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How To Use Nslookup To Check DMARC External Domain Validation (EDV) Record

DMARC RecordfCheck

Previously we looked at how to use nslookup to retrieve the main Domain Based Message Reporting And Conformance (DMARC) DNS record. One of the often overlooked and behind the scenes aspect of DMARC is that a 3rd party DMARC provider has to actually grant permission for DMARC reports to be sent to them for a given domain.  Without that permission, email service providers will not be able to send DM… Read the rest “How To Use Nslookup To Check DMARC External Domain Validation (EDV) Record”

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Tenant Hydration – Still A Thing

Exchange HCW - Tenant Hydration Issue

Almost 10 years ago I ran into a customer deployment where they were unable to run some of the Exchange PowerShell commands.  Funnily enough, this bubbled up the other week.

As a recap, tenants are created in a dehydrated state to minimise resouce consumption.  That means they can not be customised things like Role Based Access Control (RBAC) assignments are read-only and can not be customised.  Th… Read the rest “Tenant Hydration – Still A Thing”

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MTA-STS–Comments On Deploying Azure Static Web App

Hosting MTA-STS File on Azure Static Web App

Many customers have completed or are completing the rollout of SPF, DKIM and DMARC to improve email security.  Once DMARC has been moved to 100% quarantine that means that all of the issues have been identified and resolved.  So what’s next?

Typically this is where MTA-STS comes in. Mail Transfer Agent - Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS) is intended to provide additional security to ema… Read the rest “MTA-STS–Comments On Deploying Azure Static Web App”

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April 2024 Exchange Server Hotfix Updates – HU

Exchange April 2024 Hotfix Update

Want some updates to go with your updates?  That’s pretty much what you are getting with the April 2024 Exchange updates.  We can split the features which are part of the April 2024 release into two main areas:

  1. Fixing the multiple things that broke with the March 2023 Security Update (SU)
  2. Adding net new features

The April 2024 HU is available for the following builds of Exchange Server:

  • Exchange Serve
Read the rest “April 2024 Exchange Server Hotfix Updates – HU”
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Unable To Install or Launch Exchange HCW

Unable To Launch Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard

You want to run the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW) and after clicking the link to the HCW in the admin portal or manually browsing to the shortcut URL you are unable to either launch or install the HCW.  Despite using Edge, the HCW application just does not install and/or launch.  All you get is the initial prompt to open the file and nothing else.

For example, if we go to the shortcut … Read the rest “Unable To Install or Launch Exchange HCW”

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Exchange 2016 – CU23 Now Required

Exchange 2016 CU23 Now Required

With the release of Exchange 2019 CU14 today, a separate announcement was added to the release post to highlight that only CU23 is supported for Exchange 2016.  Exchange Server 2016 is supported until the end of its support in 2025, however in order to receive support and to obtain Security Updates (SUs) you must be running CU23.  CU22 and all older releases of Exchange 2016 are no longer supporte… Read the rest “Exchange 2016 – CU23 Now Required”

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Exchange 2019 CU14 Released (2024 H1)

Exchange 2019 CU14 Download

Exchange 2019 CU14 has been released to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Center and the public Microsoft Download site!  Exchange 2019 has a different servicing strategy than Exchange 2007/2010 and utilises Cumulative Updates (CUs) rather than the Rollup Updates (RU/UR) which were used previously.    CUs are a complete installation of Exchange 2019 and can be used to install a fresh server or to upd… Read the rest “Exchange 2019 CU14 Released (2024 H1)”

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Exchange Healthcheck Script– Unable to Connect to Server

Exchange Healthcheck Script - Unable to Connect

Below is a repro of a customer situation where the Exchange Healthcheck script was unable to connect to a remote Exchange server.  The Healthcheck script would run locally with no issues, and reported a clean bill of health.

Note that the expected output log was not present after running the script.

In the command below, we are trying to remotely assess sever Exch-2019-1

Exchange Healthcheck Script - Unable to Connect to Server

Troubleshooting Thoughts

It wa… Read the rest “Exchange Healthcheck Script– Unable to Connect to Server”

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End of Exchange 2019 Mainstream Support

Exchange 2019 Support Lifecycle Policy

Today marks the end of Exchange 2019’s mainstream support.  This will likely resurface the discussion about what do we do with on-premises Exchange, where is the next version and do we even still need Exchange Server if all mailboxes are in Exchange Online?  While there is a solution to removing the last Exchange Server from on-premises it does have it's caveats and considerations.  Please ensure … Read the rest “End of Exchange 2019 Mainstream Support”

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Enable DMARC For OnMicrosoft.com Domains

DMARC Record For onmicrosoft.com Domain

It is possible to add a Domain Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) record for your onmicrosoft.com domain in M365.  Is that a good thing?

Well, your viewpoint may depend on your experiences with this domain.  If you actually use the onmicrosoft.com domain to send email, then yes!  Adding the DMARC record enables the DMARC alignment check to pass and the mail to be success… Read the rest “Enable DMARC For OnMicrosoft.com Domains”