MS203WV: Managing Microsoft 365 Messaging Courseware
RECENTLY UPDATED January 2025 This three-day course provides a detailed description of the key components of the Microsoft 365 messaging service, Exchange Online. It describes how messaging administrators can use Exchange Online to perform various configuration tasks to manage, help secure, monitor, and troubleshoot mail flow. Students will learn how to manage Exchange Online recipient objects, message transport and mail flow, messaging infrastructure and security, message hygiene, and compliance. This course is primarily designed for students who want to be messaging administrators in a Microsoft 365 environment. By completing this course, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Exchange Online and explain how it compares to Microsoft Exchange Server. Create and manage Exchange Online recipient objects and policies. Manage administrator and user roles in Exchange Online. Manage authentication and security in Microsoft Entra ID. Manage domains, connectors, and mail flow in Exchange Online. Plan and manage message security and encryption in Exchange Online. Implement data loss prevention (DLP), retention and archive policies, and auditing in Exchange Online. Configure and troubleshoot client access in Exchange Online. Audience profile This course is primarily intended for Exchange Server and Microsoft 365 messaging administrators who want to manage a secure, efficient, and effective email collaboration platform that uses Exchange Online and Microsoft 365. Typical tasks in this course include managing recipients, mailboxes, transport, mail flow, administrative roles, threat protection, compliance, and client connectivity. The secondary audience for this course can be candidates who want to take the MS-203 exam, or other exams related to Exchange Online. Course Details Course Duration: 3 Days Module 1 Overview of Exchange Online In this module, you’ll explore the various services that Microsoft 365 provides. You’ll learn the basics of Exchange Online and the administration tools you can use to manage this service. Lesson 1 Introduction to Microsoft 365 services What is Microsoft 365? Overview of Microsoft 365 workloads Overview of Microsoft 365 subscriptions Provisioning a Microsoft 365 tenant By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Microsoft 365. Describe key workloads running within Microsoft 365. Describe Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Explain how to provision a Microsoft 365 tenant. Lesson 2 Introduction to Exchange Online Overview of Exchange Online How does Exchange Online compare to Exchange Server? Key reasons to use Exchange Online What is Exchange hybrid deployment? Organization relationships in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Exchange Online. Explain how Exchange Online compares to Exchange Server. Describe key reasons to use Exchange Online. Describe an Exchange hybrid deployment. Describe organization relationships in Exchange Online. Lesson 3 Overview of Exchange Online administration tools Microsoft 365 admin center Exchange admin center Managing Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online with PowerShell By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe the Microsoft 365 admin center. Describe the Exchange admin center. Describe the Exchange Management Shell. Lab Exploring Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online admin portals Exercise 1: Provisioning a Microsoft 365 tenant Exercise 2: Adding products and licenses to a Microsoft 365 tenant Exercise 3: Reviewing Microsoft 365 and Exchange admin centers Exercise 4: Managing Exchange Online with PowerShell Exercise 5: Assigning product licenses to users By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create an Office 365 E5 trial subscription. Add licenses and products for additional features and cloud services. Review the Microsoft 365 and Exchange admin centers. Install Exchange Online PowerShell and run scripts. Assign licenses to the users in your tenant. Module 2 Managing Exchange Online recipient objects Microsoft Exchange Online—the cloud version of the on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server—provides similar features and benefits as the on-premises messaging platform. Exchange Online supports numerous recipient object types, including mailboxes for users and resources, both shared and linked mailboxes, and public folders. To provide users with a seamless messaging experience, it’s important that you know how to create and manage the settings for these recipient objects. Additionally, because address lists are an important part of an organization’s messaging systems, you should learn how to create and manage address lists and related policies. Lesson 1 Exchange Online recipient objects Overview of recipient object types in Exchange Online Overview of user mailboxes Overview of resource mailboxes Overview of shared mailboxes Overview of linked mailboxes Overview of mail contacts and mail users Managing groups in Exchange Online Overview of public folders By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Identify the various recipient types in Exchange Online. Describe user mailboxes. Describe resource mailboxes. Describe shared mailboxes. Describe linked mailboxes. Describe contacts and mail users. Explain how to manage groups in Exchange Online. Describe public folders. Lesson 2 Creating and managing Exchange Online recipient objects Creating and managing user mailboxes and mailbox settings Creating and managing resource mailboxes Creating and managing shared mailboxes Creating and managing contacts Creating and managing groups Creating and managing public folders By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create and manage user mailboxes and mailbox settings. Create and manage resource mailboxes. Create and manage shared mailboxes. Create and manage contacts. Create and manage groups. Create and manage public folders. Lab A Creating and managing Exchange Online recipients Exercise 1: Creating a new user mailbox Exercise 2: Managing user mailbox settings Exercise 3: Creating and managing groups by using the Exchange admin center Exercise 4: Creating Exchange Resources