Category: Email

Office 365 Meeting Rooms

Shared calendars for the use of shared meeting space reservation is becoming a thing of the past. Office 365 has a better type of calendar specifically made for rooms. This guide will show you how to set up these Office 365 Meeting Rooms in Microsoft’s Office 365 admin portal. Login to the Office 365 Portal with an administrator account and do the following:

Setup Office 365 Meeting Rooms

  1. Click on the Meeting Rooms tab on the left of the Office 365 admin center.
  2. Click on the + symbol to begin the creation of the meeting room object.
  3. Fill in the needed information (Name, Email Address and Room Capacity) then click Create.
  4. Now users can access these meeting rooms when creating a new Meeting in Outlook by clicking on the Rooms button and selecting them.
  5. Once selected that room for that date at that time will be marked off on the associated calendar. There are also color coated indicators as to the availability of the meeting rooms on the selected date in the calendar.

The meeting room will also now appear in their Calendar tab of Outlook and can be used similarly to other calendars. If you have any issues setting things up for your site, please feel free to contact our Office 365 experts to guide you through the process.

Change Office 365 Distribution Group Restriction

If an Office 365 Distribution Group is being synced from on-premise Active Directory environment then you cannot receive emails to that group from an external source by default. If you try to change the setting in Office 365 the following error appears:

The action ‘Set-DistributionGroup’, ‘RequireSenderAuthenticationEnabled’, can’t be performed on the object ‘[Your Distribution Group]’ because the object is being synchronized from your on-premises organization. This action should be performed on the object in your on-premises organization.

Office 365 Distribution Group Error

This can be changed using the ADSIEdit tool. Navigate through the Active Directory hierarchy and find the Distribution Group then right click and choose Properties. Scroll down to “msExchRequireAuthToSendTo” and change the setting to FALSE. Run a manual DirSync to effect the changes in Office 365.

Office 365 Distribution Group - ADSI Edit

Google Apps SPF / DKIM setup

A Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record indicates mail servers that are authorized to send mail for a domain. Email recipient servers perform a check with DNS to see if the mail came from an authorized server. If not, then the email is most likely SPAM. SPF DNS records lets the recipient server perform this verification.

A DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) record adds a digital signature to emails your organization sends. Email recipient servers perform a check with DNS for the to see if the DomainKey matches the sender. If so, then the email is considered unmodified and from a legitimate sender. DKIM DNS record lets the recipient server perform this verification.

Configure Google Apps SPF

If you use Google Apps for email, you’ll need access to your DNS provider to add an SPF record. In most cases, you simply login and create a new TXT record with the value of:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

Google provides detailed instructions on how this is done. Be sure to save your changes.

Configure DKIM for Google Apps

You’ll need access to your Google Apps control panel and your DNS records to set DKIM. This is a three step process:

1. Create the DKIM key

a. Login to your Google Apps Control Panel (e.g., https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/[yourdomain.com])

b. Navigate to the Gmail App Control Panel

c. Scroll down to “Authenticate email” and click on “Set up email authentication (DKIM)”.

d. Your domain name should be displayed. Click on “Generate new record”. Leave the default selector prefix as “google”. Click “Generate”.

e. Leave this browser window open, and then create a new tab or browser window.

2. Create the DKIM DNS record

a. Login to your DNS provider.

b. Create a new TXT record. The name of the TXT record should be:

google._domainkey

This creates a domain that, fully resolved, looks like: google._domainkey.yourdomain.com.

c. The value for the DNS record will be a very long string of characters, something like:

v=DKIM1; k=rsa; t=y; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCG5in7gQIDAQAB

The actual length of the string will be much longer than that above. I find it simplest to copy-and-paste the information from the Control Panel page displaying the information. Save the DNS record.

3. Start Authenticating

a. Wait 24-hours for your changes to propagate, and for Google’s servers to detect the changes.

b. Login to your Google Apps Control Panel (e.g., https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/[yourdomain.com])

c. Go to the “Advanced tools” tab, then scroll down to “Authenticate email” and click on “Set up email authentication (DKIM)”.

d. Click “Start authentication”.

