How to implement Multi-Factor Authentication in Office 365 via ADFS – Part 2

11th of March, 2015 / / 2 Comments

Check out the original article at Lucian’s blog here: lucian.blog

Welcome to part 2 of this 4 part series on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). In this post i’ll go into some of the different types of MFA available to federated users with either Office 365, Azure AD and hybrid configuration Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) v3.0; as well as some use cases for each of these.

Quick recap – Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a means of access control whereby during the logon process, there is more than one claim to grant you access to the cloud service, server application or  even workstation. … [Keep reading] “How to implement Multi-Factor Authentication in Office 365 via ADFS – Part 2”

How to implement Multi-Factor Authentication in Office 365 via ADFS – Part 1

11th of March, 2015 / / 5 Comments

Check out the original article at Lucian’s blog here: lucian.blog

This is part 1 of a 4 part series put together exploring Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Recently I’m been working with a client on a project to implement MFA for Office 365 services as company policy mandates at least two factors of authentication (2FA) for accessing any corporate resources.

In part one I’ll put together my points of view around what MFA is, why its an important topic for organizations especially in 2015.… [Keep reading] “How to implement Multi-Factor Authentication in Office 365 via ADFS – Part 1”

Kloud develops online learning portal for leading education organisation

8th of January, 2015 / / No Comments

Customer Overview

Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) is made up of the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (SACCS), Catholic Education Office of South Australia (CEO) and 103 Catholic schools across South Australia. The organisation comprises 6,000 staff who care for more than 48,000 students.

Business Situation

Catholic Education South Australia recently made the decision to offer the capabilities of Office 365 to its 103 schools across the state (including Exchange email, Lync, SharePoint and Office on Demand).… [Keep reading] “Kloud develops online learning portal for leading education organisation”

Using a Proxy with Azure AD Sync Services

19th of December, 2014 / / 3 Comments

In this blog I am going to cover some tips and tricks for using Azure AD Sync Services with a proxy… including the specific URLs required for whitelisting, the proxy settings used during the installation, configuration and running of the tool, and a workaround for apps that do not support authenticating proxies.

URL Whitelisting

It is generally recommended to whitelist all the Office 365 URLs to bypass proxy infrastructure as this provides the best performance and avoids issues with applications that are not compatible with an authenticating proxies (OneDrive for Business client installations, Exchange Hybrid services, Azure AD Sync Services and so on…).… [Keep reading] “Using a Proxy with Azure AD Sync Services”

AADSync – AD Service Account Delegated Permissions

18th of December, 2014 / / 26 Comments

Note: This applies to Azure AD Connect, previously referred to as AAD Sync or DirSync.

***UPDATED (04/07/2016): Includes Exchange Hybrid Object ‘msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID’ for Exchange 2016 environments. Thanks Dave Young.

***UPDATED (29/10/2015): Included two lines for Password Write-back as per Chris Lehr Comment

When you configure Azure AD Sync (AADSync), you need to provide credentials of an account that is used by AADSync’s AD DS Management Agent to connect to your on-premises Active Directory. In previous versions of DirSync this was achieved via running the configuration wizard as a ‘Enterprise Admin’ and thus allowing the installer to create a service account and apply permissions to the Directory on your behalf.… [Keep reading] “AADSync – AD Service Account Delegated Permissions”

Deploying Office Pro Plus without admin rights

17th of December, 2014 / / 1 Comment

There are many ways to install Office Pro Plus to your client base. You can let the user install it from the web, push it out via SCCM or Intune or simply provide the user with an installation package. However, every now and then you come across some special requirements where security is tight and some options are not available for various reasons. In this post I show you how to deploy Office Pro Plus to client machines where users do not have administrative access.… [Keep reading] “Deploying Office Pro Plus without admin rights”

Getting Started with Office 365 Video

21st of November, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Starting Tuesday November 18 Microsoft started rolling out Office 365 Video to customers who have opted in to the First Release programme (if you haven’t you will need to wait a little longer!)

Kloud has built video solutions on Office 365 in the past so it’s great to see Microsoft deliver this as a native feature of SharePoint Online – and one that leverages the underlying power of Azure Media Services capabilities for video cross-encoding and dynamic packaging.… [Keep reading] “Getting Started with Office 365 Video”

Australia’s leading wholesale distribution company transforms IT with Office 365

13th of November, 2014 / / No Comments

Customer Overview

Metcash is one of Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing companies, specialising in grocery, fresh produce, liquor, hardware and automotive parts and accessories.

Business Situation

Metcash required the transition of a number of on-premises workloads to a cloud based service to alleviate infrastructure, support and performance issues experienced by the organisation.

Metcash evaluated several alternative SaaS options and requested to roll-out the Microsoft Office 365 suite of products in the form of a technology pilot.… [Keep reading] “Australia’s leading wholesale distribution company transforms IT with Office 365”

Kloud Sessions from TechEd Australia 2014

7th of November, 2014 / / No Comments

Consultants from Kloud are always looking for ways to help public cloud adoption by contributing to community events and sharing our knowledge. The premier annual Microsoft technical event to do this at in Australia is TechEd.

As in previous years Kloud had speakers presenting at TechEd 2014 and you’ll find their session videos below. Click through to the Channel 9 site to gain access to the deck to go with the session.

Azure VM Security and Compliance Management with Configuration Manager and SCM

Presenter: Andreas Wasita.… [Keep reading] “Kloud Sessions from TechEd Australia 2014”

Connecting Salesforce and SharePoint Online with MuleSoft – Nothing but NET

5th of November, 2014 / / No Comments

Often enterprises will choose their integration platform based on the development platform required to build integration solutions. That is, java shops typically choose Oracle ESB, JBoss, IBM WebSphere or MuleSoft to name but a few. Microsoft shops have less choice and typically choose to build custom .NET solutions or use Microsoft BizTalk Server. Choosing an integration platform based on the development platform should not be a driving factor and may limit your options.

Your integration platform should be focused on interoperability.… [Keep reading] “Connecting Salesforce and SharePoint Online with MuleSoft – Nothing but NET”