and Contacts Exercise 5: Validating Email Functionality By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Add new users to your Microsoft 365 tenant. Modify mailbox settings. Create a Microsoft 365 group, a distribution list, a dynamic distribution list, and a Mail-enabled security group. Add additional Exchange recipients in your Microsoft 365 tenant. Validate that email messages can be delivered successfully and room resources work as expected. Lesson 3 Creating and managing email address lists and policies Overview of address lists in Exchange Online Creating and managing address lists Creating and managing address books and address book policies Configuring offline address books By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe address lists in Exchange Online. Create and manage address lists. Create and manage address books and address book policies. Configure offline address books. Lab B Managing address lists and address book policies in Exchange Online Exercise 1: Creating address lists Exercise 2: Creating and assigning Address book policies By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create address lists. Create a custom address book policy. Module 3 Managing administration in Exchange Online In on-premises Active Directory environments, administrators use security groups to implement delegated management. They add a user to a security group and specify a level of administrative permissions on an organizational unit (OU) by using the Delegate Control Wizard in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). Microsoft 365, and thereby Exchange Online, uses a slightly different process known as role-based access control (RBAC). In this module, you’ll learn about RBAC for Applications in Exchange Online, the Exchange Online permission model, and how to manage administrator roles and user roles in Exchange Online. Lesson 1 Overview of Exchange Online administration Overview of the Exchange Online permission model Microsoft 365 or Office 365 permissions in Exchange Online What is RBAC? Implementing RBAC for Applications in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe the Exchange Online permission model. Describe Microsoft 365 or Office 365 permissions in Exchange Online. Describe RBAC. Implement RBAC for Applications in Exchange Online. Lesson 2 Managing administrator roles in Exchange Online What are role groups and management role groups? Built-in role groups in Exchange Online Creating and managing role groups in Exchange Online Feature permissions in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe role groups and management role groups. Describe built-in role groups in Exchange Online. Create and manage role groups in Exchange Online. Implement feature permissions in Exchange Online. Lesson 3 Managing user roles in Exchange Online Overview of Exchange Online user roles Implementing user roles with role assignment policies Managing roles and role assignment policies By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Exchange Online user roles. Implement user roles with role assignment policies. Implement management role assignment policies. Lab Managing role-based access control for administration in Exchange Online Exercise 1: Reviewing and assigning Admin Roles in Microsoft 365 Exercise 2: Creating and managing role groups in Exchange Online Exercise 3: Managing user roles with role assignment policies By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Review the built-in admin roles in Microsoft 365 and simplify role management. Review role groups that are available specifically in Exchange Online and create a custom role group. Create a custom role assignment policy and assign it to users. Module 4 Managing authentication and security in Microsoft Entra ID In this module, you’ll learn how to manage authentication and security options in Microsoft Entra ID. You’ll also learn how Exchange Online and Exchange Server use Microsoft Entra ID for authentication. Lesson 1 Managing authentication and objects in Microsoft Entra ID Overview of Microsoft Entra ID Authentication with Microsoft Entra ID Authentication methods in Microsoft Entra ID Managing user objects and user settings in Microsoft Entra ID Managing group objects and group settings in Microsoft Entra ID By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Microsoft Entra ID. Describe the supported authentication types in Microsoft Entra ID. Describe the authentication methods in Microsoft Entra ID. Manage user objects and user settings in Microsoft Entra ID. Manage group objects and group settings in Microsoft Entra ID. Lesson 2 Implementing security in Microsoft Entra ID What is MFA? What is conditional access? Creating conditional access policies Overview of Privileged Identity Management Implementing password protection Implementing self-service password reset Microsoft Entra ID security defaults By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe MFA. Describe conditional access and conditional access policies. Create conditional access policies. Describe PIM. Implement password protection. Implement SSPR. Describe Microsoft Entra ID security defaults. Lesson 3 Implementing authentication for Exchange Online clients Authentication in Exchange Online Authentication in Exchange hybrid deployments Enabling hybrid modern authentication By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe authentication in Exchange Online. Describe authentication in Exchange hybrid deployments. Describe how to enable hybrid modern authentication. Lab Implementing authentication and security features in Microsoft Entra ID Exercise 1: Managing objects and reviewing authentication methods in Microsoft Entra ID Exercise 2: Configuring SSPR Exercise 3: Enforcing multifactor authentication by using a conditional access policy By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create new user and group accounts and review authentication methods and security defaults. Configure and perform password resets. Configure and validate MFA by using a conditional access policy. Module 5 Managing mail flow in Exchange Online It’s important that you understand how Exchange Online manages mail flow. This starts with configuring domains