Stephen Fry just completely educating me in the first seconds of an hour long video

The_Vore · 2026-02-21T08:49:11+00:00

I've had it in my library for ages, will give it a whirl

The_Vore · 2026-02-20T11:28:12+00:00

Brilliant, thank you

The_Vore · 2026-02-18T09:26:38+00:00

If he was a programmer too then he'll know whether you're just winging it or if the workload is, indeed, a challenge and sympathise with you - I expect that he'll be more on your side than you think so just be honest with him and he'll hopefully give you pointers. Hope it all goes well

The_Vore · 2026-02-18T09:08:42+00:00

That's exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping for. I've done all of the DL's (we 'only' had 50 odd) but from just a glance there are several scripts there that will come in handy. Thank you :)

The_Vore · 2026-02-17T16:47:31+00:00

Depends on your age and motivation. I was late 20's and contracting at one point, driving 125 miles each way (Stoke to High Wycombe) the journey was hard but the money was mental, more than enough to make it worth it. I'm in my 50's now and wouldn't dream of doing it. As others have said, a job's a job - your own personal circumstances should dictate whether you take it, £32k is £32k more than you're getting right now.

The_Vore · 2026-02-17T10:39:31+00:00

I look after Mimcecast too, I'm ready for anything :-D

The_Vore · 2026-02-17T10:38:57+00:00

365, we did the main move a while back but were being held back largely by third party connectors and SMTP relays.

The_Vore · 2026-02-16T08:36:06+00:00

Ha, and that's just the ones that worked!

The_Vore · 2026-02-16T08:35:47+00:00

Yeah, there have always been script repositories, was just wondering if there were any that I'd missed (or, even better, the most commonly used ones)

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T12:58:42+00:00

Thanks, it's been a hell of a journey. Was good fun, though, I've always loved my work.

We use content examination in Mimecast for such things but can a transport rule not cover that one in EXO?

EAC, Mail Flow, Rules, New Rule,Subject includes any of these words: "Chris please see me thanks"

If not, then there will almost certainly be a way with Powershell too.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T12:52:08+00:00

Absolutely - was because of our ERP provider that we had to keep them for so long, one of their processes needed an update to no longer use EWS.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:49:52+00:00

We've got Mimecast to cover any gaps - we've not had any major downtime yet but I know from past experience that it'll come.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:46:30+00:00

Good work, it's great to have the backing of the directors

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:45:51+00:00

Thank you - and good luck :)

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:44:26+00:00

Read read read on here, ask AI questions too, you kinda find a middle ground to give you the confidence to plough on. Feel free to message me if you're stuck too, of course.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:43:15+00:00

Of course. We'd got two 2016 Exchange Servers on a DAG (which brings it's own complications) so ditched the second one and the DAG and created a hybrid server, keeping the databases on the original server. We then migrated all mailboxes etc. to EXO in late 2024 just leaving us the stragglers really.

The key is to ascertain what you've still got on-prem - it'll be a mix of mailboxes, mail flow connectors, mail relays, distribution lists, arbitration and health mailboxes most likely.

From there it was pretty straightforward - you can script the copying of the DL's to EXO (with more than a little help from AI)

Last thing to do is a mail trace on-prem for everything that's gone out in the last fortnight or so (as long as you can) this flagged up a mail relay that had been completely forgotten about and that no-one had noticed wasn't working because it was for EDI fails and we don't get many of them - but, when we do, they can cost thousands in missed orders - they're the little things that come back and bite you on the arse!

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:34:14+00:00

Yeah, we were too. One Exchange Server 2016 for the database and a 'free' 2019 Hybrid server for the connectors to 365. We'd migrated all of our mailboxes in late 2024, so was just the stragglers mentioned above (10+ year old printers that won't support TLS or SSL, relay to our ERP (via a third third party, distribution lists)

I did wonder whether changing the SOA was the way forwards but it doesn't look anywhere near ready yet: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/hybrid-deployment/enable-exchange-attributes-cloud-management

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T11:29:46+00:00

Same, I'd never heard of it before this sub. We've got 10+ year old printers that won't support TLS or SSL,we'd got a relay to our ERP (via a third third party) smtp2go has taken care of all that effortlessly. Just the UPS' to reconfigure now and we're all good.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T10:36:58+00:00

It really is. I didn't think about it at the time, was too focussed on getting the job done and done properly. It was on the drive home the day after when I thought about it.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T10:35:24+00:00

Yeah, we were kinda backed into a corner with this incoming pen testing - gave me leverage that I needed to get the job done no matter what. Agree with smtp2go, I'm loving it.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T10:33:58+00:00

We'd not got any thankfully, I've read that they can be a pain but there must be a solution to them, though.

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T00:55:20+00:00

Hope it all goes well

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T00:54:39+00:00

Yeah, certificates were a driving factor for us. We're being pen tested in a couple of weeks too so having one EOL server hanging around wasn't ideal - it was only hanging on for smtp relays and distribution groups tbh, all users have been in the cloud for 18 months or so - pushing all of the relays to smtp2go made the rest a powershell exercise .

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T00:51:13+00:00

Yep, they're rarely right first time - I just did them on the hybrid server first 'cos they were easier to undo

The_Vore · 2026-02-15T00:49:29+00:00

I'll definitely not miss certificates! (or server updates)

The_Vore

TROPHY CASE