November Azure Webinar resources

CIAOPS Need to Know Azure Webinar – November 2017 from Robert Crane

Slides from my November Azure webinar are now available at:

https://www.slideshare.net/directorcia/ciaops-need-to-know-azure-webinar-november-2017-83115219

The recording is also available at:

http://www.ciaopsacademy.com.au/p/need-to-know-azure-webinars

which CIAOPS patrons get free access to as part of their subscription.

This webinar set the ground work for upcoming monthly webinars that will go deeper into Azure features and abilities.

So make sure you sign up for next month’s webinar.

Scratch your own itch

The length and breadth of cloud services like Azure and Office 365 continue to grow. This size can be very intimidating for those starting their journey with these tools. A very common question I get is, “where do I start?”.

Many people’s first attempt at learning these technologies is simply too general. Just wanting to “learn Office 365” for example has too many entry points. I would suggest that your best option is to bring a specific project or need to your learning process.

For me, this was the need to create a process for migrating SharePoint on premises to Office 365 which I detailed here:

I finally get Microsoft Azure

I’ve seen others do things like move their accounting system into Azure or a third party service running on Windows or Linux. What about using Microsoft Flow to automate a manual process in your business? Even if the project you want to tackle has nothing to actually do with something in your business, bringing a very specific challenge to cloud services that you need to solve will accelerate your learning.

Of course, this learning process is going to result in many failures and frustrations. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve had to redo something because I ‘stuffed up’ or the amount of time I have invested in solving something that in fact, turned out to have a very simple resolution. All of that is simply part of the learning process and something you’ll need to accept will happen.

As they say, in the process of learning there is never really any failures. It is all simply knowledge accumulation and if nothing else it shows you want not to do next time. Once you embrace this, wrong steps remain frustrating but actually give you a renewed energy to find the right solution.

However, it is too easy to become dishearten if you don’t have a specific goal you want to achieve. Having no or ill defined goals doesn’t provide the focus when you want to give up as it gets ‘tough’ in my experience. So, from the start, set out to solve something specific and I thing you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the result.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 169

I’m joined by newly minted MVP Kirsty McGrath to talk about Office 365 adoption. We talk about the Office 365 product wheel Kirsty created and how it helps users understand the full breadth of what Office 365 has to offer. We also cover off the importance of implementing an adoption strategy and having a long term vision when it comes to getting the most from Office 365 in any business.

There is of course the usual cloud updates on Office 365 and Azure from Marc and myself as well as reflection on the recent Microsoft Summit in Sydney.

Take a listen and let us know what you think –feedback@needtoknow.cloud

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-169-kirsty-mcgrath/

Resources

Kirsty McGarth on Linked in

Kirsty’s Office 365 product wheel

Sydney Office 365 Business User Group

Azure new from Marc

Microsoft 365 Business now available worldwide

Write your best resume in Word with help from Linkedin

Microsoft Flow integration with OneDrive for Business

Planner Ignite review and roadmap

Compliance Manager Preview

Microsoft Cloud Update–November 2017

Microsoft Cloud Updates – November 2017 from Robert Crane

All the latest news from the Microsoft Cloud including updates on Office 365 and Azure.

CIAOPS Need to Know Azure Webinar–November 2017

pexels-photo-325229

We’ll cover the usual news and updates from everything Azure and then do a deep dive into Azure Virtual machines. Of course, you can bring along all your questions as well and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

You can register for free at:

November Azure Webinar Registrations

The details are:

CIAOPS Need to Know Azure Webinar – November 2017
Friday 1st of December 2017
2pm – 3pm Sydney Time

All sessions are recorded and posted to the CIAOPS Academy.

There of course will also be open Q and A so make sure you bring your questions for me and I’ll do my best to answer them.

The CIAOPS Need to Know Webinars are free to attend but if you want to receive the recording of the session you need to sign up as a CIAOPS patron which you can do here:

http://www.ciaopspatron.com

or purchase them individually at:

http://www.ciaopsacademy.com/

Also feel free at any stage to email me directly via director@ciaops.com with your webinar topic suggestions.

