Microsoft at PASS Data Community Summit 2025
Microsoft is excited to be back as the Sapphire Sponsor for this year’s PASS Data Community Summit, together with AMD. Together, we’re helping data professionals and DBAs modernize their environments for greater performance, efficiency, and AI readiness. It’ll be a week packed with keynotes, learning pathways, sessions, breakfast, giveaways and more! Our experts and engineers will be there and ready to share all things SQL Server 2025, cover the latest from Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric and more—delivered on a foundation of AMD-powered innovation. Whether your goals are modernizing for performance and AI readiness or building intelligent apps and agents, we’ll have you covered. We hope you’ll join us to “Connect, Share and Learn” alongside the rest of your peers at the PASS community. CVP of Azure Databases, Shireesh Thota, is back as the keynote speaker, and will be joined by leaders across Microsoft Data including Priya Sathy and Bob Ward—highlighting how Microsoft and AMD are shaping the future of data together. Join us on Day 2, Thursday, November 20 th . Come back and check as new sessions are added: Learning Pathways: Becoming Azure SQL DBA – High Availability and BCDR Dr. Dani Ljepava, Bob Ward, John Morehouse Learn how to evolve your Azure SQL DBA skills in the domain of High Availability (HA), Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) from the perspective of on-premises DBA’s. Becoming Azure SQL DBA – Security, Compliance, Threats, Connectivity Pam Lahoud, Joey Dantoni Evolve your Azure SQL DBA skills in the domain of security, compliance, authentication and connectivity, from the perspective of an on-premises DBA now supporting databases in Azure. Becoming Azure SQL DBA – Performance Monitoring, Tuning, and Alerting Erin Stellato, Pam Lahoud, Monica Morehouse (Rathbun) Extend your Azure SQL DBA skills in the domain of performance monitoring, tuning, and alerting from the perspective of on-premises DBA. Becoming Azure SQL DBA – Copilot and AI Davide Mauri, Erin Stellato Unlock the future of data productivity with a hands-on exploration of AI-powered Copilots! We’ll dive into Copilot in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Microsoft Copilot in Azure with NL2SQL and SQL, and Copilot for SQL Databases in Microsoft Fabric. Becoming an Azure SQL DBA - New Opportunities for DBAs in Azure Bob Ward, Dr. Dani Ljepava, Erin Stellato, Pam Lahoud Explore new skill development opportunities as an Azure SQL DBA. Many traditional SQL Server DBA tasks have been partially or fully delegated to Microsoft, and this shift in responsibilities provides a great opportunity to invest in developing new cloud skills that will help you excel as an Azure SQL DBA champion. General Sessions Inside SQL Server 2025 Bob Ward Join Bob Ward and friends to go deep into the next major release of SQL Server, SQL Server 2025, the Enterprise AI-ready database. You will learn the fundamentals and a deep dive of all the new capabilities in the release so you can plan and make key decisions on when and how to upgrade. SQL database in Fabric: The Unified Database for AI Apps with Azure SQL Hyperscale Build AI apps that run securely and scale with your needs with Azure SQL Database Hyperscale. We’ll cover native vector indexes for semantic search, read scale‑out for low‑latency RAG, using the model of your choice, from T‑SQL. We will show how to build modern AI Agents using all the tools you need with databases and MCP Servers. Modernize your AI application using the power of Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Ecosystem sessions Smarter GitHub Copilot + SSMS 22 Erin Stellato Discover how GitHub Copilot is transforming the way you write T-SQL and optimize your SQL databases inside SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 22. In this session, we’ll showcase the newest SSMS 22 features alongside real-world demos of GitHub Copilot, highlighting how AI assistance can speed up query writing, reduce errors, and boost productivity. You’ll learn best practices for getting the most out of Copilot in your daily workflow and see firsthand how SSMS 22 + GitHub Copilot can take your efficiency to the next level. Can’t wait until the event? Get an early preview of the sessions at PASS Summit! Watch this free webinar hosted by Redgate’s Kellyn Gorman and Bob Ward, happening October 28 th at 9am PT. Don’t miss this opportunity for a first look into the topics we’ll be covering, register today! --Exclusive Offer for PASS Attendees-- As a special offer from Microsoft, use the code AZURE150 to receive $150 off your 3-day conference pass. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, grow, and learn with the community. Register todayExchange 2016 and 2019 End of Life and Some Interesting Exchange Online Developments
On Oct 14, 2025, Exchange 2019 and 2016 reach end-of-life and Exchange SE becomes the only supported on-premises Exchange server. In other news, we discuss Microsoft guidance for moving to cloud first identity, HVE and ECS and the extension of basic authentication support to September 2028, the introduction of auto-archiving for Exchange Online, and why Microsoft is deprecating the Contact object from Exchange Online. https://office365itpros.com/2025/10/09/exchange-se-news/
Our mail domain isn't safe by default for Exchange Online users
Hello all, Our PR Team requested to force automatic download of pictures for internal letters that are sent by the team. We decide to use GP setting "Automatically download content for e-mail from people in Safe Senders and Safe Recipients Lists" from Office an administrative template. It works fine for users with on-prem mailboxes because our mail domain is in the Safe Senders by default, but it doesn't work for users with mailboxes in Exchange Online. For EO mailboxes, pictures of internal letters are not downloaded automatically in classic Outlook. They have to add "@<our mail domain" to Safe Senders list to download pictures automatically. Any attempts to add the same domain by using Set-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration fail because "the domain is the default mail domain"! (And should be treated as safe). Headers show that letters are not "Anonymous" but internal. It looks like a bug, or we missed something in our Hybrid configuration. Any ideas? King regards, Dmitry HorushinAnnouncing the General Availability of the Azure Arc Gateway for Arc-enabled Servers!
