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 16.8 Release Notes here: http://download.automation.odin.com/poa/Office365_APS2/doc/87686.htm. Also, you can download the PDF version.

New Features and Changes

Conversion from Syndication Partner Program to CSP Program is Supported

Conversion from the Syndication Partner Program to the CSP Program is now supported by the Office 365 application.

Conversion can be performed in one of the following modes:

  • Subscription split mode. Existing Office 365 syndication subscriptions are cancelled, and new Office 365 CSP subscriptions are created. As a result, identifiers of Office 365 subscriptions are not preserved. If your Odin Automation system is not integrated with an external system which relies on identifiers of Office 365 subscriptions, you can perform conversion in this mode.

  • Subscription preservation mode. Existing Office 365 subscriptions are switched from Office 365 syndication service plans to Office 365 CSP service plans. As a result, identifiers of Office 365 subscriptions are preserved. If your Odin Automation system is integrated with an external system which relies on identifiers of Office 365 subscriptions, you must perform conversion in this mode.

Subscription Split Mode

Conversion is performed on both the Microsoft side and the Odin Automation side.

Microsoft Side

Conversion on the Microsoft side is the transportation of financial information from the commercial system of the Syndication Partner Program to the commercial system of the CSP Program.

Key points of conversion:

  • Service data of customer tenants is not modified during the conversion of the customer tenants. Daily operations of end-users of the customer tenants are not affected.

  • The Office 365 admin center of the CSP Program is slightly different from the Office 365 admin center of the Syndication Partner Program.

  • The offer catalogue of the CSP Program and the offer catalogue of the Syndication Partner Program are different:

    • Both programs have a set of common offers, and conversion is possible only within the set. This means that cloud subscriptions of other offers must be either replaced with cloud subscriptions of common offers or cancelled before conversion.

    • The CSP Program does not support trial offers. This means that trial cloud subscriptions cannot be converted. Trial cloud subscriptions must be either replaced with paid ones or cancelled before conversion.

  • The programs provide different APIs for managing customer tenants and cloud subscriptions. The Syndication Partner Program provides the MOSI API. The CSP Program provides the CREST API.

  • The CSP Program is globally divided into geographical regions (the regions can be seen at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/licensing-programs/open-regional.aspx). CSP partners can sell Office 365 services only within their regions. For example, a CSP partner from the North America region can sell Office 365 services to customers only from the United States and Canada. This means that several CSP partner accounts might be required for a syndication partner who sells Office 365 services in various countries.

  • TIP partner accounts cannot be used to test conversion.

  • Before performing conversion, a partner must contact a Microsoft representative to discuss and approve the volume and schedule of conversion.

Odin Automation Side

Conversion on the Odin Automation side is the replacement of Office 365 syndication subscriptions with Office 365 CSP subscriptions. Existing Office 365 syndication subscriptions are cancelled, and new Office 365 CSP subscriptions are created.

Key points of conversion:

  • The Office 365 APS 1.2 and Office 365 APS 2 applications are supported.

  • A syndication partner might have several organization units for selling Office 365 services. This means that a separate CSP partner account is required for each organization unit.

  • Odin Automation supports the following configurations of Office 365 service plans:

    • Consolidated. All offers are available within an Office 365 service plan. A typical customer account has one subscription to such an Office 365 service plan.

    • Partitioned. All offers are partitioned into groups. A typical group contains one offer and its depended addon offers. Offers constituting a group are available only within a separate Office 365 service plan. A typical customer account has several subscriptions to such Office 365 service plans.

  • It is possible to change one service plan configuration to another one during conversion.

  • Conversion is performed by using scripts shipped with the Office 365 application.

  • Customer accounts whose Office 365 subscriptions, customer tenants, and cloud subscriptions you need to convert must be split into groups. You must convert these groups one by one. This means that several groups must not be converted concurrently.

Limitations

The conversion procedure has the following limitations:

  • Office 365 subscriptions are recreated during conversion, which means that their subscription identifiers are not preserved.

  • The conversion scripts can automatically process Office 365 subscriptions including non-Office 365 resources only if the limits of the resources are zero.

  • The conversion scripts do not automatically process Office 365 subscriptions whose 'DNS Hosting' resources are in use by domains.

    Note: Subdomains of the onmicrosoft.com domain are automatically processed by the conversion scripts.

Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Conversion from Syndication Partner Program to CSP Program > Subscription Split Mode

Subscription Preservation Mode

Conversion is performed on both the Microsoft side and the Odin Automation side.

Microsoft Side

Conversion on the Microsoft side is the transportation of financial information from the commercial system of the Syndication Partner Program to the commercial system of the CSP Program.

Key points of conversion:

  • Service data of customer tenants is not modified during the conversion of the customer tenants. Daily operations of end-users of the customer tenants are not affected.

  • The Office 365 admin center of the CSP Program is slightly different from the Office 365 admin center of the Syndication Partner Program.

