For a "try before you buy" experience when you evaluate Microsoft Office Server (Exchange/Lync/SharePoint) solutions that include Office 365, Microsoft is developing and publishing a new Test Lab Guide (TLG) stack that you can use to build out and demonstrate Office Server hybrid configurations and solutions. Hybrid is the concurrent use of on-premises Office servers and their counterparts in Office 365. Examples include SharePoint Server 2013 with SharePoint Online in Office 365 and Exchange Online combined with on-premises Lync Server 2013.
Tony Trivison of the Office Server Solutions Content Team just published the Configuring an Office 365 Trial Subscription TLG, which steps you through creating a trial Office 365 ProPlus subscription and demonstrating Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online functionality.
This new TLG builds upon the Windows Server 2012 Public Cloud Base Configuration, which steps you through creating a logical subnet called Corpnet on your organization network. The Corpnet subnet contains a domain controller/DNS server (DC1), a general application server (APP1), and a client computer (CLIENT1). Here is the resulting lab configuration:
Here is the current Office hybrid solutions TLG stack:
Additional TLGs in this stack can build upon this foundation to configure and demonstrate Directory Synchronization (DirSync) and key Office Server hybrid configurations.
This TLG stack can be a key resource for you to configure working Office Server hybrid test environments prior to piloting and production deployment.
Do you think these guides are a valuable part of a solution content set? We would love to get your opinion. Either comment on this blog post or send more detailed feedback to sab@microsoft.com.
Thanks!
Joe Davies
Senior Technical Writer
Windows Azure Infrastructure Services