and connectors, including custom domain names. You’ll also need to know how to manage mail flow in hybrid contexts and create and manage mail flow rules. To be able to remediate problems with mail delivery, you must be familiar with monitoring and message tracing. In this module, you’ll learn how to manage and troubleshoot mail flow. You’ll also learn how to use Microsoft Service Health to monitor Exchange Online. Lesson 1 Managing domains and connectors in Exchange Online Configuring and managing SMTP domains for Exchange Online Overview of remote domains Overview of connectors Configuring and managing connectors in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Configure and manage SMTP domains for Exchange Online. Describe remote domains. Describe connectors. Configure and manage connectors in Exchange Online. Lesson 2 Managing mail flow in Exchange Online Overview of mail flow in Exchange Online Managing mail flow in hybrid scenarios Overview of mail flow rules Configuring and managing mail flow rules Using mail flow rules for specific scenarios By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe mail flow in Exchange Online. Manage mail flow in hybrid scenarios. Describe mail flow rules. Configure and manage mail flow rules. Use mail flow rules for specific scenarios. Lab A Managing mail flow for Exchange Online Exercise 1: Configuring Connectors to manage mail flow Exercise 2: Configuring Mail flow rules Exercise 3: Validating mail flow rules By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create new connectors to send and receive email. Configure rules to redirect email, add email disclaimers, and configure rule application based on email details. Validate mail flow rules. Lesson 3 Monitoring and troubleshooting mail flow in Exchange Online Troubleshooting mail flow Message tracing in Exchange Online Exchange Online reporting Monitoring Exchange Online with Microsoft Service Health Alert policies and alerts in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Troubleshoot mail flow. Implement message tracing. Use reports in Exchange Online. Monitor Exchange Online with Microsoft Service Health. Describe alerts and alert policies. Lab B Monitoring and troubleshooting mail flow Exercise 1: Monitoring Exchange Health and mail flow Exercise 2: Troubleshooting Exchange Online mail flow By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Review features used to monitor Exchange Online health and mail flow, and create an alert policy. Troubleshoot Exchange Online mail flow by using the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer and Message trace. Module 6 Managing message security in Exchange Online In this module, you’ll learn about email protection, threat protection, and message encryption. You’ll learn how to use tools such as Exchange Online Protection, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Purview to manage message security and encryption. Lesson 1 Planning message security for Exchange Online Overview of Exchange Online Protection Planning mail flow for Exchange Online Protection How does email protection work? By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Exchange Online Protection. Plan mail flow for Exchange Online Protection. Explain how email protection works. Lesson 2 Overview of the Microsoft Defender platform What is Microsoft Defender? Overview of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 How threat protection works in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 What is Microsoft Defender for Identity? Attack simulation in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Microsoft Defender. Describe Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Explain how threat protection works in Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Describe Microsoft Defender for Identity. Describe attack simulation in Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Lesson 3 Using Microsoft Defender for message security Preset security policies in Exchange Online Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Managing and configuring anti-spam protection Managing and configuring anti-malware protection Managing and configuring spoofing protection Managing and configuring phishing protection Configuring Safe Attachments Configuring Safe Links Configuring connection filtering Configuring outbound spam protection Configuring quarantine and quarantine policies By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Explain the preset security policies in Exchange Online Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Manage and configure anti-spam protection. Manage and configure anti-malware protection. Manage and configure spoofing protection. Manage and configure phishing protection. Configure Safe Attachments. Configure Safe Links. Configure connection filtering. Configure outbound spam protection. Configure quarantine and quarantine policies. Lab A Implementing message security with preset security policies Exercise 1: Running an email attack simulation Exercise 2: Configuring preset security policies Exercise 3: Removing preset security policies By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Run email attack simulations and ensure the assignment of required Microsoft-recommended training to users. Review and configure preset security policies. Turn off and disable preset security policies. Lesson 4 Implementing message encryption in Exchange Online How does message encryption work in Exchange Online? Implementing message encryption in Exchange Online with Microsoft Purview Managing message encryption Managing advanced message encryption in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Explain how message encryption works in Exchange Online. Implementing Microsoft Purview Message Encryption. Manage message encryption. Manage advanced message encryption in Exchange Online. Lab B Configuring threat policies and Purview Message Encryption Exercise 1: Creating a custom quarantine policy Exercise 2: Configuring threat policies Exercise 3: Configuring Microsoft Purview Message Encryption By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create and configure custom quarantine policies and review quarantined messages. Create