Microsoft 365 Messaging (MS-203) Interview Questions

The Microsoft 365 Messaging (MS-203) exam prepares you to perform the tasks of a Messaging Administrator, such as deploying, configuring, managing, troubleshooting, and monitoring recipients, permissions, mail protection, mail flow, and public folders in hybrid and cloud enterprise environments. In order to survive, you must stay up to date on the latest developments. Obtaining certifications is one way to gain an advantage over others. Certifications also demonstrate your commitment to your goals and development. Let’s delve a little deeper into this valuable credential. To help you prepare for the Microsoft 365 Messaging (MS-203) interview, we have curated expert level questions and answers:

What experience do you have with Exchange Online and Exchange Server on-premises?

I have been trained on a diverse range of texts, including those related to Exchange Online and Exchange Server. Also, I can provide information and answer questions about Exchange Online, the cloud-based version of Exchange, and Exchange Server, the on-premises version of Exchange.

I can provide information on the features, capabilities, and differences between Exchange Online and Exchange Server. Further, I can also provide information on how to deploy, configure, manage, and troubleshoot Exchange Online and Exchange Server environments.

Additionally, I can provide information on how to secure Exchange environments, migrate from Exchange Server to Exchange Online, and implement email policies such as retention and archiving.

What steps have you taken to secure Exchange Online and Exchange Server environments, such as implementing multi-factor authentication and encryption?

Here are common steps organizations take to secure Exchange Online and Exchange Server environments:

1. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds an additional layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more methods of authentication. This can be enabled through the Exchange admin center in Exchange Online or through third-party solutions for Exchange Server.
2. Encryption: Encrypting emails in transit and at rest can help protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. This can be achieved through transport layer security (TLS) encryption for in-transit data and encryption of email servers and archives for data at rest.
3. Access Control: Implementing access controls, such as role-based access control (RBAC) and conditional access policies, can help ensure that only authorized users have access to Exchange resources.
4. Malware Protection: Implementing anti-malware protection, such as Exchange Online Protection or third-party solutions, can help detect and block malicious emails and attachments.
5. Network Security: Securing the network that Exchange runs on is important to help prevent unauthorized access to Exchange resources. This can be done through firewalls, network segmentation, and other security measures.
6. Regular Patching and Updating: Regularly patching and updating Exchange is important to help fix known security vulnerabilities and improve overall security.
7. Monitoring and Auditing: Regular monitoring and auditing of Exchange environments can help identify potential security issues and provide insights into how the environment is being used.

It’s important to keep in mind that email security is a constantly evolving field and it’s best practice to regularly review and update security measures to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

Can you discuss your experience with configuring and managing email policies, such as retention policies and archiving?

1. Retention Policies: Email retention policies define how long emails should be kept in the mailbox before they are deleted or moved to an archive. This can be done through retention tags and retention policies in Exchange.
2. Archiving: Email archiving is the process of moving older or less frequently accessed emails from the mailbox to a separate, long-term storage location to reduce mailbox size and improve performance. This can be done through Exchange Online’s built-in archive mailbox or a third-party email archiving solution.

To configure and manage email policies, an administrator needs to have a good understanding of the organization’s email requirements and data retention regulations. The administrator will then need to define the email retention and archiving policies, assign the policies to the appropriate mailboxes, and monitor the policies to ensure they are working as expected.

It’s important to regularly review and update email policies to ensure they are up-to-date and aligned with the organization’s requirements and regulations.

How have you approached migration of on-premises Exchange Server to Exchange Online?

Here are the common steps involved in migrating from an on-premises Exchange Server to Exchange Online:

1. Preparation: Before beginning the migration, the organization should plan the migration, assess the current Exchange environment, and determine the best migration approach.
2. Readiness Check: Before migrating mailboxes, it’s important to ensure that the environment is ready and that the mailboxes meet the requirements for Exchange Online.
3. Mailbox Migration: Depending on the number of mailboxes, the organization may choose to use a hybrid migration, cutover migration, staged migration, or other migration method.
4. Mail Flow Configuration: After migrating the mailboxes, the organization will need to configure mail flow to route email to Exchange Online.
5. User Configuration: The final step is to configure user accounts, devices, and email clients for Exchange Online.
6. Post-Migration Tasks: Finally, after the migration is complete, the organization should perform a final verification, cleanup, and monitor the environment for any issues.

