Office 365 email archiving

Here are two ways to have Office 365 emails archived on a system external to Office 365. One is Journaling the second is using a BCC rule. I’ll quickly cover both here.

Journaling

1. Login into https://portal.microsoftonline.com as an Office 365 Administrator

Select the Manage hyperlink from under the Exchange Online section in the middle of the page.

2. Select Mail Control then Journaling from the Exchange settings

3. Click New to create a new journaling rule.

4. Pull down the first option list and select [Apply to messages]. Pull down the second option list and select All messages. Set an email address where the journaled messages will be sent. This email address should not be an Office 365 email mailbox. Finally, give the rule a name and click the Save button.

5. Click Yes to apply rule to all future messages.

6. Note the warning about NDRs. Click Close to complete.

7. Now any messages sent or received will be forwarded to the email box you specified during the configuration.

BCC Rule

1. Login into https://portal.microsoftonline.com as an Office 365 Administrator.

2. You will need to create a dedicated journaling mailbox. Do this in the normal way you create a mailbox in Office 365. You may need to assign an Exchange license to this mailbox. I would also assume that you could also create and use a shared mailbox for this purpose via PowerShell but have not tested that. The advantage of using a shared mailbox is that it would not consume an Office 365 license.

3. From the Home screen of the Office 365 administration login select the Manage hyperlink from under the Exchange Online section in the middle of the page.

4. Select Mail Control then Rules from the Exchange settings.

5. Select New to create a new rule.

6. In the first pull down list select [Apply to all messages].

7. In the second pull down list select Bcc this message to. A list of current mailboxes will appear. Select the journaling mailbox you created during the first step. Ensure that the mailbox appears in the lower part of the screen next to Add –>. Then click OK to save.

8. You will be returned to the New Rule window. Click OK to save. Then click Yes to apply this rule to all future messages.

9. You will then be returned to the Rules window where you should see the new rule that was just created and a summary of its actions on the right.

10. Now all messages to any email address will be sent to the journaling mailbox you have created. The next step is to configure a remote archiving product to copy and then delete these emails from the journaling mailbox.

There are many third party tools that can be configured to do this, in this example we will use Astaro email archiving. Information about this can be found at: http://www.astaro.com/products/astaro-mail-archiving.

After you have configured an account (a 30 day trial is available with Astaro) log onto the administration console and configure message retrieval.

In this case the archive has been configured to pull mail from the journaling mailbox configured on Office 365 via IMAP. Information on determining the IMAP server settings can be found at

http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au/blog/archive/2012/02/10/configuring-outlook-options-in-office-365.aspx.

Once you have entered all the information select the option to Test Settings. Once that is correct click Apply.

You will notice here that configuring the Astaro Mailbox message source that messages there will be deleted after they have been successfully imported. That will ensure the Office 365 journaling mailbox will not grow in size. That maybe why a shared mailbox could work, even given its limits.

11. In the Astaro configuration you may also need to alter the Auditor mode to allow the viewing of all emails if required. You can configure additional users to access this archive but in this case all that is required is a single admin account that can view all the archived emails.

12. You should now be able to search the archive as email flows. With the Astaro product the option to Perform auditor search may need to be checked as shown below to see all the emails. This option was only available if the auditor settings were enabled as shown in the previous step.

Hopefully that has helped you understand two different configurations for externally archiving emails from Office 365.

Need to Know Podcast – Episode 25

In this episode I speak with SBS MVP Kevin Royalty about what’s happening the in SBS space. We discuss topics like Home Server, SBS Standard and Essentials, Multipoint server and Backup Essentials.

You’ll find the recording at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/03/13/episode-25-kevin-royalty/

where you can also subscribe via iTunes and a number of different mechanisms. You’ll also find all the previous podcast episodes there as well.

As always don’t be afraid to let me know what you think and what you’d like to hear on an upcoming episode.

I’m always looking for guest to appear on the podcast so if you are interested in discussing a topic please get in contact with me (director@ciaops.com).

Getting companyweb 2011 homepage back

The world is full of fiddlers. You know people who do something they are not supposed to and then not know how to fix it. I see this a lot with Companyweb on SBS 2011 for the simple reason that most network users are given too many rights.

One of the issues that is apparently occurring more and more is that people are mucking up teh default homepage on Companyweb 2011. Getting it back can be a pain but Microsoft have released with KB article that should help.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2539296

Basically you need to run a provide powershell script and you should be back to normal.

I haven’t as yet tested this myself but will soon hopefully.

Reviews and testers needed

I am working on a project involving SharePoint 2010 and SBS 2011 for which I need some people willing to firstly review the document that I am creating and secondly to actually technically test what the document sets out. My experience is that you can test it many times yourself but it isn’t until someone else tries to follow your instructions that you really know whether it all makes sense.

Thus, I’ll need people who are willing to do an installation and configuration on an SBS 2011 standard system ( it doesn’t have to be production, a virtual environment is fine) and provide me feedback. I’m looking firstly to ensure that want I have done works and secondly for any way that it can be improved. Helping me pick up spelling and grammar mistakes will also be part of the job.

So, you’ll need to be technical enough with SBS 2011 to install and remove software. You’ll also have to be willing to test some configurations as well as provide feedback on the process. In return I’m happy to provide you with a free copy of my finished work. I’ll also give you a plug in the acknowledgments.