  • The offer catalogue of the CSP Program and the offer catalogue of the Syndication Partner Program are different:

    • Both programs have a set of common offers, and conversion is possible only within the set. This means that cloud subscriptions of other offers must be either replaced with cloud subscriptions of common offers or cancelled before conversion.

    • The CSP Program does not support trial offers. This means that trial cloud subscriptions cannot be converted. Trial cloud subscriptions must be either replaced with paid ones or cancelled before conversion.

  • The programs provide different APIs for managing customer tenants and cloud subscriptions. The Syndication Partner Program provides the MOSI API. The CSP Program provides the CREST API.

  • The CSP Program is globally divided into geographical regions (the regions can be seen at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/licensing-programs/open-regional.aspx). CSP partners can sell Office 365 services only within their regions. For example, a CSP partner from the North America region can sell Office 365 services to customers only from the United States and Canada. This means that several CSP partner accounts might be required for a syndication partner who sells Office 365 services in various countries.

  • TIP partner accounts cannot be used to test conversion.

  • Before performing conversion, a partner must contact a Microsoft representative to discuss and approve the volume and schedule of conversion.

Odin Automation Side

Conversion on the Odin Automation side is the transformation of Office 365 syndication subscriptions into Office 365 CSP subscriptions. Existing Office 365 subscriptions are switched from Office 365 syndication service plans to Office 365 CSP service plans.

Key points of conversion:

  • Since Office 365 subscriptions are only switched from one service plan to another one during conversion, subscription identifiers are preserved.

  • Office 365 subscriptions can contain 'DNS Hosting' resources which are in use by domains.

  • Office 365 subscriptions can contain non-Office 365 resources with any limits.

  • The Office 365 APS 1.2 and Office 365 APS 2 applications are supported.

  • A syndication partner might have several organization units for selling Office 365 services. This means that a separate CSP partner account is required for each organization unit.

  • Conversion is performed by using scripts shipped with the Office 365 application.

  • Customer accounts whose Office 365 subscriptions, customer tenants, and cloud subscriptions you need to convert must be split into groups. You must convert these groups one by one. This means that several groups must not be converted concurrently.

Limitations

The conversion procedure has the following limitations:

  • Office 365 subscriptions can be converted only if they meet the following requirements:

    • Status is Active (in OA Billing)

    • Service Status is Running (in OA Billing)

  • Odin Automation supports the following configurations of Office 365 service plans:

    • Consolidated. All offers are available within an Office 365 service plan. A typical customer account has one subscription to such an Office 365 service plan.

    • Partitioned. All offers are partitioned into groups. A typical group contains one offer and its depended addon offers. Offers constituting a group are available only within a separate Office 365 service plan. A typical customer account has several subscriptions to such Office 365 service plans.

  • Since Office 365 subscriptions are switched from Office 365 syndication service plans to Office 365 CSP service plans during conversion, it is not possible to change one service plan configuration to another one.

Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Conversion from Syndication Partner Program to CSP Program > Subscription Preservation Mode

Improved CSP Import Scripts

The following improvements were made in the CSP import scripts readCSPAccounts.py and importSubsCSP.py:

readCSPAccounts.py

  • Office 365 service plans with composite resources are now taken into account by the script.
  • Suspended cloud subscriptions are now taken into account by the script.

importSubsCSP.py

  • The input parameter o365APS2-app-instance-id was renamed to csp-app-instance-id.
  • The input parameter vendor-id is obsolete and ignored by the script.

Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario > Importing Tenant Subscriptions from Microsoft Cloud into Odin Automation

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 16.8 Release Notes here: http://download.automation.odin.com/poa/Office365_APS2/doc/87686.htm. Also, you can download the PDF version.

Office 365 Subdomain Form is Made Independent of Azure CSP Subdomain Form

The Office 365 and Azure CSP applications use the subdomain form in which customers purchasing these services must specify their default subdomains (for instance, customer.onmicrosoft.com). The subdomain form consists of OA Billing customizations which are applied to the OA Billing control panel and online store during the installation of the applications.

In Office 365 16.8.2 (or lower) and Azure CSP 3.2.3 (or lower), both applications use the same OA Billing customizations, which are shared.

Starting with Office 365 16.8.3 and Azure CSP 3.2.4, both applications use their own OA Billing customizations, which are independent of each other.

Important: The independent OA Billing customizations require Office 365 16.8.3 (or higher) and Azure CSP 3.2.4 (or higher). Take this into account when installing or upgrading either of the applications on your Odin Automation system.

Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario > Configuring Office 365 Subdomain Form for OA Billing

Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario > Configuring Offers for Resellers

Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Syndication Partner Scenario > Configuring Office 365 Subdomain Form for OA Billing

Odin Automation Premium Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Syndication Partner Scenario > Configuring Offers for Resellers

Dependencies and Pre-Requisites

The Office 365 Application Package requires:

  • 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 http://download.automation.odin.com/oa/7.0/oapremium/portal/en/release_notes/index.htm?fileName=about.htm#o86067 for details). This change affects the Office 365 application (see http://download.automation.odin.com/oa/7.0/oapremium/portal/en/upgrade_workflow/87663.htm and http://download.automation.odin.com/oa/7.0/oapremium/portal/en/upgrade_workflow/87658.htm for details). You must back up and restore the respective Office 365 data when migrating brands.