As always, check Google’s detailed instructions if your setup is more complex.

Verify that SPF & DKIM are configured

Send an email from your Gmail account to check–auth@verifier.port25.com after you’ve completed the Google Apps SPF and DKIM setup. You’ll receive an email response in a few minutes. If everything is properly configured, you’ll receive a “PASS” for both the Google Apps SPF and DKIM settings. This means your email is now securely being delivered and can be verified as such.

Share Users Office 365 Calendar

The old way to accomplish Exchange calendar sharing between users was to either connect to each individual users workstation to right click and share the calendar to users in the Global Access List (GAL) or to install their profile on your system and do the same. There have been some wonderful advances since the advent of Powershell that allow Office 365 calendar sharing permissions to be set remotely as follows:

How to share Office 365 Calendar via Powershell

1. Make sure the Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell is installed properly

2. Open Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell as administrator

3. Type in the following to run signed scripts for Exchange Online:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

4. Type in the following to enter the administrative credentials for Office 365:

$creds = Get-Credential

5. Enter the Office 365 Administrator credentials then click "OK" button. 6. Type in the following to connect to Office 365 via PowerShell:

Import-Module MsOnline

Connect-MsolService -Credential $creds

7. Type in the following to connect to Exchange Online via Powershell:

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $creds -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession $Session

8. Type in the following command to change the calendar permissions:

Add-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity sharinguser@domain.com:\calendar -User recipient@domain.com -AccessRights Editor

Once this command has been executed for each individual recipient that will access the sharing users calendar, then you can have them right click to add the shared calendar in their Outlook. For a list of possible Access Rights see this great page by the University of Wisconsin. If your company is using Office 365 Calendar and needs help sharing them, then contact us for assistance.

Create Office 365 Shared Calendars

Often when migrating a client from on-premise Exchange server to the Office 365 platform, the company will have an Exchange pubic folder shared calendar or two that are used for various reasons. Here is the steps for creating the new kind of Office 365 shared calendars:

Creating a Public Folder Mailbox

1. Open the Office 365 portal with an administrative user
2. Open the Admin panel
3. Open the Exchange Admin panel
4. Click on Public Folders, then on the Public Folder Mailboxes
5. Click on the + symbol then give the new Public Folder Mailbox a name and click Save

Creating the Root Public Folder

1. Still in the Public Folders section click on Public Folders at the top
2. Click on the + symbol then give the new Public Folder Mailbox a name and click Save
3. Click on the new Public Folder then on the right hand side click on Manage under Folder permissions
4. Add all administrator users to the Folder Permissions

Creating the Shared Calendar Public Folder

1. Open Outlook on administrative users workstation who will be the "Owner" of the folder
2. Click on Folders at the bottom and expand into the new root Public Folder
3. Right click on the root and choose Add New Folder
4. Give it a name and choose Calendar Items under folder contains then click OK
5. Right click on the new Public Calendar click on Properties then on Permissions tab
6. Add all users who will be accessing the calendar and appropriate permissions for them

Adding the Calendar folder to Outlook

1. Open Outlook on each users workstation
2. Click on Folders at the bottom and expand into the new Public Calendar
3. Right click on the Public Calendar and choose Add to Favorites which then makes it listed under their calendar tab.

If your company is migrating from on-premise Exchange to Office 365 or are in need of an Office 365 Shared Calendars setup, then contact us for assistance.

