Microsoft 365 deployment-Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services

As noted earlier, Microsoft 365 consists of multiple products. However, the process of deploying Microsoft 365 is not just a matter of obtaining licenses for these products and installing them. How the Microsoft 365 components work together to provide intelligent management, security, and collaboration requires that the deployment be undertaken as an integrated process.

The complexity of a Microsoft 365 enterprise deployment depends on the size of the existing enterprise, its needs, and the applications already running on it. Microsoft has defined three Microsoft 365 deployment strategies:

• FastTrack for Microsoft 365 FastTrack is a benefit included as part of a Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscription that provides ongoing support from Microsoft personnel, including a FastTrack manager, an engineer, and a migration engineer. These specialists divide the subscriber’s Microsoft 365 deployment into three stages, called Envision, Onboard, and Drive Value, enabling them to plan and deploy Microsoft 365 into the existing enterprise infrastructure and then help the organization’s people adapt their roles to the Microsoft 365 environment.
• Third-party services Microsoft partners and consulting services can provide help with a Microsoft 365 deployment at many levels, ranging from complete control of the operation to occasional support.
• Self-deployment The Microsoft 365 Enterprise deployment documentation defines a process in multiple phases for creating a viable Microsoft 365 installation, including Windows 10 or 11 Enterprise and the Office productivity applications. After that, the administrators can create workloads and scenarios specific to the organization, including Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams.

The Microsoft 365 Enterprise deployment documentation breaks the foundation infrastructure—sometimes called a core deployment—into phases, as described in the following sections. Each phase is divided into steps or tasks that must be completed before the phase can be considered complete.

For a deployment in a relatively small or new organization that is just beginning to use Microsoft’s cloud-based products, following the phases of the deployment process in order will create a reliable structure for the workloads and scenarios to be deployed later. For an existing enterprise already using some of the Microsoft 365 components, some of the required tasks might already have been completed, and the phases do not have to be followed in an unbroken sequence. Administrators can approach the phases in any order they find practical if they meet the requirements for each phase.

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For more detailed coverage of the steps in each phase of the Microsoft 365 deployment process, as well as procedures for deploying Microsoft 365 workloads and scenarios, see the Deploy Microsoft 365 Enterprise documentation at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/?view=o365-worldwide.

Networking Phase

The Networking phase of a Microsoft 365 deployment is intended to ensure that all clients have sufficient Internet connectivity to access the cloud resources they will require regularly. This is not just a matter of bandwidth, however. The Microsoft Global Network provides endpoints to its cloud services worldwide, and for Microsoft 365 clients to function efficiently, they should have access to the closest possible endpoint.

Many enterprise networks were designed and constructed at a time when the proximity of the Internet connection was not a priority. It was common for Internet traffic at remote sites to be routed over a backbone network to a central location that provided the actual Internet access. This can result in a significant amount of network latency (that is, transmission delays), which can have a negative effect on Microsoft 365 performance.

Microsoft’s Domain Name System (DNS) servers direct client traffic to the nearest endpoint based on their initial connection request. The clients should therefore also utilize a geographically local DNS server for their outbound Internet traffic.

For an enterprise that has a centralized Internet access infrastructure, the organization should take the steps necessary to reroute the Internet traffic so that each client is directed to the Microsoft endpoint that is geographically closest to its location. In a large enterprise with many remote sites, this can be a substantial undertaking that might play a role in deciding whether to adopt Microsoft 365 in the first place.

Microsoft also recommends that enterprise networks avoid using protection mechanisms, such as proxy servers and packet inspection, for Microsoft 365 traffic. The DNS names and IP addresses used by the Microsoft 365 cloud services are well-known, and Microsoft’s own mechanisms already protect the services. Duplicating this protection at the enterprise end can also have a negative effect on Microsoft 365 performance. Bypassing these local protection mechanisms requires browsers, firewalls, and other components to identify Microsoft 365 traffic and process it differently from other types of Internet traffic.