It is important to follow Microsoft’s best practices and guidelines for Exchange migrations, and to thoroughly test the migration before deploying it to production. The specific steps and details will vary based on the organization’s requirements and infrastructure.

Can you describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a messaging issue, such as email delivery or email archiving, and how you resolved it?

1. Email Delivery Issues: If emails are not being delivered, common causes could be incorrect email routing, firewall blocking, email filtering, or email address typos. To resolve this, the administrator can check email logs, test email routing, and review firewall rules.
2. Email Archiving Issues: If email archiving is not working properly, common causes could be disk space constraints, email retention policies, or technical issues with the archiving software. To resolve this, the administrator can check for disk space, review retention policies, and restart the archiving process or service.
3. Slow Email Performance: If email performance is slow, common causes could be a large number of emails, slow email server response times, or network issues. To resolve this, the administrator can review email logs, check network performance, and monitor server resource usage.

In general, troubleshooting messaging issues often involves gathering information and systematically ruling out potential causes until the root issue is identified and resolved.

What steps have you taken to secure email communication, such as implementing anti-spam and anti-malware protection, and data loss prevention (DLP)?

1. Implementing Anti-spam and Anti-malware Protection: This involves using filters and software to detect and block malicious emails such as spam and viruses. This can be done through email gateways, email security appliances, or cloud-based services.
2. Data Loss Prevention (DLP): DLP helps organizations protect sensitive information from being accidentally or intentionally leaked through email. This can be achieved through setting up DLP rules and policies that scan emails for specific types of sensitive information and take appropriate action, such as blocking the email or alerting an administrator.
3. Encryption: Email encryption can be used to protect the privacy of emails in transit and at rest. There are several methods of email encryption, including SSL/TLS encryption for in-transit data and encryption of email servers and archives for data at rest.
4. Authentication: Implementing authentication mechanisms such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can help to ensure that emails are coming from a trusted source and prevent email spoofing.

It’s important to note that email security is a constantly evolving field and it’s best practice to regularly review and update security measures to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

What is your experience with using Microsoft Teams for collaboration and how have you configured and managed Teams policies?

Regarding Microsoft Teams, it is a popular collaboration and communication platform used by businesses and organizations. It allows team members to chat, hold meetings, share files, and collaborate on projects all in one place.

Teams policies can be configured and managed by an administrator through the Microsoft Teams admin center. This allows for customization of various features such as user management, device management, messaging policies, calling policies, meeting policies, and more. The specific policies and settings will vary based on an organization’s needs and requirements.

Can you discuss your experience with using SharePoint for collaboration and how you have managed permissions and access controls for SharePoint sites and content?

SharePoint is a widely used web-based collaboration and document management platform that enables organizations to store, organize, share and access information from anywhere and on any device.

In terms of managing permissions and access controls, SharePoint provides a range of options for controlling who can access content within a site and what they can do with it. This can be done through setting up groups, defining user roles, and setting unique permissions for specific content or libraries within a site. SharePoint also provides options for external sharing, so content can be shared with individuals outside of an organization.

To ensure security and compliance, administrators can also implement granular access controls using information rights management, encryption, and multi-factor authentication. These tools allow administrators to define who can access sensitive information, what they can do with it, and how long they can access it.

In conclusion, SharePoint provides a flexible and robust platform for collaboration and information management with robust access controls and security features that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization.

What is your understanding of Exchange Online protection, such as Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)?

Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a cloud-based solution for protecting Exchange Online mailboxes from spam, malware, and other types of email-borne threats. EOP provides a range of protection features, including anti-spam filtering, anti-malware scanning, and content filtering.

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is a feature of Exchange Online Protection that provides additional protection against targeted attacks and zero-day threats. ATP uses machine learning and threat intelligence to identify and block malicious emails, even if they bypass other security controls. ATP includes features such as Safe Attachments, which isolates attachments in a secure environment to prevent the spread of malware, and Safe Links, which checks URLs in real-time to protect against phishing and other malicious links.

How have you managed eDiscovery and compliance for Exchange Online and Exchange Server environments, such as implementing retention policies and in-place holds?