Fixed Issues

  • APSA-17294 Incomplete Netherlands localization in Office 365 16.8.1 and 16.8.2.
  • APSA-17281 Round brackets in "name" field cause "RQL parsing error!" during Office 365 service assignment.
  • APSA-17182 Different delta responses can contain duplicates of user data.
  • APSA-17181 Office 365 synchronization fails: "Phone number" field contains # symbol.
  • APSA-17141 CSP Agent 7.1.0.6935 must be used with Office 365 16.8.3+.
  • APSA-17105 Office 365 provisioning fails when Office 365 service is purchased via CCPv2 (aka NextCP).
  • APSA-17057 autoconf.py returns error.
  • APSA-17022 autoconf.py returns error in bss.addStoreScreen stage because of long StoreScreenID.
  • APSA-17021 Office 365 domain records are not removed if Office 365 service is unassigned from domain.
  • APSA-16960 Background synchronization does not work for accounts where "last_synchronization" is not set.
  • APSA-16892 Task fails with 'last_error property is required' error.
  • APSA-16885 Do not synchronize external users which have '#EXT#' in their logins.
  • APSA-16849 [Office 365 16.8.1] generated passwords do not match Odin Automation 7.0 security policy.
  • APSA-16830 Periodic task 'Collecting statistics about subscriptions and seats for Office 365 reports' fails.
  • APSA-16466 Removal of Office 365 license.
  • APSA-16350 Apply workaround to navigate to proper view on clicking on entry-point.

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 16.8 Release Notes here: http://download.automation.odin.com/poa/Office365_APS2/doc/87686.htm. 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 versions of the Office 365 application package.

Installation

To install the Office 365 application, use the instructions provided in the Odin Automation 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 online store and control panel 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 16.8.1/16.8.2. Upgrading from versions that are lower than 16.8.1/16.8.2 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 the KB article https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/130752 for details.
  • Make sure SQL Server logins of Office 365 gateway application databases have the sysadmin server role. See Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Syndication Partner Scenario > Deployment Architecture > Preparing SQL Server Databases (http://download.automation.odin.com/poa/Office365_APS2/doc/index.htm?fileName=89581.htm) for details.

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 .\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 command.
    7. Run the iisreset command.

  5. Notes:

    • If you have several Office 365 gateway sites on the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host, use the provided above procedure 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 (https://download.automation.odin.com/pa/6.0/doc/portal/6.0/oa-provider/index.htm?fileName=1-25-01-02.htm) for details.

    2. Upgrade existing Office 365 application instances. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Bulk Application Upgrades (https://download.automation.odin.com/pa/6.0/doc/portal/6.0/oa-provider/index.htm?fileName=67909.htm) for details.

  7. Update the OA Billing online store and control panel customizations using the instructions of the https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/130232 KB article.

  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 online store and control panel customizations.
  6. Starting provisioning Office 365 services.

Important:

  • The upgrade procedure is not reversible.
  • Upgrade steps 1-6 are mandatory.
  • Make sure the current version of the Office 365 application is 16.8.1/16.8.2. Upgrading from versions that are lower than 16.8.1/16.8.2 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 the KB article https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/130752 for details.
  • Make sure SQL Server logins of Office 365 gateway application databases have the sysadmin server role. See Odin Automation Office 365 Integration Provider's Guide >> Cloud Solution Provider Scenario > Deployment Architecture > Preparing SQL Server Databases (http://download.automation.odin.com/poa/Office365_APS2/doc/index.htm?fileName=89409.htm) for details.

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. Upgrade the Office 365 CSP component (csp-agent-war) to the latest version using the instruction of the https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/126003 KB article.
    6. Start Windows PowerShell Console and go to the directory where the content of the O365-Web.zip file is placed.
    7. Run the .\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 command.
    8. Run the iisreset command.

  4. Note: If you have several Office 365 gateway sites on the Office 365 Application Endpoint Host, use the provided above procedure 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 (https://download.automation.odin.com/pa/6.0/doc/portal/6.0/oa-provider/index.htm?fileName=1-25-01-02.htm) for details.

    2. Upgrade existing Office 365 application instances. See OA Operations Provider's Guide >> Application Hosting > Bulk Application Upgrades (https://download.automation.odin.com/pa/6.0/doc/portal/6.0/oa-provider/index.htm?fileName=67909.htm) for details.

  6. Update the OA Billing online store and control panel customizations using the instructions of the https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/130232 KB article.

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

Help Resources

Office 365 Integration Guides are available here: http://download.automation.odin.com/pa/.

All Office 365 Integration Release Notes

Supported APS Application Packages Versions in Odin Automation

Office 365 Subdomain Form for OA Billing (OA Billing Customizations v2)

[Odin Automation Premium] [Office 365] Allowed Upgrade Paths

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