This version of the application reached its end of life. We recommend that you upgrade to the latest supported version of the application. To obtain the latest supported version, see this article.

Table of Contents

Release Notes

You can read the complete Office 365 17.1 Release Notes here. Also, you can download the PDF version.

Dependencies and Pre-Requisites

The Office 365 Application Package requires:

  • Odin Automation 7.2.0 or a later 7.2.x version
  • Odin Automation 7.1.0 or a later 7.1.x version
  • Odin Automation 7.0.1_hf130748 or a later 7.0.x version

Important: Starting with Odin Automation 7.0.0, the new branding implementation is used (see Odin Automation Premium 7.0 Release Notes >> Changes > Core > New Branding Implementation for details). This change affects the Office 365 application (see Odin Automation Premium 7.0 Upgrade Workflow Guide >> Pre-Upgrade Actions > Branding Configuration Restrictions > Back Up Branding Customizations and Odin Automation Premium 7.0 Upgrade Workflow Guide >> Post-Upgrade Actions > Configuring Branding for details). You must back up and restore the respective Office 365 data when migrating brands.

New Features and Changes

Important: This section provides the list of new features and changes. To obtain the detailed description of a new feature or change, you must read the corresponding section of the complete release notes. You can read the complete Office 365 17.1 Release Notes here. Also, you can download the PDF version.

CSP Program: CREST API is Replaced with Partner Center API

Microsoft plans to replace the CREST API with the Partner Center API (see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/partnercenter/mt791651.aspx for details and the schedule). As a result, the Office 365 application starts using the Partner Center API for managing customer tenants and cloud subscriptions in the Microsoft cloud. On new application installations, the Partner Center API will be used by default. On existing application installations, the application will be switched from the CREST API to the Partner Center API during the upgrade of the application.

Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario

CSP Program: Offers with Yearly Billing Frequency are Supported

The CSP program provides two groups of offers: offers that support only monthly billing frequency; offers that support both monthly billing frequency and yearly billing frequency. Since Office 365 17.1, offers with yearly billing frequency are supported. For offers that support both billing frequencies, you can now create service plans with monthly billing periods (the Billing Period setting is set to Monthly) and yearly billing periods (the Billing Period setting is set to either Yearly or Custom [a number of years] Year(s)).

Note: Microsoft did not release new separate yearly offers. Microsoft just enabled yearly billing frequency for some existing CSP offers without changing their Offer IDs. You can see offers that support yearly billing frequency in your latest Cloud Reseller Offer Matrix.

Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario

Fixed Issues

  • APSA-16400 Office 365 documentation must contain preconditions which are mandatory for upgrading Office 365 subscriptions through PCP/RCP.
  • APSA-16248 Office 365 documentation must contain OA Operations XMLRPC API configuration steps since it is required for provisioning operations.
  • APSA-17520 Office 365 documentation does not describe allow-duplicates option of importSubsCSP.py script.
  • APSA-16794 Office 365 documentation should not state that newly added account domains are automatically added to Office 365 app.
  • APSA-16794 Office 365 documentation must use new units of measure for Office 365 resources.
  • APSA-16890 Office 365 documentation should mention that it is not possible to directly provision and use Office 365 licenses under resellers accounts.
  • APSA-18203 Missing "resourceId" in output of aps.biz.getResourcesInfo().
  • APSA-16741 Office 365 documentation: "Configuring Offer Compatibility Checker" sections must contain instruction on how to obtain location of brand site root directory.
  • APSA-18425 [Documentation] Office 365 subdomain form stopped working as Yahoo changed their API.
  • APSA-18370 Office 365 subdomain form stopped working as Yahoo changed their API.
  • APSA-18327 Syndication-to-CSP conversion scripts fail because of OA Billing XMLRPC API timeout (100 seconds).
  • APSA-15974 Wrong Csp Subscription Id is returned by CREST API for newly created addon subscription.

Important: This section provides the list of fixed issues. To obtain the detailed description of a fixed issue, you must read the corresponding section of the complete release notes. You can read the complete Office 365 17.1 Release Notes here. Also, you can download the PDF version.

Known Issues and Limitations

Office 365 and Azure CSP resources cannot be sold in the same service template/service plan. You must use separate service templates/service plans for selling Office 365 and Azure CSP resources.

Obtaining

Contact your Odin Support account manager to obtain the new version of the Office 365 application package.

Installation

To install the Office 365 application, use the instructions provided in the Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide.

Upgrade Procedure

Upgrade Procedure (Syndication Partner Scenario)

The upgrade procedure consists of the following steps:

  1. Preparing necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint (collecting Office 365 dispatcher site parameters).
  2. Preparing necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint (collecting Office 365 gateway site parameters).
  3. Stopping provisioning Office 365 services.
  4. Upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint.
  5. Upgrading the Office 365 application.
  6. Updating the OA Billing control panel and online store customizations.
  7. Starting provisioning Office 365 services.

