Microsoft Hybrid Agent Preview Update
As you are aware, we released the Microsoft Hybrid Agent for Exchange Server as a preview on Feb. 5 th , 2019. The blog post for that release is located here. We have been busy working on a few improvements for the Hybrid Agent over that past two months and wanted to let you know of some new features now available in the latest build of the Hybrid Configuration Wizard. The three enhancements for the Hybrid Agent are: Multi Agent installation and configuration Agent status views Registration/Usage of a load balancer for the internal URL instead of a specific Exchange Client Access Server Multi Agent Deployment Option 1 – Use the Hybrid Configuration Wizard to install additional agents For existing Hybrid Agent preview customers who would like to install additional Hybrid Agents for redundancy, simply download the latest version of the Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW) and open the application on the machine where you would like to install an additional Hybrid Agent. Like previous HCW runs, start the application, select Next. Select a desired server to execute against, select Next. Provide credentials to sign into your Office 365 tenant, select Next. The HCW will gather configuration information, select Next when complete. Select the default option provided for either Full or Minimal, select Next. Select Exchange Modern Hybrid Topology, Next. Agree to the Terms, Next. A new page will be shown that will provide you with the status of your existing / previously installed agent. Make sure the status of the existing agent is accurate before proceeding to the next step. Select Install and additional agent option, Next. Example: The HCW will install the additional Hybrid Agent. When the installation is complete, you can open the Microsoft Windows Services console from the machine and verify the service / agent is installed and running (look for Microsoft Hybrid Service - mshybridsvc). At that point, you can either re-run HCW if you wish to make further changes to your hybrid config, or simply cancel the wizard. You can repeat this step on each machine where you would like an additional Hybrid Agent installed. Option 2 – Manually download & install additional agents A second option for installing additional agents is outside the HCW itself and is done by downloading and manually installing the agent on the desired machine. Go to https://aka.ms/hybridagentinstaller. Save the MSHybridService.msi to a location on your machine. From that machine, open a Windows Command console as Administrator and run: Msiexec /i MSHybridService.msi to install the hybrid agent. You will be prompted for your tenant Global Admin credentials. After the installation is complete, you can open the Microsoft Windows Services console from the machine and verify the service / agent is installed and running. You can repeat this step on each machine where you would like an additional Hybrid Agent installed. Checking the Status of Your Hybrid Agents Option 1 – Get status via the Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW) Start the HCW application, select Next. Select a server in your Exchange org, select Next. Provide credentials to sign into your Office 365 tenant, select Next. The HCW will gather configuration information, select Next when complete. Select default option provided for either Full or Minimal, select Next. Select Exchange Modern Hybrid Topology, Next. Agree to the Terms, Next. A new page will be shown that will provide you with the status of your existing installed agents. Cancel the HCW app when you are done. Option 2 – Get status via the Hybrid Management PowerShell Module With each installation of the Hybrid Agent, we install the Hybrid Management PowerShell module in the directory …\Program Files\Microsoft Hybrid Service\ on the machine where the agent is installed. By default, this module is not imported and so you will need to import it before you can use it. This module also requires the Azure module for PowerShell if not already installed. Please install the PackageManagement modules first and then see this article for how to install the Azure module. To import the Hybrid Management module, run the following from a Windows PowerShell prompt as Administrator: Import-module .\HybridManagement.psm1 After that you can run: Get-HybridAgent -credential (get-credential) to view agent status: Note: the ‘id’ value provided in the above snip is the agent identity and not your unique tenant guid assigned to the route. Directing your Hybrid Agent(s) to the load balancer instead of a specific server If you would like your Hybrid Agent(s) to direct requests to your load balancer instead of a specific Exchange Client Access Server, this can be done with the Hybrid Management PowerShell module. In preview, the Hybrid Agent supports routing requests to the load balancer for Exchange Server 2013 – 2019 Client Access Servers. You cannot use this if you only have Exchange Server 2010 CAS deployed. Follow the steps above to import the Hybrid Management module for PowerShell. From PowerShell, then simply use the Update-HybridApplication cmdlet to change the value of the internalURL (targetURI parameter) from a specific server to your load balancer endpoint. Before running this cmdlet you will need to get the unique guid value (e.g. 12345678-1234-1234-1234-1111111111111) of your tenant’s endpoint from either your MRS