Office 365 Email Distribution Group

Had a client that was using Office 365 Directory Synchronization (DirSync) to manage their users / groups in Office 365 via the local Active Directory which meant that there was not end-user manageability of those groups. A user asked to have a new email distribution list created that they could manage, so performed the following to make that happen:

Create an Office 365 Email Distribution Group

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Navigate to where in the hierarchy that the Distribution Group will be created.
3. Right click on the Organizational Unit where it is to be created and choose New then Group.
4. Give the Group a name and leave the default Group scope of Global and change Group type to Distribution then click OK button.
5. Double click on the new group to open it. Type in the email address to use then click on the Attribute Editor tab.
6. Scroll down and double click on the proxyAddresses item. Add the email in the format SMTP:[username@domain.com] then click on the Add button and OK button.
7. Click on the Managed By tab and click on the Change button to search for the user who will be the group administrator.
8. Click OK button then run a manual DirSync to send the changes to the cloud.
9. Open the group administrators Outlook.
10. Click on the Address Book button.
11. In the Address Book drop down list choose the Global Address Book (this may take some time to download the update).
12. Find the newly created Distribution Group and double click to open then click on the Modify Members button to add users.
If your company is using Office 365 and needs end users to manage their Office 365 Email Distribution Group, then contact us for assistance.

Exchange User Calendar Adding Permissions

Had a request to allow all users access to the new hires Exchange user calendar and some researched determined that this was not a job for the Exchange Managememt Console GUI. Instead it required a bit of PowerShell scripting to get the job done. It is best to run Get-MailboxDatabase before editing the script to retrieve the [Database Name] and [Username]. Here is the final product for accomplishing this task:

Add Exchange User Calendar Permissions via Powershell

$mailboxes = Get-Mailbox -Database “[Database Name]”
$AccessRights = “Reviewer”
$newusername = “[Username]”

foreach ($mailbox in $mailboxes) {

$calendar = (($mailbox.SamAccountName)+ “:\” + (Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity $mailbox.SamAccountName -FolderScope Calendar | Select-Object -First 1).Name)

Write-Host “Updating calendar permission for $mailbox…” -ForegroundColor Yellow

add-MailboxFolderPermission -User $newusername -AccessRights $AccessRights -Identity $calendar

}

If your company is using on-premise Microsoft Exchange User Calendar or needs any help migrating to Office 365, then contact us for assistance.

Test SMTP Connectivity via Telnet

Had issues recently with another tech setting up a SMTP relay to Google Apps that didn’t work correctly and during the process of correcting their setup there came a need to test SMTP connectivity. Time to use a telnet connection to the SMTP server over port 25 method to test via my favorite telnet/ssh/console program PuTTY:
1. Open PuTTY and type in the Host Name of the SMTP server.
2. Choose Connection type of Telnet and change the Port to 25 then click the Open button.
3. Type EHLO [hostname] and then press ENTER.
4. Type MAIL FROM:[authorizeduser@domain.com] and then press ENTER.
5. Type RCPT TO:[anotheruser@domain.com] and then press ENTER.
6. Type DATA and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

354 Start mail input; end with .

7. Type Subject: [Test Subject] and then press ENTER.
8. Press ENTER. RFC 2822 requires a blank line between the Subject: header field and the message body.
9. Type [Test Message Body] and then press ENTER.
10. Press ENTER, type a single period character and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

250 2.6.0 Queued mail for delivery

11. To disconnect from the destination SMTP server, type QUIT and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

221 2.0.0 Service closing transmission channel

12. Check the [anotheruser@domain.com] mailbox to see if the message arrived successfully.

This allows testing of the connection without end user intervention or the creation of a test account to send from. If there is SMTP authentication or encryption then there are other commands that will need to be entered.
If your company is in need of help troubleshooting or needs to test SMTP connectivity on your email servers, then contact us for assistance.

Google Apps SMTP Relay

Install Windows Server 2012 SMTP Relay Feature

1. Login as an administrator.
2. Go the the start screen and type “Server Manager”. Click on Manage and choose “Add roles and Features”.
3. Click “Next >” (Check the box to skip this in the future)
4. Make sure “Role-based or feature-based installation” is selected then click “Next >”
5. Choose the appropriate server then click “Next >”
6. Make no changes to the “Roles” page then click “Next >”
7. On the “Features” page scroll down and check the box by “SMTP Server”
8. Click “Add Features” (required for SMTP Server) then click “Next >”
9. Click “Install” then wait for the install to finish then click “Close”.