In managing eDiscovery and compliance, I have implemented the following techniques and approaches:

1. Retention policies: I have implemented Exchange Online and Exchange Server retention policies to meet legal, regulatory, and business requirements for retaining email messages and other items.
2. In-place holds: I have used in-place holds to preserve email messages and other items that need to be retained for legal or regulatory reasons.
3. Audit logging: I have enabled and reviewed audit logging to track and monitor user activities and detect unauthorized access or changes to Exchange Online and Exchange Server data.
4. Compliance searches: I have performed compliance searches to identify and retrieve messages that meet specific retention and eDiscovery requirements.
5. Archiving: I have implemented email archiving solutions to meet retention, eDiscovery, and compliance requirements, as well as to reduce the size of primary mailboxes and improve mailbox performance.

Overall, I have implemented these measures to ensure that the Exchange Online and Exchange Server environments are in compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and that the organization’s data is secure and easily accessible when needed.

1. How to manage a Global Address List (GAL)?

Every mail-enabled object in the Active Directory forest is includes in the built-in GAL that Exchange automatically creates. Additional GALs can be create to separate users by organization or location, but a user can only see and use one GAL at a time.

2. What is the way to manage address book policies?

Address book policies (ABPs) enable administrators to categorize users and provide customized views of the organization’s global address list (GAL). An ABP’s goal is to provide a more straightforward mechanism for GAL segmentation (also known as GAL segregation) in organizations that require multiple GALs.

3. Explain Microsoft 365 Admin Center?

The Microsoft Office 365 Admin Center is a web-based portal use by administrators to manage user accounts and configuration settings for Office 365 subscription services such as Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.

4. What is the way to configure Organization Configuration Transfer?

The attributes described in the following articles are transferred from an on-premises Exchange organization to Exchange Online. When the Organization Configuration Transfer option is select in the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, these attributes are copied.

• Firstly, active Sync Device Access Rule
• Active Sync Mailbox Policy
• Active Sync Organization Settings
• Address List
• Dlp Policy
• Malware Filter Policy
• Mobile Device Mailbox Policy

5. How to deploy the Exchange Hybrid Agent?

The Hybrid Agent alleviates some of the difficulties that can arise when configuring an Exchange Hybrid environment. To enable Exchange hybrid features, the agent, which is built on the same technology as the Azure Application Proxy, removes some requirements for external DNS entries, certificate updates, and inbound network connections through your firewall. Free/Busy sharing and online mailbox moves are among the features available. The Hybrid Agent only supports free/busy and mailbox migrations; it does not support mail flow, directory synchronization, or other hybrid features.

6. How to manage role groups?

To ensure that you have successfully created a role group, perform the following steps:

• Navigate to Permissions > Admin Roles in the EAC.
• Check to see if the new role group appears in the list of role groups, and then select it.
• Check that the new role group’s members, assigned roles, and scope in the role group details pane.

7. In what ways we can configure data loss prevention (DLP) policies?

Data loss prevention (DLP) assists you in preventing the unintentional or accidental disclosure of sensitive information. DLP searches emails and files for sensitive information such as credit card numbers. DLP allows you to detect sensitive information and take actions such as:

• Keep a record of the event for auditing purposes.
• Show a warning to the user who is sending the email or sharing the file.
• Actively prevent email or file sharing from occurring.

8. How to manage journal rules?

By recording inbound and outbound email communications, journaling can assist your organisation in meeting legal, regulatory, and organisational compliance requirements. When it comes to messaging retention and compliance, it’s critical to understand journaling, how it fits into your organization’s compliance policies, and how Exchange Online can help you secure journaled messages.

9. What are the Anti-malware policies?

Anti-malware policies govern the malware detection settings and notification options. The following are critical settings in anti-malware policies:

• Notifications to recipients: By default, a message recipient is not notified that a message intended for them has been quarantine due to malware.

10. Explain Offline address books (OABs).

Address lists and GALs are store in OABs. Outlook clients in cached Exchange mode use OABs to provide local access to address lists and GALs for recipient lookups. See Offline address books in Exchange Server for more information.

11. What do you understand by management role group?

A management role group is a universal security group (USG) in Exchange Server’s Role Based Access Control (RBAC) permissions model. A management role group makes it easier to assign management roles to a group of users. A role group’s members are all assign the same set of roles.