I’d also appreciate you sharing information about this webinar with anyone you feel may benefit from the session.

Microsoft 365 Windows 10 Device configuration mappings

Microsoft 365 Business allows you to configure Windows 10 devices that are connected. This management is typically done by Intune at the back end while Microsoft 365 Business provides a simplified interface over these settings. However, what settings in Microsoft 365 map to Intune?

The best place to start to understand this mapping is the following document from Microsoft:

How do protection features in Microsoft 365 Business map to Intune settings

Start by navigating to the Admin center in your Microsoft 365 for Business tenant.

Locate the Device policies tile and select it.

You may see a number of policies here but one should be named Windows 10 device configuration as shown above. Select this.

You should be taken to the Edit policy dialog as shown above.

Select the Edit hyperlink at the right of the Windows 10 protection line (the second option from the top).

If you expand the display you should see a list of all the options and their status as shown above.

The question now is, how do these map to settings in Intune?

To view the settings in Intune you’ll need to login to the Azure portal for that tenant and then navigate to the Intune option.

The easiest way to find the Intune settings is to do a search in the top right and then select Intune from the results.

You should see the Intune console displayed as shown above.

From the available options, select Device Configuration. From the blade that appears then select Policies. You should then see a policy that matches the one in the Microsoft 365 for Business console (here Windows 10 device configuration).

Select the policy name.

From the new blade that appears select Properties.

This should open another blade like shown above. The last option on this blade should be Settings. Select this.

This will open a Device restrictions blade with lots of different settings as you can see above. This is where most the mapped settings from Microsoft 365 are.

Working from the top, the Help protect PCs from web-based threats using Windows Defender Antivirus maps to Windows Defender Antivirus as shown.

However, only 3 of the 28 options are set and they are:

Next in Microsoft 365 Business is Help protect PCs from web-based threats in Microsoft Edge,

This maps to SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge in Windows Defender Smart Screen.

The next option is Turn off device screen when idle for:

which maps to Maximum minutes of inactivity until screen locks in Password.

The option Allow users to download apps from Windows store maps to a Custom URI that I haven’t been able to locate in Intune.

I’m still researching what that actually maps to. More soon.

Next is Allow users to access Cortana

maps to Cortana in General in Intune.

Next, Allow users to receive Windows tips and advertisements from Microsoft.

which maps to Windows spotlight in Intune.

Finally, Keep Windows 10 devices up to date automatically

is actually configured from the Software updates option in Intune.

From the main Intune blade select Software updates. From the blade that then appears select Windows 10 Update rings. Then form the new blade select Update policy for Windows 10 devices.

Select the policy and then Properties from the blade that appears.

At the bottom of the Properties page select Settings. This should then show a blade like that shown above.

If the Microsoft 365 Business setting is ON the Service Branch will be set to Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) like so:

If the Microsoft 365 Business setting is OFF, the Service Branch will be set to Semi-Annual like so:

You can review these update channels here:

Assign devices to servicing channels for Windows 10 updates

So making any changes in the Microsoft 365 Business console will be reflected in the Intune console. However, if you change these settings in Intune and then try and update them you seem to get an error like so

I would have thought that I could change the settings in any console but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I currently can’t find any confirmation of this but I will publish anything I find. So for now the guidance is – only make changes in the Microsoft 365 Business Admin Center.

There are a number of other policies in Microsoft 365 Business that I’ll cover in upcoming posts.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 168

In this episode I talk with Benjamin Elias from Ideocial about on of my favourite Office 365 service – Yammer. We follow up on some of the announcements from the recent Microsoft Ignite and how they will impact the product going forward. Of course, there is also news from Marc and myself on Office 365 and Azure to keep you up to date.

Take a listen and let us know what you think –feedback@needtoknow.cloud

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-168-ben-elias/