We’re excited to announce the General Availability of Arc gateway for Arc‑enabled servers. Arc gateway dramatically simplifies the network configuration required to use Azure Arc by consolidating outbound connectivity through a small, predictable set of endpoints. For customers operating behind enterprise proxies or firewalls, this means faster onboarding, fewer change requests, and a smoother path to value with Azure Arc. What’s new: To Arc‑enable a server, customers previously had to allow 19 distinct endpoints. With Arc gateway GA, you can do the same with just 7, a ~63% reduction that removes friction for security and networking teams. Why This Matters Organizations with strict outbound controls often spend days, or weeks, coordinating approvals for multiple URLs before they can onboard resources to Azure Arc. By consolidating traffic to a smaller set of destinations, Arc gateway: Accelerates onboarding for Arc‑enabled servers by cutting down the proxy/firewall approvals needed to get started. Simplifies operations with a consistent, repeatable pattern for routing Arc agent and extension traffic to Azure. How Arc gateway works Arc gateway introduces two components that work together to streamline connectivity: Arc gateway (Azure resource): A single, unique endpoint in your Azure tenant that receives incoming traffic from on‑premises Arc workloads and forwards it to the right Azure services. You configure your enterprise environment to allow this endpoint. Azure Arc Proxy (on every Arc‑enabled server): A component of the connected machine agent that routes agent and extension traffic to Azure via the Arc gateway endpoint. It’s part of the core Arc agent; no separate install is required. At a high level, traffic flows: Arc agent → Arc Proxy → Enterprise Proxy → Arc gateway → Target Azure service. Scenario Coverage As part of this GA release, common Arc‑enabled Server scenarios are supported through the gateway, including: Windows Admin Center SSH Extended Security Updates (ESU) Azure Extension for SQL Server For other scenarios, some customer‑specific data plane destinations (e.g., your Log Analytics workspace or Key Vault URLs) may still need to be allow‑listed per your environment. Please consult the Arc gateway documentation for the current scenario‑by‑scenario coverage and any remaining per‑service URLs. Over time, the number of scenarios filly covered by Arc gateway will continue to grow. Get started Create an Arc gateway resource using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell. Allow the Arc gateway endpoint (and the small set of core endpoints) in your enterprise proxy/firewall. Onboard or update servers to use your Arc gateway resource and start managing them with Azure Arc. For step‑by‑step guidance, see the Arc gateway documentation on Microsoft Learn. You can also watch a quick Arc gateway Jumpstart demo to see the experience end‑to‑end. FAQs Does Arc gateway require new software on my servers? No additional installation - Arc Proxy is part of the standard connected machine agent for Arc‑enabled servers. Will every Arc scenario route through the gateway today? Many high‑value server scenarios are covered at GA; some customer‑specific data plane endpoints (for example, Log Analytics workspace FQDNs) may still need to be allowed. Check the docs for the latest coverage details. When will Arc gateway for Azure Local be GA? Today! Please refer to the Arc gateway GA on Azure Local Announcement to learn more. When will Arc gateway for Arc-enabled Kubernetes be GA? We don't have an exact ETA to share quite yet for Arc gateway GA for Arc-enabled Kubernetes. The feature is currently still in Public Preview. Please refer to the Public Preview documentation for more information. Tell us what you think We’d love your feedback on Arc gateway GA for servers—what worked well, what could be improved, and which scenarios you want next. Use the Arc gateway feedback form to share your input with the product team.
Exchange 2019 Mailbox Migration Error - Folder conflicts with Exchange Online folder
Hi Exchange Experts, I'm migrating a small Exchange 2019 environment to 365. Been pulling my hair out becuase of just one mailbox giving this error Error description --------------------------- Error: AggregateMailboxFolderConflictPermanentException: The folder 'Files' conflicts with Exchange Online folder 'Files', please move the messages to another folder and restart the job. Data migrated: 0 B (0 bytes) Migration rate: -------------------------------------- Migration user report: 5/14/2025 12:32:05 PM [MEUP300MB0105] Request processing continued, stage CreatingFolderHierarchy. 5/14/2025 12:32:05 PM [MEUP300MB0105] Stage: CreatingFolderHierarchy. Percent complete: 10. 5/14/2025 12:32:12 PM [MEUP300MB0105] Stage: CreatingFolderHierarchy. Percent complete: 10. 5/14/2025 12:32:12 PM [MEUP300MB0105] Fatal error AggregateMailboxFolderConflictPermanentException has occurred. ---------------------- It seems to be a system folder and I've tried to remove files from it (although there're no files in it) using MFCMAPI tool with no success. Renamed the folder and tried to re-run the migration with no luck. Has anyone experience this issue? any thoughts or tips are much appreciated ! Thank you.
Missing Teams Contacts after Migration
Hello, We are currently migrating mailboxes from exchange 2019 to exchange online. The migration works absolute flawless. Now we have some employees complaining about missing teams contacts that were previously created in Teams only. The MS support told me that this is a teams limitation and the local contacts are gone. I know about unified contacts, thats contacts are synced now between outlook and teams and newly created contacts are stored in exchange online mailbox. But whatabout the old contacts ?? cant believe that theres no workaround to keep this contacts. Do you know something about this ? Rene
Addressing Air Gap Requirements through Secure Azure Arc Onboarding
This blog post explores the challenges and solutions for implementing air gap environments in highly regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and government. It discusses the complexities of air gap implementation, the importance of control and data plane separation, and provides architectural patterns for secure Azure Arc onboarding. By adopting a zero-trust approach and leveraging Azure Arc, organizations can achieve secure, compliant connectivity while modernizing their IT operations.