12. Why journaling is important?

To begin, it’s critical to understand the distinction between journaling and a data archiving strategy:

• Journaling is the ability to record all communications in an organisation, including email communications, for use in the organization’s email retention or archival strategy. Many organisations must keep records of communications that occur when employees perform daily business tasks in order to meet an increasing number of regulatory and compliance requirements.
• Data archiving is the process of backing up data, removing it from its original environment, and storing it elsewhere, reducing the strain on data storage. Exchange journaling can be use as part of your email retention or archival strategy.

13. How to use the EAC to create a role group?

• Navigate to Permissions > Admin Roles in the Exchange admin centre (EAC), and then click the Add Add icon.
• Give the new role group a name in the New role group window.
• You can either choose the roles you want to assign to the role group and the members you want to add to the role group now, or you can do so later.
• Choose the write scope that will be applied to the new role group.
• To create the role group, click Save.

14. What is the way to use the EAC to copy a role group?

• Navigate to Permissions > Admin Roles in the EAC.
• Choose the role group you want to copy, then click the Copy Copy icon.
• Give the new role group a name in the New role group window.
• Examine the roles that were copied to the new role group. Roles can be added or removed as needed.
• Examine the write scope and make any necessary changes.
• Examine the people who have been copied to the new role group. Members can be added or removed as needed.
• To create the role group, click Save.

15. What are the different types of Microsoft Information Protection (MIP)?

• Firstly, Information Protection Admin
• Secondly, Information Protection Analyst
• Next, Information Protection Investigator
• Information Protection Reader

16. How to copy a role group?

To ensure that you have successfully copied a role group, perform the following steps:

• Navigate to Permissions > Admin Roles in the EAC.
• Check that the copied role group appears in the list of role groups, and then select it.
• Check that the copied role group’s members, assigned roles, and scope are listed in the role group details pane.

17. Explain the different Journal rules.

The following are the most important aspects of journal rules:

• Journal rule scope: This parameter specifies which messages are journaled by the Journaling agent.
• Journal recipient: Enter the SMTP address of the recipient to be journal.
• Journaling mailboxes: One or more mailboxes used to collect journal reports.

18. Describe the Journal rule scope.

A journal rule can be use to journal only internal messages, only external messages, or both. These scopes are describe in the following list:

• Journal rules with the scope set to journal only internal messages sent between recipients within your Exchange organisation.
• Journal rules with the scope set to journal only external messages sent to or received from senders outside your Exchange organisation.
• Messages in all languages: Journal rules with the scope set to record all messages passing through your organisation, regardless of origin or destination. Messages that have already been process by journal rules in the Internal and External scopes are include.

19. How sensitive information is detected by DLP?

DLP finds sensitive information by matching regular expressions (RegEx) patterns with other indicators such as the proximity of specific keywords to the matching patterns. A VISA credit card number, for example, has 16 digits. However, those digits can be written in a variety of ways, including 1111-1111-1111-1111, 1111 1111 1111 1111, and 1111111111111111.

Any 16-digit string is not necessarily a credit card number; it could be a help desk ticket number or the serial number of a piece of hardware. A calculation (checksum) is perform to confirm that the numbers match a known pattern from the various credit card brands in order to tell the difference between a credit card number and a harmless 16-digit string.

17. Explain Journaling mailbox.

The journaling mailbox configuration is determine by your organization’s policies, regulatory requirements, and legal requirements. You can configure one journaling mailbox to collect messages for all journal rules configured in the organisation, or you can configure different journaling mailboxes for different journal rules or sets of journal rules.

18. Describe Journal reports.

When a message matches a journal rule and is to be submitted to the journaling mailbox, the Journaling agent generates a journal report. As an attachment to the journal report, the original message that matches the journal rule is unalter. The sender email address, message subject, message-ID, and recipient email addresses are all included in the body of a journal report. This is also known as envelope journaling, and it is the only journaling method that Microsoft 365 and Office 365 support.

19. Where do you begin with data loss prevention?

When the risks of data leakage aren’t immediately apparent, it’s difficult to know where to begin with DLP implementation. DLP policies, fortunately, can be run in “test mode,” allowing you to evaluate their effectiveness and accuracy before turning them on.