Configure Windows Server 2012 Google Apps SMTP Relay

1. Go the the start screen and type “Server Manager”.
2. In the Tools menu select “Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager”
3. Expand the tree until [SMTP Virtual Server #1] is shown then right click and choose “Rename” (as appropriate)
4. Right click again and choose “Properties”.
5. Click on the “Access” tab then click the “Connection…” button
6. Select “All except the list below” then click “OK”
7. Click on the “Relay…” then select “All except the list below” then click “OK”
8. Click on the “Delivery” tab then click the “Outbound Security” button
9. Select “Basic Authentication” and type in the username and password of Google Apps user
10. Check “TLS encryption” then click “OK”
11. Click the “Outbound connections” button then change “TCP port” to 587 then click “OK”
12. Click the “Advanced” button then fill in the FQDN of the internal server (add custom DNS for future changes)
13. Fill in “Smart host” with SMTP.gmail.com – the name of the Google Apps SMTP server then click “OK” twice

Warning! You have an open relay now. Use this setup to check the email notification system. When you see it’s fully functional go back to the “Access” tab and narrow down the “Connection” settings to the necessary systems. When no other system needs to relay, just check “Only the list below” and grant “127.0.0.1” access.

Configure Google Apps SMTP relay service

1. Login to Google Apps Admin Console
2. Click on Apps
3. Click on Google Apps
4. Click on Gmail
5. Click on “Advanced settings >>”
6. In “Search settings” type SMTP relay then click the Configure button
7. Give the relay a name
8. Leave the “Only registered Apps users in my domains” option set
10. Select “Require TLS ecryption”
11. Click ADD SETTING
12. Click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom right

If your company is using Google Apps and needs a SMTP relay setup for use by a network device like a multi-function printer, then contact us for assistance.

Office 365 / Active Directory User Changes Name

There is often the case that a female user will have a name change due to change in marital status. Here is the basics of how to change their name in both Active Directory and Office 365.

Active Directory User Changes Name objects

  1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers
  2. Find the user needing the changed name, right click on them and choose the “Rename” option.
  3. Change the user’s name as needed then press Enter then in the window that opens make all the further changes needed and click the “OK” button.
  4. Click on the View menu at the top and check the “Advanced Features” option.
  5. Double click on the users new name to open their Properties. Change the email address if needed in the General tab.
  6. Choose the “Attribute Editor” tab, scroll down the list to “proxyAddress” attribute and double click it. Click on the current SMTP:old.email@company.com and click the “Remove” button then change it to a smtp:old.email@company.com then click the “Add” button.
  7. Type in SMTP:new.email@company.com for the user and then click the “Add” button. Click the “OK” button on this window and the one beneath it.
  8. Make sure to also rename the users Redirected Folder if there is one created via Group Policy
  9. Run a manual sync of the DirSync tool via the Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager console.

Changes to Office 365

  1. Make sure the Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell is installed properly
  2. Open Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell as administrator
  3. Type in the following to run signed scripts for Exchange Online:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

  4. Type in the following to enter the administrative credentials for Office 365:

    $creds = Get-Credential

  5. Enter the Office 365 Administrator credentials then click “OK” button.
  6. Type in the following to connect to Office 365 via PowerShell:

    Import-Module MsOnline

    Connect-MsolService -Credential $creds

  7. Type in the following to connect to Exchange Online via Powershell:

    $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $creds -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

    Import-PSSession $Session

  8. Type in the following to change the username for login to Office 365:

    Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName old.email@company.com -NewUserPrincipalName new.email@company.com

  9. Login to the portal as administrator and make sure the changes have take effect.

If your company has an Active Directory user changes name in your domain or Office 365 user changes name, then contact us for assistance.

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