Exchange Server Admin's Blog by CodeTwo

What is the difference between archive and backup? – Infographic

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

I can see very often that the difference between archive and backup is not equally sharp for everyone. If you are an active user of tech forums, you perhaps also noticed the foggy conception when it comes to deciding on whether the company actually needs backup or archive or maybe both. As a response to that, CodeTwo has created an infographic Archive vs Backup to show the key differences between these two options.

It seems that the most common misconception is that when companies look for backups but what they actually need is archiving. And vice versa, when the company looks for a way to archive data but the real need is to have operational backup copies. To suit your company needs when it comes to data protection and ensuring data availability, you should be aware of the differences between backup and archive as they are meant for different purposes.
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Distribution lists in Office 365 – administration tips

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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Distribution lists are known under a few different names. Distribution groups, contact groups and distribution lists – all refer to the same feature. The primary purpose of a distribution list is to send emails to multiple recipients – yes, as simple as that. The simplicity of their design and the idea behind distribution groups make them an essential email feature. It’s no wonder they have been around since the earliest versions of Exchange Server and that they can be found in Office 365, as well. Although they have survived in a very similar form, Office 365 also offers a redesigned form of distribution lists – Office 365 Groups.

Office 365 focuses on using the upgraded version of distribution groups – Office 365 Groups. I will start with a quick comparison between the two features. Later on, I will describe a few common administration tasks concerning Office 365 distribution lists.

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How to enable and view SharePoint Online logs?

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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SharePoint Online provides an excellent platform for collaboration, sharing documents and making life easier for Office 365 users. But one of the most important factors which makes companies choose it over other, similar solutions is its focus on security. Safeguarded by Azure Information Protection, and packed with features like item versioning, retention policies and notifications sent in response to changes, it provides a safe work environment. However, the greatest of all SharePoint Online features (security-wise) are audit logs.

SharePoint Online audit logs can be a gold mine when it comes to monitoring users’ activity, especially its suspicious kind. Read on if you want to know what SharePoint Online audit logs can contain, how to enable them, and how to view their contents.

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How to connect to SharePoint Online using PowerShell?

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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While it is possible to manage your SharePoint Online using the Office 365 portal, there are some tasks which are much easier and quicker to do with PowerShell. If you want to optimize your SharePoint Online administration – PowerShell is your friend. Whenever you come across a repetitive administrative task, you can be sure that PowerShell will help you automate it, at least to some extent.

Before you perform any kind of an administrative task in your SharePoint Online, you need to connect to your organization. Mind that connecting to SharePoint Online might be useful not only when you want to manage your SharePoint sites and permissions, but also when you want to run some scripts on Office 365 groups. This article shows you how to take the first step to manage your online resources by connecting to your SharePoint organization with PowerShell.

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Public Folders migration to Exchange or Office 365

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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There are different angles from which you can look at the Public Folders migration. For example, you can:

migrate Public Folders to different target environments like Exchange or Office 365.
choose to use native migration, PST import/export or third party tool for your migration task.
migrate Public Folders to other Public Folders, to shared mailbox or to Office 365 Groups.

Depending on which way you choose, there will be different aspects to pay attention to. Here you will find some references to each of these, but the main focus is on aspects of Public Folders to Public Folders migration in on-premises Exchange or Office 365. You will also find Public Folders migration tools suggestions and links to other articles you may want to explore.

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Prepare for Exchange 2019 migration

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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Exchange 2019 is already out so perhaps your organization starts planning its Exchange 2019 migration. It is always a good practice to keep the environment up-to-date, especially if the system security is a priority. However, before taking any big steps like migration, you should make some preparations first.

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What’s new in Exchange 2019?

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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It has become a sort of a tradition to use the admin’s blog for informing you on what’s new in the newest Exchange Server version. Now, it is time to answer the question: What is new in Exchange 2019?

Judging from the Exchange Server 2019 Now Available post, you could assume that Exchange 2019 does not have a lot of new things to offer. Generally speaking, it follows the same pattern as the previous on-premises editions: It is an Exchange Online that you can install locally. More or less. However, it turns out that there is a lot more going on under the hood. If you have seen the Welcome to Exchange 2019 session at MS Ignite conference, you probably know that there are some changes that are not that obvious but which make the Exchange 2019 release one-of-a-kind.

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How CodeTwo software can help you achieve GDPR compliance

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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To comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies all around the world had to reinvent the way they handle personal information. New procedures and policies, physical data protection measures are on the top of the list of the means to reach the GDPR compliance. However, many organizations seem to overlook one aspect that generates a substantial number of risks – email.

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How to manage auto replies for retired or dismissed employees?

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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In various cases, you may encounter a situation when somebody either internally or from outside your organization is trying to contact a person who is no longer with your company. If that happens, your Exchange Server is supposed to send an NDR message to the original sender. But this may not be the best option to deal with automatic replies of ex-employees.

As the possibilities here are limited by Exchange default behavior, you need to check which scenario is your case as this determines the solution. And the scenarios are:

Somebody is trying to contact an employee whose Active Directory account still exists in your Active Directory (even if disabled).
Somebody is trying to contact an employee whose Active Directory account is removed from your Active Directory or never existed.

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SharePoint Online Migration

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

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SharePoint has become a platform for secure collaboration in many organizations all around the globe. Especially after the introduction of SharePoint Online. Because of this popularity, most companies have grown used to using SharePoint on a daily basis. As a side effect, the SharePoint site collections have been growing more and more ever since. SharePoint can handle tremendous data sizes, that is not the problem. The problem occurs when you need to migrate SharePoint. There is no automatic native path for this task – that is why admins learn to fear the phrase “SharePoint Online migration”. Let’s change that.

Migrating SharePoint, no matter if it is migration between tenants, migrating from SharePoint on-premises to SharePoint Online, or even migration between site collections, does not have to be a manual nightmare. The solution might not be that obvious as it uses a third-party tool: CodeTwo Backup for Office 365.