policies for Anti-phishing, Anti-spam, Anti-malware, Safe Attachments, and Safe Links. Validate that Purview message encryption is enabled and create a mail flow rule configured to apply encryption to senders. Module 7 Implementing compliance in Exchange Online Organizations that have compliance regulations must follow specific standards to protect their data and to manage the data lifecycle. Microsoft 365 includes a product named Microsoft Purview, which provides multiple functionalities that organizations can use to implement their compliance regulations. Microsoft datacenters are also compliant with many international industry standards that organizations are required to follow. This module explains how messaging administrators can help ensure that their organization’s data in Microsoft Exchange Online will be managed according to the compliance regulations. Lesson 1 Implementing DLP in Exchange Online Overview of DLP How do DLP rules work? DLP policy templates in Exchange Online Creating DLP policies Configuring and managing policy tips By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe data loss prevention (DLP). Describe how DLP works. Manage DLP policy templates in Exchange Online. Create DLP policies. Configure and manage DLP policy tips. Lesson 2 Implementing data lifecycle management in Exchange Online Overview of data lifecycle management Overview of Microsoft 365 retention policies Creating and managing retention policies in Microsoft 365 Overview of retention policies in Exchange Online Overview of Exchange Online journaling By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe data lifecycle management. Describe retention policies in Microsoft 365. Create and manage retention policies in Microsoft 365. Describe retention policies in Exchange Online. Describe journaling in Exchange Online. Lesson 3 Implementing information protection in Exchange Online Overview of sensitive information types What are sensitivity labels? Creating and publishing sensitivity labels Using sensitivity labels to apply encryption By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe sensitive information types. Describe sensitivity labels. Create and publish sensitivity label. Use sensitivity labels to apply encryption. Lesson 4 Implementing and managing eDiscovery for Exchange resources Overview of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery Overview of content search Creating and running a content search Previewing and exporting search results Creating and managing eDiscovery holds for Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. Describe Content Search. Create and run Content Search. Preview and export search results. Create and manage eDiscovery holds for Exchange Online. Lab A Implementing messaging compliance Exercise 1: Protecting and classifying Exchange messages by using sensitivity labels Exercise 2: Configuring Data Loss Prevention policies Exercise 3: Creating and managing an eDiscovery case By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create and publish sensitivity labels. Create sensitive info types and Data loss prevention (DLP) policies. Perform eDiscovery holds and searches. Lesson 5 Auditing in Exchange Online Overview of auditing in Exchange Online Managing mailbox audit logs Managing litigation hold Managing administrator audit logging By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe auditing in Exchange Online. Manage mailbox audit logs. Manage litigation hold. Manage administrator audit logs. Lab B Message lifecycle management using archiving and retention Exercise 1: Enabling In-place archive for user mailboxes Exercise 2: Configuring and publishing Microsoft 365 retention labels By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Enable in-place archive and validate the default messaging records management (MRM) retention policy setting. Create and publish Microsoft 365 retention labels. Module 8 Configuring clients for Exchange Online Typically, users use both desktop and mobile devices, and platform-appropriate apps for operating systems such as Windows, iOS, Android, and macOS. Users might also access their email from a web browser such as Microsoft Edge. In this module, you’ll learn how to configure Exchange Online to support the various client apps used by your users. Lesson 1 Outlook clients for Exchange Online Overview of Outlook for PC and Outlook for Mac Outlook for iOS and Android clients Overview of Exchange ActiveSync, POP3, and IMAP4 clients Modern authentication with mobile clients Securing Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online S/MIME for Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Outlook for PC and Outlook for Mac. Describe Outlook for iOS and Android clients. Describe Exchange ActiveSync, POP3, and IMAP4 clients. Implement modern authentication with mobile clients. Secure Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online. Describe S/MIME for Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online. Lesson 2 Configuring and using Outlook on the web Outlook on the web in Exchange Online Creating and managing Outlook web app policies in Exchange Online Public attachment handling in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Describe Outlook on the web in Exchange Online. Create and manage Outlook on the web policies in Exchange Online. Manage public attachment handling in Exchange Online. Lesson 3 Configuring and troubleshooting client access in Exchange Online Overview of Remote Connectivity Analyzer Client Access Rules in Exchange Online Modern authentication for Outlook in Exchange Online By completing this lesson, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Use the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer. Implement Client Access Rules in Exchange Online. Describe modern authentication for Outlook in Exchange Online. Lab Configuring clients for Exchange Online Exercise 1: Configuring Outlook Web App Policies Exercise 2: Managing Microsoft 365 app installations By completing this lab, you’ll achieve the knowledge and skills to: Create and configure Outlook Web App Policies. Configure Microsoft 365 app installation options. Instructor Material including PowerPoint Slides are available.
