AAD

Microsoft recently announced that their Ignite (online only) conference will be running again on November 2-4. That means we are approaching peak season for announcements, new public preview releases, and general availability. “Q3” in announcements and roadmaps will often mean between early September and maybe the third week of October – a code freeze will…

Microsoft posted an odd blog on September 9 to announce improvements in the relationship between Exchange Online and Azure Active Directory. Many Office 365 tenants might have ignored the post, but it’s actually about a piece of important work to help the service run better. Many updates happen to Exchange Online objects that need to be replicated to Azure Active Directory and onward to other Office 365 app directories. This work means that changes show up faster, which is good, but there’s a small downside to note.

Each month Microsoft adds new features and updates existing products for Azure, here’s the updates you need to know about for June.

Microsoft launched the preview of Entitlement Management, a new part of their Azure Active Directory Identity Governance program. The idea is that you can manage access to resources via policy, which seems to be a good thing, especially in large organizations where objects like Office 365 Groups, SharePoint Sites, and Teams might just get a little out of hand. The preview is interesting, but like all previews, it needs some work to be ready for prime time.

Aidan explains what this new permissions feature for Azure Files shares, powered by Azure AD Domain Services, offers, supports, and does not support.

Aidan shares some information about improvements that were made to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Domain Services.

Office 365 apps like Teams, Groups, Planner, and SharePoint support guest user access, so they create guest accounts. Those accounts are pretty bare-boned, but you can liven them up by adding details, including user photos – which you might just copy from LinkedIn.

A new Microsoft support article clarifies premium features used by Office 365 Groups that require premium licenses. While good to know when you have to pay extra, it is baffling why some of the features fall into the premium category and why so many licenses are needed. The solution is to buy the Enterprise Mobility and Security suite. Or just pay for the extra licenses.

Microsoft clarified what AAD features need premium licenses at Ignite. Tenants need many of those features to control Office 365 Groups and Teams, and some of the listed features are surprising. Did you know that the group creation policy is a premium feature? Or adding a default classification. The chosen set of features seems odd, but at least Microsoft is now clear about what you must license.