Announcing Deprecation of Remote PowerShell (RPS) Protocol in Exchange Online PowerShell

Has there been any issues raised around the use of the ExchangeOnlineManagement 3.0.0 and 3.1.0 modules in an Azure Automation runbook?

I noticed from Thursday 9 Feb that the module no longer authenticates under a Managed Identity or Credential flow context on either a PowerShell 5.1 or 7.1 runbook. I have regressed back to 2.0.6-preview-7 to get it working again in the runbook.

When using 3.0.0 or 3.1.0 modules in a 7.1 runbook, I get the error:

OperationStopped: C:\ModulesV2\User\ExchangeOnlineManagement\netCore\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:729
Line |
 729 |                      throw $_.Exception.InnerException;
     |                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     | Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=13.0.0.0,
     | Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed'.
OperationStopped: C:\ModulesV2\User\ExchangeOnlineManagement\netCore\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:729
Line |
 729 |                      throw $_.Exception.InnerException;
     |                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     | Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=13.0.0.0,
     | Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed'.

Similarly, in a 5.1 runbook, I get the error:

Failed
The term 'Update-ModuleManifest' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

I've been able to replicate the error across three different tenants and three subscriptions.

Any ideas?

With regard to the issue with Azure Automation Runbook and v3 module, it is a problem which for me started on Feb 9th. There have been a few comments about it here Exchange Online PowerShell V3 Module General Availability - Microsoft Community Hub. Seems -UseRPSSession will get the v3 module to work in a runbook, but that's not a long term solution with the deprecation from 1st June.

Hey Ron Ron . What this means is that you need to upgrade to the  v3.0.0 release of the Exchange Online Management module. The v2.0.x releases still use RPS (Remote PowerShell) to connect to Exchange. The v3.0.x release utilise REST API to connect to Exchange.  All cmdlets and functionality remains practically the same. It’s just the underlying connectivity to Exchange that is different. You don’t need to change your cmdlets and Get-Mailbox and all the usual cmdlets are still available. There are, however, a few code-breaking changes and you should check MS’s docs for details: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/exchange/exchange-online-powershell-v2?view=exchange-ps#updates-for-version-300-the-exo-v3-module

stukey I beg to differ.

As mentioned in the referenced article, the EXO V3, which is backed by EXO REST API calls, is indeed out in general availability.

What Microsoft omits in all communication related to this subject is that the EXO REST API itself is still in beta.

So, we have general availability software (EXO V3) built on a beta API (EXO REST API). Not ideal, IMO.

It's in the interest of many application developers to use the REST API directly and not depend on EXO V3, which has to download itself every time you connect to Exchange Online (documented in the referenced article):

The performance (on frequent connections) is slow.

The temp directory gets bloated by downloaded modules if you don't disconnect explicitly from every session.

It would be nice to have an expected timeline and a change log for the EXO REST API.

(as is the case with, e.g., the Graph REST API: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/changelog/)

If I missed this information somehow, I'd be happy to receive a link.

Hi The_Exchange_Team ,

With the New-PSSession (V1) method retiring in June 2023 how will that impact CSP's who need to do unattended scripting for their Customers that they have Delegated permissions for (in the Partner Center, using GDAP)?

The page on "App-only authentication for unattended scripts in Exchange Online PowerShell and Security & Compliance PowerShell" was updated in early Jan 2023 to indicate that "Delegated scenarios are supported in Exchange Online using multi-tenant applications".

BUT Step 4b is unclear how to use Delegated permissions with GDAP for unattended scripting, it seems to imply that we'll have to get the Customers to manually click a URL:

It says to "generate an admin consent URL for each customer tenant" and then "an admin in the customer tenant should open the" URL ... How will we do that with hundreds or thousands of Customers?!

There should be a way to leverage Delegated Auth Permissions with GDAP for unattended scripting for all the Customers we have in the Partner Center.  Perhaps using the new -AccessToken param on Connect-ExchangeOnline (in EXO V3.1-preview1)? We are currently using New-PartnerAccessToken to generate Access Tokens and then New-PSSession.

We need an EXO V3 version of that. Can more info be provided please? Thanks so much!

-Saul

Is there any similar plan for the Connect-IPPSSession, as this is, as of now, completely RPS based. If not, could you update the post stating that the Connect-IPPSSession is not affected by the deprecation? Otherwise this might lead to some confusion.

The Exchange Online REST API is still in beta, with no public information on general availability:

https://www.easy365manager.com/exo-v3-powershell-module-with-rest/

When will the Microsoft Exchange Team move the Exchange Online REST API from beta to general availability?

skrub. All fair and valid points. Apologies, I thought you were referring to the ExchangeOnlineManagement module itself, not the underlying API that it uses. I guess only somebody from Microsoft can answer your questions…

API is an overstatement, all the cmdlets in the V3 module are "proxied" against a single endpoint. But it's the best we can use until proper Graph API endpoints arrive, if ever...

Ron Ron : stukey has put it rightly. What we are expecting users is to upgrade to the  v3.0.0 module which utilizes REST API to connect to Exchange. All cmdlets and functionality remains same. You don’t need to change your cmdlets. A few code-breaking changes are mentioned here: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/exchange/exchange-online-powershell-v2?view=exchange-ps#updat...

In case of any more breaking changes that you come across, please reach out to us at RPSdeprecation@service.microsoft.com.