Ok - 17 days to the holiday and counting! But before I get to a beach on the Atlantic one of the things I really wanted to do is ensure I get the opportunity to get a blog down on Microsoft Entra Internet Access. I think it's going to be an important solution moving forward. So this begs the question - what exactly is it? And why do I think it's important? Microsoft Entra Internet Access (MEIA) is part of Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access service defined as 'securing access to Microsoft 365, SaaS, and public internet apps while protecting users, devices, and data against internet threats...". Announced alongside Private Access at the Microsoft Entra moment prior to Inspire back in July, it's an '..identity-centric, device-aware, cloud-delivered Secure Web Gateway (SWG)' which is part of Microsoft's SASE/SSE strategy alongside Defender for Cloud Apps. Chances are you've already seen something like this from the likes of Z-Scaler and Palo Alto. But this is Microsoft's proprietary gateway built right into Microsoft Entra. That's awesome. But aside from being a net new proprietary feature what's its value? The importance of the SWG is, amongst other things, its ability to prevent attacks such as token replay attacks and attacker in the middle (AITM) attacks by ensuring conditional access to Microsoft 365 services through compliant networks and endpoints. Therefore, as attacks are becoming more sophisticated and we are seeing things such as token theft to breach tenants, or bypassing MFA, new defences such as a SWG are as timely as they are necessary. For me? This could become as fundamental as MFA and Conditional Access. Now at the time of writing this solution is actively being developed and Teams itself isn't supported. But we know it will be. And it will be soon. The point is this shouldn't be a blocker to implementation - it'll still cover Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive and other things such as the Graph so let's not wait - let's get it in for Teams. So this blog is an exploratory one. It's the tip of the iceberg and you'll want to investigate your own scenarios, read others blogs and bear in mind that whilst for Windows only, it'll cover more in the future. I know this is something that we'll be collectively working on and writing more about in the future.
Category: Microsoft Exams
Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals (PL-900) Exam Prep Guide
Analyse, Act and Automate. Buzzwords these may be - but the importance of the Power Platform is real. About a year ago, I was sitting in a meeting in Dublin discussing Microsoft 365 with a partner whose business was built upon Power Apps. As much as I was impressed with the app on the IPad they'd recently developed after their receptionist left, it was the dawning on how they viewed Microsoft 365 through the prism of applications. It's very easy to narrate a story on Microsoft 365 around Security, Teamwork or the modernization of devices (three narratives Microsoft typically use today). But I had never considered doing that based upon apps. Never even entered my head.
Microsoft 365: Managing Microsoft Teams (MS-700) Exam Prep Guide
Earlier this year I predicted that many IT pros would opt to do MS-300 purely because of Teams. I also predicted that Teams would eventually go on to have an exam all of its very own. And whilst, admittedly, it wasn't MS-400 we now have MS-700 - Managing Microsoft Teams as announced at Microsoft Ignite 2019. In passing MS-700, the delegate goes on to achieve the new role of Teams Administrator Associate.
An MCT’s perspective on taking a Microsoft Fundamentals Exam (FAQ’s)
If you are about to take a Microsoft Fundamentals exam, or are thinking of taking one in the future, it is perfectly natural to ask questions pertaining to that exam such as 'What is a Microsoft Fundamentals exam actually like?' 'How many questions are there?' 'What can I do to prepare to give myself the best opportunity to pass?' Having taught both the Azure (AZ-900TO1A) and Microsoft 365 (MS-900TO1A) courses several times this year across the UK and Ireland, it may come as little surprise that I get these questions a lot. I am always happy to answer them. I am a firm believer that if we can understand these exams and what we are facing, we are better prepared to go in and give our best performance without any surprises which may negatively impact the end result. This is a collection of FAQ's from those deliveries which I hope can help you go on to achieve the result you need
Microsoft 365: Messaging Administrator Certification Transition (MS-202) Exam Prep Guide
Mail is in the genes of the organisation I work for. To this day it still has one of the largest Hosted Exchange platforms in the country and some of the very best Exchange engineers in the business. I find these Exchange engineers - meaning those dedicated to Exchange management on a day to day basis, some of the most deeply passionate people I have met in all of IT. They love what they do - absolutely mad for it. I encourage anyone to talk to them about DAG's or SMTP Configuration, or TNEF, or Delegate Permissions, or Mailbox Protocols, or SmartHost integration, or Replay Queues, or RAID, or Jetstress or least cost routing paths.
@Microsoft365Pro 