Practical Exchange: Understanding SMTP Relay in Exchange Online
In this article, Jaap Wesselius explains the available options for SMTP relay when moving to Exchange Online.
June 10, 2024
Latest Articles
Practical Graph: Reporting Room Mailbox Weekly Schedules
A reader asked if it is possible to generate room mailbox weekly schedules that can be sent to distribution lists. This article explains how to accomplish the task using PowerShell and Graph API requests. Once you can get at the data, you can do anything!
May 13, 2024
Migrate from EWS Application Access Policy to RBAC for Applications
On February 20, Microsoft announced their intention to remove Application Impersonation for EWS from Exchange Online. If you have existing management role assignments, this article explains how to make the transition to RBAC-based assignments.
April 24, 2024
PowerShell, Teams, and Exchange News with Special Guest MVP Michel De Rooij: The Practical 365 Podcast S4 E17
On the show this week, we're joined by fellow Microsoft MVP and long-term PowerShell, Exchange and Microsoft 365 expert, Michel De Rooij to discuss PowerShell, GitHub Copilot, Teams, and more!
April 11, 2024
A New Take on The Classic Exchange Mailbox Statistics PowerShell Script
Anyone who learned PowerShell to manage Exchange has probably written a script to report Exchange mailbox statistics, which means that many scripts have been written since 2006. This article describes a new take on the topic that produces a nice HTML report and two lists that can be used for other reporting.
March 26, 2024
Microsoft Takes Steps to Offset Midnight Blizzard Damage
The fallout from the Midnight Blizzard attack against Microsoft continues as Microsoft takes action to harden the security of its own and customer tenants. One step is to retire the EWS Application Impersonation role. This will happen in February 2025 ahead of the retirement of Exchange Web Services in October 2026.
March 11, 2024
Exchange Online Changes, Copilot + Viva plus Identity Migration with Becky Cross: The Practical 365 Podcast S4 E14
In this episode of the Practical 365 Podcast, Steve and Rich are joined by Becky Cross to discuss Hybrid Identity Migration, new Exchange On-Premises cumulative updates, Azure OpenAI features, and more!
March 1, 2024
Stopping Spam Sent from Bad Microsoft 365 Domains
Anecdotal evidence is that some spam originates from onmicrosoft.com domains. These are the domains used by Microsoft 365 tenants and the spam indicates that attackers sign up for 'disposable' tenants to send their malware. This article describes what onmicrosoft.com domains are and how to use a mail flow rule to control their traffic.
February 26, 2024
Microsoft Releases Public Preview of Microsoft 365 Backup
If you’re interested in protecting your SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, or Exchange Online data, it is useful to understand how Microsoft 365 Backup works and what the software can and cannot do. In this article, Paul Robichaux walks through how to set up and test the preview version of Microsoft 365 Backup.
February 20, 2024
Automated Maintenance for the Exchange Online Tenant Block List
The tenant block list controls traffic that Exchange Online blocks from different domains. The block list is an important tool but maintaining it can take a lot of time. This article discusses how to automate the process using a combination of SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.
January 24, 2024
The Choice Between Outlook’s Junk Email Filter or Tenant-Level Blocks
People have used Outlook's Junk Email Options for years to maintain sets of safe and blocked recipients. The possibility exists that Outlook's safe list might interfere with the processing of email by Exchange Online Protection. This article explores the feasibility of disabling Junk Email Options to use tenant-level blocks instead.
January 15, 2024
Creating Dynamic Distribution Lists Based on Email Addresses
Exchange Online recipient filters calculate the membership of dynamic distribution groups. The filters support email addresses, but they don't work. Another method is needed to create dynamic distribution lists based on user mailbox email addresses, as we describe in this article and script.
January 8, 2024