions and the cost of journaling. We can over come these so i am looking into it at the moment.

 

Well I have datacenter licencing so adding ADFS servers will not cost any more in terms of licencing and I also have capacity on the hosts for this.

What internet restrictions did you have and what are you doing regarding jounaling?

[gshaw]

Yes.

 

The reason we didn't go for it is the internet connection restrictions and the cost of journaling. We can over come these so i am looking into it at the moment.

 

Are you sure about the behaviour of ADFS with Outlook desktop client (not OWA)? Every document I've seen suggests the Outlook client will always ask for credentials even with ADFS present...

 

A fairly recent example - Microsoft Office 365 Community

Edited February 20, 2014 by gshaw

[sonofsanta]

Is this required to run outlook locally (as if using exchange internally) without any credential prompts?

 

No - I've just deployed it without ADFS (migrating from Exchange 2007) and with DirSync set to synchronising passwords. Users have to enter their password first time they open Outlook and go through the First Run Wizard, but just tick the box to remember credentials and they don't need to log on again. Likewise for the first time you open a document from Sharepoint.

 

Just deploy the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (it's an MSI, easy to push out) and you're golden.

 

To answer your original question: just go with Office 365. Exchange ain't easy, if you can avoid administering then do. That's a big reason why I've switched, I hated dealing with Exchange (yes I'm a coward)

[FN-GM]

Just deploy the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (it's an MSI, easy to push out) and you're golden.

 

So installing this will allow you to open Lync and Outlook without getting getting the credential prompt and without using ADFS?

 

I will have to deploy ADFS anyway so i can restrict outlook connections from our public IP only.

[sonofsanta]

So installing this will allow you to open Lync and Outlook without getting getting the credential prompt and without using ADFS?

 

I will have to deploy ADFS anyway so i can restrict outlook connections from our public IP only.

 

As far as I've worked out, it sets it so that you don't have to re-enter your password every time, only authenticate the first time. Not using Lync here (never used it TBH) but with Outlook, users have to go through the First Run Wizard the first time, which is literally Next, Next, Next, type your password and tick the box, OK, Finish, as it fills in all the other details for you from autodiscover (even your email address). I wrote a guide just in case and pinned it to the home page in BIG RED LETTERS, but no-one reads it still so I'm having to explain it every time Connecting Outlook to the new email service.docx

 

Office 2010's sign in changes with that deployed - it goes from the normal Windows authentication box every time you open a SkyDrive document to an IE-style pop up window the first time and a "remember me" tickbox so it doesn't hassle you again. Given the overheads of ADFS and the single-point-of-failure implications, I decided that typing their password in twice was within the capabilities of my users and would save lots of grief for me going forward

 

EDIT: curious as to why you're restricting Outlook connections? I like being able to use Outlook at home instead of Webmail. Now I'm paranoid I'm not doing a good enough job security-wise.

Edited February 20, 2014 by sonofsanta

[FN-GM]

As far as I've worked out, it sets it so that you don't have to re-enter your password every time, only authenticate the first time. Not using Lync here (never used it TBH) but with Outlook, users have to go through the First Run Wizard the first time, which is literally Next, Next, Next, type your password and tick the box, OK, Finish, as it fills in all the other details for you from autodiscover (even your email address). I wrote a guide just in case and pinned it to the home page in BIG RED LETTERS, but no-one reads it still so I'm having to explain it every time [ATTACH]22961[/ATTACH]

 

Office 2010's sign in changes with that deployed - it goes from the normal Windows authentication box every time you open a SkyDrive document to an IE-style pop up window the first time and a "remember me" tickbox so it doesn't hassle you again. Given the overheads of ADFS and the single-point-of-failure implications, I decided that typing their password in twice was within the capabilities of my users and would save lots of grief for me going forward

 

Thanks for the explanation, will stick to ADFS plans in that case

[jertsy]

No - I've just deployed it without ADFS (migrating from Exchange 2007) and with DirSync set to synchronising passwords. Users have to enter their password first time they open Outlook and go through the First Run Wizard, but just tick the box to remember credentials and they don't need to log on again. Likewise for the first time you open a document from Sharepoint.

 

Just deploy the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (it's an MSI, easy to push out) and you're golden.

 

 

 

To answer your original question: just go with Office 365. Exchange ain't easy, if you can avoid administering then do. That's a big reason why I've switched, I hated dealing with Exchange (yes I'm a coward)

 

Cheers for the info sonofsanta, I will look into this.

[sonofsanta]

Also of relevance: the answers I was given to my questions on the topic eight months ago. Suffice to say, I'm a convert to the Office 365 method