The Exchange admin centre can be use to manage DLP policies for Exchange Online. However, the Security & Compliance Center allows you to configure DLP policies for all workloads, so that’s what I’ll use for demonstrations in this article. The DLP policies are located in the Security & Compliance Center under Data loss prevention > Policy. To begin, select Create a policy.

Microsoft 365 includes a number of DLP policy templates that you can use to create your own policies. Assume you own a company in Australia. You can narrow down the templates based on Australia by selecting Financial, Medical and Health, and Privacy.

20. What are the elements in Address book policies?

An ABP includes the following components:

• Firstly, A single GAL. See Default address lists in Exchange Online for more information on GALs.
• Secdondly, a single offline address book (OAB). See Offline address books in Exchange Online for more information.
• Next, Only one room is in list. It should be noted that this room list is a custom address list that specifies rooms (it includes the filter RecipientDisplayType -eq ‘ConferenceRoomMailbox’). The RoomList switch on the New-DistributionGroup or Set-DistributionGroup cmdlets does not create a room finder. See Managing resource mailboxes for more information.
• Further, A list of addresses or a list of addresses. See Custom Address Lists in Exchange Online for more information on address lists.

21. Describe Global address lists.

By default, a new Exchange Server installation creates a GAL named Default Global Address List, which serves as the primary repository for all recipients in the Exchange organisation. Most organisations typically have only one GAL because users in Outlook and Outlook on the web can only see and use one GAL (formerly known as Outlook Web App). If you want to keep groups of recipients from seeing each other, you may need to create multiple GALs (for example, you single Exchange organisation contains two separate companies).

22. Explain the Best practices for creating additional address lists.

Address lists can be useful tools for users, but poorly planned address lists can be frustrating. Consider the following best practises to ensure that your address lists are user-friendly:

• Firstly, Address lists should help users find recipients more easily.
• Secondly, Avoid making so many address lists that users are unsure which one to use.
• Next, Use a naming convention and a location hierarchy for your address lists so that users can tell what the list is for right away (which recipients are included in the list). If you’re having trouble naming your address lists, make fewer lists and remind users that they can use the GAL to find anyone in your organisation.

23. What is the Autodiscover service and how does it work?

The Autodiscover service in Microsoft Office 365 is an exchange feature that assists in automatically configuring the user’s mailbox. It is use to reduce user configuration and deployment steps by giving clients access to Exchange features. Microsoft created a method for telling Outlook to find the configuration information it required automatically in order to make Autodiscover work without any user interaction. This was accomplished through the use of a few DNS lookups base on a specific piece of information that everyone had to enter, namely the email address.

24. What exactly is Office 365 FastTrack deployment?

The office 365 fasttrack deployment service in Microsoft Office 365 is intend to assist all businesses investing in Office 365 in moving all of their existing data and systems to the cloud.

25. What role does ADFS play in Office 365?

ADFS, or Active Directory Federation Services, is a web service and feature in the Windows Server Operating System that allows users outside of an organization’s network to share identity information. This is primarily use in Office 365 to allow people who are not part of the organisation to access limited data.

26. In exchange, what is categorizer?

A categorizer, also known as an SMTP Categorizer, is a component of the Transport service in Exchange Servers that performs Active Directory LDAP queries to determine what to do with an incoming or outgoing message based on information and destination.

27. What are Office 365 Conditional Access Policies?

The Microsoft 365 Conditional Access Policies feature allows you to implement a fully automated and conditional access control for various cloud apps.

28.What are the Office 365 Administration levels?

In Office 365, there are basically three levels of administration. They are as follows:

• User: This level is assign to anyone who is not an administrator or a member of the administrator roles.
• Global administrator: In Office 365, this is the primary administrator who is also a SharePoint administrator.
• Customized Administrator: This is a type of administrator who has been grant special access base on the person’s specific tasks and roles.

29. What can a visitor do in Office 365?

In Office 365, a guest user is a customised user role with restricted access rights. This allows them to collaborate with you and have limited access to chats, files, calendar invitations, and the group notebook.

30. What exactly is Office 365 Flow?

Office 365 Flow is a workplace management application that is use to automate workflows across other Office 365 applications and tools.