If you are interested please contact me (director@ciaops.com) asap to arrange a copy of documentation and further instructions.

Marketing to my mind

I was walking through the local shopping centre recently and stopped to look at the community notice board. On there you typically see a mixture of things like ‘for sale’, garage sales, French lessons, guitar lesson and the like. I was intrigued to also notice an advertisement for a computer support company.

Now most of these ads that are flogging something have small tear away strips at the bottom with the contact details on there making it easy for the interested party to make contact with the advertiser. Interestingly, the only one that didn’t have any strips removed was the one for computer support. Maybe just a new ad I thought?

I continued to monitor the same notice board for a number of weeks and was struck by the fact that all the other advertisement gradually had their strips taken but not technology support company. This got me to thinking about how people go about marketing their business generally.

Of course, the tear away strip ad maybe working wonders elsewhere but let’s work on the evidence at hand here. Firstly, I would assume that whomever stuck that ad up there has never been back to monitor whether any strips have been taken. So how are you going to know whether people are even interested? Secondly, the ad was on plain paper and failed to stand out. I’ll bet that the same ad was printed out a dozen times and stuck in different places. How are you ever going to know what actually attracts people? Wouldn’t it make send to try a slightly different ad at different locations and see if the results vary? Wouldn’t it make sense to return when you have receive no inquiries and try something that looks a bit different?

So there seem to be plenty of reasons why this ad is failing to generate positive referrals but now lets look at the ad from the opposite direction. What does a low quality ad like that in a location like that say about the business in people’s minds? Being what it is and where it is certainly seems to indicate being cheap and perhaps even has a whiff of desperation about it. Again, this may not be the truth but I’ll wager that it is the reaction that most people would have. Importantly, without any hard evidence one can only ASSUME.

If you stop and think about how most business works these days what do you come up with? If you need a plumber, builder, gardener, cleaner, etc what do you normally do? You seek an answer from your immediate social network, from the people you know. You ask the question, ‘Do you know someone who does…”. If you get a positive recommendation then chances are that this referral will almost certainly get the business. Why? Because it was referred to you by someone you know and whose opinion your trust.

The biggest lesson I have learnt over the years is that it is not what you know, it is who you know. Initially I thought this was somehow ‘dirty’ and ‘immoral’ by relying on a friendship rather than the quality of work. However I have learned with time that in most cases nothing is further from truth. People trust people. People work with people. People buy from people. In the end it is all about relationships isn’t it?

Wouldn’t it therefore be a better investment to spend you time cultivating and growing relationship with someone rather than randomly spraying leaflet on local community notice boards? People think marketing is hard and that because they have forgotten the key element in what marketing is. It is the relationship customers have with your business. This means the heart and soul of any marketing is not about flyers, brochures, products, features, etc it is about people. Grow those relationships and business will beat a path to your door.

Need to Know – Episode 24

Just released my latest podcast featuring Microsoft MVP Troy Hunt.

http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/02/28/episode-24-troy-hunt/

In this episode we discuss all thing security and focus on practical ways that SMB’s can improve their protection.

Don’t forget all the previous episodes at http://ciaops.podbean.com.

If you are interested in being a guest on the Need to Know podcast don’t hesitate to contact me (director@ciaops.com).

Office 365 workshop – register now

Registrations are now open for the CIAOPS Building an Office 365 Practice workshop on the 18th of April. You can register for in person and streaming options at:

http://ciaops0412.eventbrite.com/

You can also use the code EARLYBIRD for a 25% discount on both options prior to the 18th of March.

Information on the event:

About

If you want to learn about the opportunities around “Cloud” computing, especially with Office 365 then this workshop is for you.

You will learn not only about the Microsoft Office 365 product indepth but also how to re-engineer your business for the “Cloud”. You’ll learn business strategies that will help drive you more business and have opportunities knocking on your door. This workshop will provide a balance between technical and business information. It is aimed at IT resellers those who are either considering offering “Cloud” computing or those who have just commenced the process.

The workshop includes all meals (morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea), parking, Internet access, course notes and more. The workshop will be given by Microsoft Office 365 MVP Robert Crane who is the Principal of the CIAOPS.

At the end of this workshop you should have the confidence to know the Office 365 product indepth but also a range of business strategies that can be implemented immediately to not only benefit a “Cloud” practice but any business.

Hope you can attend.

I can’t wait

One of the biggest drawbacks with SharePoint Online with Office 365 was that you couldn’t view PDF’s in a browser. You had to download them to you local machine and then open them. This was a real pain but understandable given the desire for maximum security (PDF’s can launch javascript automatically which can do nasty things to your machine).

Finally, Microsoft has announced that it will be allowing PDF’s to be opened in a browser! From http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blog/Pages/BlogPost.aspx?pID=1004

PDFs

Office 365 users wanted a better, more connected and governed experience when it came to working with PDF files within SharePoint Online document libraries. Thanks to your direct comments and active voices in the Community forums, PDF files will now open directly into Adobe Reader without requiring that it be downloaded first. The PDF remains connected and stored in your SharePoint Online document library as you view and edit the file. You can even check it out like other Office documents.

After the SharePoint Online environment has been updated, users must have the latest Adobe Reader version (10.1.2) installed:http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Now I can’t wait for the update.