This article aims to cover:

• High availability for Microsoft 365 administration
• Strategies for high availability in M365
• Using load balancers for M365 high availability

M365: High availability, healthy administration

Uninterrupted access to critical services like Microsoft 365 (M365) and Active Directory (AD) is essential. High availability plays a pivotal role in ensuring that businesses remain operational, resilient, and secure against the unexpected. It's about creating a system that's not only robust under normal conditions but also capable of continuing operations seamlessly during failures or maintenance activities.

High availability in the context of managing on-premise Microsoft 365 (M365) and Active Directory (AD) involves a combination of deploying redundant and resilient infrastructure components, ensuring reliable connectivity, and implementing data protection strategies. These measures collectively help maintain uninterrupted access to critical services and ultimately enhance organizational efficiency and security.

Key strategies for achieving high availability for M365

Achieving high availability involves several critical strategies, including:

• Deploying redundant and resilient infrastructure components to prevent single points of failure (for example Federated Authentication and deploying multiple virtual machines (VMs) such as web application proxy servers, Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) servers, replica domain controllers, and a directory synchronization server running Microsoft Entra Connect),
• Ensuring reliable connectivity, often through solutions like Azure ExpressRoute, which bypasses the public internet for more secure and reliable connections.
• Implementing data protection strategies, such as regular backups and utilizing remote content libraries, to safeguard against data loss.

High availability if it comes to the System Role Redundancy and Backup entails deploying multiple instances of critical site system roles, such as distribution points and management points, to provide redundant points of contact for clients. Regular backups and using remote content libraries for site server high availability are essential practices. This redundancy ensures that services remain accessible even if specific components fail​​.

Achieve high availability in Microsoft 365 with the right tools

Implementing a Hybrid Connector helps to manage hybrid Microsoft 365 environments and address the complexities associated with such setups, particularly when it involves multiple Active Directory forests and Microsoft 365 tenants. CoreView’s Hybrid Connector simplifies these complexities by providing a unified management layer that integrates data from Active Directory, Entra ID, and Exchange Server into a single, easy-to-use interface.

Hybrid Connector not only facilitates instant user provisioning, password resets, and group membership management across on-premises and cloud environments but also enables the unlocking of users, de-provisioning of disabled accounts, and modification of user properties and mailboxes. These features significantly reduce manual hand-offs and the potential for human errors, ensuring more consistent and faster user management.

The introduction of the latest version of Hybrid Connector (further referenced as CoreView 2019 Hybrid Agent), with the capability to be installed on multiple client servers, directly supports high availability strategies for organizations managing synchronized and on-premise Microsoft 365 environments. This feature aligns with the principles of high availability by introducing redundancy and resilience into the system architecture.

CoreView 2019 Hybrid Agent can be configured as a High Availability application, in an Active-Active configuration. The servers will both be available for a management session, but when the CoreView Management Session is established, it will be to one hybrid server. If one server is not contactable, then the second server will establish the management connection.

Integration with High Availability strategies:

• Redundancy and Resilience: By allowing the Hybrid Connector to be installed on multiple servers, CoreView ensures that if one server encounters an issue, the system can continue to operate using the connectors on other servers. This redundancy is a core aspect of high availability, as it minimizes the risk of a single point of failure disrupting the entire system.
• Seamless Failover: In the event of a server failure or maintenance activity, the presence of connectors on multiple servers enables seamless failover. This means that operations can automatically switch to a functioning server without significant disruption to services or user experience. This capability is critical for maintaining uninterrupted access to Microsoft 365 services.
• Operational Continuity: For organizations that depend heavily on Microsoft 365 for their daily operations, any downtime can result in significant productivity loss and operational challenges. CoreView's approach helps ensure that the management and synchronization between on-premise and cloud environments remain operational, thereby supporting business continuity.
• Enhanced Management and Monitoring: Beyond high availability, having the Hybrid Connector installed on multiple servers can facilitate better management and monitoring of the environment. It can provide more data points for performance analysis and help identify potential issues before they impact the system's availability.

Conclusion

CoreView's Hybrid Connector, with its multi-server installation capability, empowers organizations to reinforce their high availability strategies for Microsoft 365 environments effectively.

This approach not only adheres to best practices for redundancy and resilience but also promotes seamless operational continuity and efficient system management. By integrating these capabilities, organizations can meet their high availability requirements, guaranteeing that their critical Microsoft 365 services remain reliable and accessible for users at all times.

Enhance operational efficiency, resilience, and security with CoreView.

Learn more about configuring high availability with CoreView Hybrid Connector. Or, see how the CoreView Hybrid Connector works.

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