Important:

  • The upgrade procedure is not reversible.
  • Upgrade steps 1-7 are mandatory.
  • Make sure the current version of the Office 365 application is 16.8.6. Upgrading from other versions is not supported.
  • Before upgrading the Office 365 application from one version to another one, make sure that you are going to follow the allowed upgrade paths. See KB article #130752 for details.
  • If a non-LocalDB edition of SQL Server is used by your Office 365 application endpoint, make sure all SQL Server logins of Office 365 gateway application databases have the sysadmin server role. See Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Syndication Partner Scenario > Deployment Architecture > Preparing SQL Server Databases for details.
  • The names of the Office 365 dispatcher and gateway sites must not be changed after the installation of the Office 365 application endpoint. If you have changed them, return the original names before upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint.

To upgrade an existing installation of the Office 365 application, perform the following steps:

  1. Prepare necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint. You must prepare the name of the Office 365 dispatcher site, the name of the Office 365 dispatcher application, and the IP address of the Office 365 dispatcher site. This can be done in the following way:

    1. Prepare the URL provided to Microsoft. This URL is structured in the following way: https://<Hostname_of_Office_365_Dispatcher_Site>/<Name_of_Office_365_Dispatcher_Application>/.
    2. Write down the name of the directory from the URL. This is the name of the Office 365 dispatcher application.
    3. Resolve the hostname from the URL into the IP address. This is the IP address of the Office 365 dispatcher site. Write down this IP address.
    4. Log on to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host as Administrator via RDP.
    5. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
    6. Go to the list of sites.
    7. From the list, select the site with the IP address obtained above.
    8. Write down the name of the site. This is the name of the Office 365 dispatcher site.

  2. Prepare necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint. You must prepare the name of the Office 365 gateway site, the name of the Office 365 gateway application, the hostname of the Office 365 gateway site, and the IP address of the Office 365 gateway site. This can be done in the following way:

    1. Log in to Provider Control Panel.
    2. Go to Service > Applications and click the Office 365 application.
    3. Select the Instances tab and click the target application instance.
    4. Select the General tab.
    5. Obtain the value of the Application API end-point URI setting. This is a URL that is structured in the following way: https://<Hostname_of_Office_365_Gateway_Site>/<Name_of_Office_365_Gateway_Application>/aps/.
    6. Write down the name of the directory from the URL. This is the name of the Office 365 gateway application.
    7. Write down the hostname from the URL. This is the hostname of the Office 365 gateway site.
    8. Resolve the hostname from the URL into the IP address. This is the IP address of the Office 365 gateway site. Write down this IP address.
    9. Log on to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host as Administrator via RDP.
    10. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
    11. Go to the list of sites.
    12. From the list, select the site with the IP address obtained above.
    13. Write down the name of the site. This is the name of the Office 365 gateway site.

  3. Stop provisioning Office 365 services:

    1. In OA Operations, go to Operations > Tasks and make sure all Office 365 tasks are processed.
    2. Stop provisioning Office 365 services. For example, deactivate the Office 365 service template in OA Operations.

  4. Upgrade the Office 365 Application Endpoint:

    1. Upload the Office 365 application package to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host.
    2. Unpack the application package.
    3. Unblock the content of the O365-Web.zip file. To do this, right-click the file in Windows Explorer, click Properties, click Unblock, click OK.
    4. Unpack the O365-Web.zip file.
    5. Start Windows PowerShell Console and go to the directory where the content of the O365-Web.zip file is placed.

    6. Run the following command:

      .\setup.cmd -DispatcherSiteName <The name of the Office 365 dispatcher site> -DispatcherAppName <The name of the Office 365 dispatcher application> -DispatcherIPAddress <The IP address of the Office 365 dispatcher site> -GatewaySiteName <The name of the Office 365 gateway site> -GatewayAppName <The name of the Office 365 gateway application> -GatewayIPAddress <The IP address of the Office 365 gateway site> -GatewaySiteCertSubject <The hostname of the Office 365 gateway site> -Force
    7. Run the iisreset command.

  5. Notes:

    • If you have several Office 365 gateway sites on the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host, use the procedure provided above to upgrade each Office 365 gateway site.
    • If you need to update your client Microsoft certificate, you can do this in the following way: upload the new client Microsoft certificate to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host; add -MSCertPath <path to certificate> to the command provided above; run the command.

  6. Upgrade the Office 365 application:

    1. Import the Office 365 application package to Odin Automation. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Managing Applications > Importing Application for details.
    2. Upgrade existing Office 365 application instances. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Bulk Application Upgrades for details.

  7. Update the installed OA Billing control panel and online store customizations. Use KB article #130232 to find necessary customizations and update instructions.

    Important: After upgrading Odin Automation from 7.0.x to 7.1.x, make sure the installed OA Billing control panel and online store customizations belong to the current version of Odin Automation. If necessary, update them. Use KB article #130232 to find necessary customizations and update instructions.