configuration or the Organization Relationship object (TargetSharingEPR). Example: PS C:\PowerShell> Get-OrganizationRelationship ((Get-OnPremisesOrganization).OrganizationRelationship) | Select-Object TargetSharingEpr TargetSharingEpr ---------------- https://e399b770-3b66-407b-a71a-96ef80a67714.resource.mailboxmigration.his.msappproxy.net/EWS/Exchange.asmx Or PS C:\PowerShell> Get-MigrationEndpoint "Hybrid Migration Endpoint - EWS (Default Web Site)" | Select-Object RemoteServer RemoteServer ------------ e399b770-3b66-407b-a71a-96ef80a67714.resource.mailboxmigration.his.msappproxy.net To be clear, the ID parameter required in this cmdlet is not the agent ID, but the guid listed in your custom registered endpoint retrieved using the method above. Example: We really hope you are enjoying and benefitting from using the Hybrid Agent. We see a lot of usage and we’re working hard to improve it all the time. Thank you! Exchange Hybrid TeamMicrosoft Ignite 2018 - The Recap
Microsoft Ignite 2018 ended a few weeks ago, and what a great event it was. It was great to see so many of our customers, partners and friends there – thank you for coming to our sessions, thank you for coming to the booth, thank you for hanging out with us whenever the opportunity arose and thank you for giving us great feedback on what we’re doing. We’re still recovering but we heard you and are focused on doing a better job because of it. All of the sessions were recorded this year, and so here’s a handy reference to all the sessions in the Exchange and Outlook track, and some others we think you’ll find interesting, so you can refer back here whenever you want to find one. You will need an account in Tech Community to access them, but that’s something you should have anyway. So here’s a long list of sessions, in no particular order but grouped by technology as much as possible. Exchange Welcome to Exchange 2019! Panel discussion: Microsoft Exchange/Calendar/OWA Hybrid Exchange – Making it easier and faster to move to the cloud Scott Schnoll's Exchange and Office 365 Tips & Tricks Securing Exchange Online from Modern Threats So long and thanks for all the (email) phish Email Search in a Flash! Accelerating Exchange 2019 with SSDs Turbo charge your Exchange on-premises and Hybrid environment – Notes from the field How to add MFA to your Exchange On-Prem/Online mailboxes in 20 minutes or less Preparing to Move (or remove) Those Public Folders to the Cloud Why do we need to keep an Exchange Server on-premises when we move to the cloud? Making the best of the cloud: How Exchange Online is different from Exchange on-premises Azure Information Protection and Exchange Online - better together Securing your Office 365 environment from advanced phishing campaigns with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection Outlook Deep dive into what’s new and coming soon to Outlook for Windows and Mac Outlook mobile in the Enterprise Deploying Outlook mobile securely in the enterprise What's Amazing and New in Calendaring in Outlook! Outlook on the web - What's new and why you should care! The Best (Outlook driven) Day of Your Life Success through people with LinkedIn and Microsoft 365 What's New in groups in Outlook Panel discussion: Microsoft Outlook (Windows, Mac, and Mobile) Let the intelligence built into Outlook help you to make time for what really matters Simple room booking in Outlook using new built-in Intelligence The Power of People in Outlook Security made real with Outlook mobile in-app experiences Outlook on the web: Don’t block your users, restrict them with conditional access/limited access! Adaptive Cards in Teams, Windows, Outlook and your own applications Create engaging, powerful new business processes in Microsoft Outlook with Adaptive Cards Office 365 Notes from the field: how we moved a large global bank to Office 365 Office 365 – Marriages, Divorces and Adoptions Getting stuff done: Solving Office 365 problems with PowerShell How to be an author and write about Office 365 Real-world best practices for managing Office 365 groups Embrace Office 365 Groups: What's new and how to get started Office 365 Groups automation inside-out Delivering Office 365 as an evergreen service: What to do, and more importantly, what not to do Understanding how Microsoft Information Protection capabilities work together to protect sensitive information across devices, apps, and services Secure enterprise productivity with Office 365 threat protection services including EOP, ATP, and Threat Intelligence Strategies for building effective, optimal and future proof connectivity to Office 365 that will delight your users Implementing a modern network architecture to get the most out of Office 365 Addressing global data residency needs with Multi-Geo in Office 365 Podcasts/Broadcasts Ross Smith IV & Greg Taylor on theCUBE Scott Schnoll & Jeff Mealiffe on theCUBE Ross Smith IV on Channel 9 talking about Outlook mobile Greg Taylor on Channel 9 talking about Exchange Server 2019 Greg Taylor, Tony Redmond and Paul Robichaux – Office 365 Exposed talking about random stuff It’s possible we missed a session you think we should have included (there were 750 or more after all), if so, add it to the comments section so people can find it. Thanks! Happy watching! And see you next year for more of the same. Microsoft Ignite 2019 here we come! Greg Taylor Director of Product Marketing Exchange Server and Online
