As a long time Microsoft user, administrator, and MVP, I have to admit that the Office 365 environment was a bit confusing at first, especially the naming and organization of the services. If Office 365 has you stumped, let me share what I know about the terms, concepts, and environment so that you don’t have to keep searching around for answers and scratching your head like I did.
First, Office 365 is not what you think! Let me break down what you probably already know about some of the concepts:
Active Directory: This is a forest and domain-based environment that authenticates accounts and pushes policy. The main portion of Active Directory is a domain controller, which is a Windows server that has been promoted to this role.
Exchange: This is the Microsoft email environment that controls email, data storage, and more. For a long time, this was a stand-alone environment, but the services have since been ported over to be services that run with Active Directory.
Office: This is the Microsoft suite of products that is used primarily by end users. The Office suite provides end-user tools that are used to produce content and includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Now, throw all of the above information out the window when considering Office 365!
In Office 365, “Office” is no longer referring to the long-time term. Instead, it refers to a cloud based solution. So, when you purchase Office 365, you are buying a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Below are the options of services or applications you can obtain under Office 365:
Exchange
Azure Active Directory
Skype
Yammer
Word
PowerPoint
Excel
…
That’s right, Microsoft has turned its software world upside down so that Active Directory and Exchange are UNDER Office! For example, you can have Office365 without having Word—only Exchange services! Confusing, I know.
Of course, you still have your traditional on-premises Active Directory, Exchange, and optionally, Office suite of products. Only in the cloud, you have this blended result of names and structures that contradicts everything we’ve known about Microsoft products for the past 20 years.
As you can see by Microsoft’s Office365 landing page, the options are clear. But they may not make much sense if you are trying to decipher them based on the past 20 years.
As you move forward with your cloud services, keep in mind that the terms you have known are gone and have been replaced. When dealing with the cloud, throw out conventional terms and definitions, and start opening up to the new structures.