  8. Start provisioning Office 365 services. For example, activate the Office 365 service template in OA Operations.

Upgrade Procedure (Cloud Solution Provider Scenario)

The upgrade procedure consists of the following steps:

  1. Preparing necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint (collecting Office 365 gateway site parameters).
  2. Stopping provisioning Office 365 services.
  3. Upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint.
  4. Upgrading the Office 365 application.
  5. Updating the OA Billing control panel and online store customizations.
  6. Switching the Office 365 application from the CREST API to the Partner Center API.
  7. Starting provisioning Office 365 services.

Important:

  • The upgrade procedure is not reversible.
  • Upgrade steps 1-7 are mandatory.
  • Make sure the current version of the Office 365 application is 16.8.6. Upgrading from other versions is not supported.
  • Before upgrading the Office 365 application from one version to another one, make sure that you are going to follow the allowed upgrade paths. See KB article #130752 for details.
  • If a non-LocalDB edition of SQL Server is used by your Office 365 application endpoint, make sure all SQL Server logins of Office 365 gateway application databases have the sysadmin server role. See Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario > Deployment Architecture > Preparing SQL Server Databases for details.
  • The names of the Office 365 gateway sites must not be changed after the installation of the Office 365 application endpoint. If you have changed them, return the original names before upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint.
  • Since version 17.1, the Office 365 application does not use WildFly and Java installed on the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host. After upgrading to version 17.1, consider uninstalling them in order to release the hardware resources of the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host.

To upgrade an existing installation of the Office 365 application, perform the following steps:

  1. Prepare necessary information for upgrading the Office 365 application endpoint. You must prepare the name of the Office 365 gateway site, the name of the Office 365 gateway application, the hostname of the Office 365 gateway site, and the IP address of the Office 365 gateway site. This can be done in the following way:

    1. Log in to Provider Control Panel.
    2. Go to Service > Applications and click the Office 365 application.
    3. Select the Instances tab and click the target application instance.
    4. Select the General tab.
    5. Obtain the value of the Application API end-point URI setting. This is a URL that is structured in the following way: https://<Hostname_of_Office_365_Gateway_Site>/<Name_of_Office_365_Gateway_Application>/aps/.
    6. Write down the name of the directory from the URL. This is the name of the Office 365 gateway application.
    7. Write down the hostname from the URL. This is the hostname of the Office 365 gateway site.
    8. Resolve the hostname from the URL into the IP address. This is the IP address of the Office 365 gateway site. Write down this IP address.
    9. Log on to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host as Administrator via RDP.
    10. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
    11. Go to the list of sites.
    12. From the list, select the site with the IP address obtained above.
    13. Write down the name of the site. This is the name of the Office 365 gateway site.

  2. Stop provisioning Office 365 services:

    1. In OA Operations, go to Operations > Tasks and make sure all Office 365 tasks are processed.
    2. Stop provisioning Office 365 services. For example, deactivate the Office 365 service template in OA Operations.

  3. Upgrade the Office 365 application endpoint:

    1. Upload the Office 365 application package to the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host.
    2. Unpack the application package.
    3. Unblock the content of the O365-Web.zip file. To do this, right-click the file in Windows Explorer, click Properties, click Unblock, click OK.
    4. Unpack the O365-Web.zip file.
    5. Start Windows PowerShell Console and go to the directory where the content of the O365-Web.zip file is placed.

    6. Run the following command:

      .\setup.cmd -GatewaySiteName <The name of the Office 365 gateway site> -GatewayAppName <The name of the Office 365 gateway application> -GatewayIPAddress <The IP address of the Office 365 gateway site> -GatewaySiteCertSubject <The hostname of the Office 365 gateway site> -Force
    7. Run the iisreset command.

  4. Note: If you have several Office 365 gateway sites on the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host, use the procedure provided above to upgrade each Office 365 gateway site.

  5. Upgrade the Office 365 application:

    1. Import the Office 365 application package to Odin Automation. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Managing Applications > Importing Application for details.
    2. Upgrade existing Office 365 application instances. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Bulk Application Upgrades for details.

  6. Update the installed OA Billing control panel and online store customizations. Use KB article #130232 to find necessary customizations and update instructions.

    Important: After upgrading Odin Automation from 7.0.x to 7.1.x, make sure the installed OA Billing control panel and online store customizations belong to the current version of Odin Automation. If necessary, update them. Use KB article #130232 to find necessary customizations and update instructions.

  7. Switch the Office 365 application from the CREST API to the Partner Center API:

    1. Create a native app in the Partner Center:

      1. Log in to the Partner Center.
      2. Go to Account setting > App management and click Add new native app.
      3. Write down App ID of the native app.

    2. Specify App ID of the native app in the ID of Native Client for Partner Center SDK setting of your Office 365 application instance:

      1. Log in to the Provider Control Panel.
      2. Go to Services > Applications and click on the Office 365 application. Then, click on your Office 365 application instance.
      3. Click Edit.
      4. Specify App ID of the native app in the ID of Native Client for Partner Center SDK setting. Then, click Save.

  8. Note: If your Odin Automation system has several Office 365 application instances, you must perform this step for each of them.

  9. Start provisioning Office 365 services. For example, activate the Office 365 service template in OA Operations.

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