Week 3 Day 1 — Networking 7

0:00–0:10
Recap

0:10–0:35
Lecture

0:35–1:40
Guided Lab

1:40–1:50
Bonus

1:50–2:00
Debrief

0:00 – 0:10 Recap · 10 min

Week 2 debrief & transition to email infrastructure

Return Week 2 assessments with brief verbal feedback — one common strength, one common gap across the class
Ask: "In Week 1 you added an MX record to your DNS zone. What does that record do and what breaks if it's wrong?" — reconnect to the DNS foundation before building on it
Ask: "A Lakeview Logistics user created in Lab 1-C — does that user have an email address right now? How do you know?" — surface the relationship between licence assignment and mailbox provisioning from Day 3 Week 1
Frame Week 3: identity is locked down, email infrastructure is next — this week students build and harden the complete email environment for Lakeview Logistics

0:10 – 0:35 Lecture · 25 min

Exchange Online mailbox types & permissions model

Exchange Online has several mailbox types that serve different purposes, and a permissions model that is easy to misconfigure if you don't understand the distinctions. Students need to know what each type is for and which permissions grant what access before touching the Exchange admin centre.

Mailbox types:

Type	What it is	Licence required	Lakeview Logistics use
User mailbox	Standard mailbox tied to a licensed user account. Has its own login and password.	Yes — Business Standard or higher	All 10 Lakeview Logistics employees
Shared mailbox	A mailbox accessed by multiple users with delegated permissions. No dedicated licence required (up to 50 GB). No direct login.	No licence required	info@, accounts@, support@ addresses
Room mailbox	A resource mailbox representing a physical meeting room. Accepts/declines calendar invites automatically.	No licence required	Boardroom, Meeting Room A
Equipment mailbox	A resource mailbox representing bookable equipment. Same auto-accept model as room.	No licence required	Projector, Company Van

Mailbox permissions — three distinct types:

Permission	What it grants	Typical use case	Visible to recipients?
Full Access	Open and read the mailbox, manage folders, mark items read — but cannot send email from it	EA or assistant accessing a manager's mailbox	No
Send As	Send email that appears to come directly from the mailbox address — recipient sees only the mailbox address, not the sender	Sending from a shared mailbox like info@company.com	No — looks like it came from the mailbox
Send on Behalf	Send email on behalf of the mailbox — recipient sees "User X on behalf of Mailbox Y"	Assistant sending on behalf of an executive	Yes — "on behalf of" is visible

The Exchange admin centre (EAC) — the primary admin interface for Exchange Online, separate from the M365 admin centre. Located at admin.exchange.microsoft.com. Key sections: Recipients (mailboxes, groups, contacts, resources), Mail flow (rules, connectors, message trace), Protection (anti-spam, anti-malware), and Reports.
Auto-mapping — when Full Access is granted to a shared mailbox, Outlook automatically adds it to the user's mailbox list. This is enabled by default and is the expected behaviour. It can be disabled per-user via PowerShell when not wanted.
Shared mailbox vs distribution list — a shared mailbox stores email, has a calendar, and allows sending. A distribution list just forwards to members with no storage. If the use case requires a reply-from address or storing received email, it's a shared mailbox. If it's purely broadcast, it's a distribution list.

Instructor note: The Send As vs Send on Behalf distinction is one of the most commonly confused concepts in Exchange administration. Show both in action on the projector — one email sent using Send As (recipient sees only the shared mailbox address) and one sent on behalf (recipient sees "on behalf of"). The visual difference makes the distinction stick far better than a definition alone.

0:35 – 1:40 Guided lab · 65 min

Lab 3-A: Building the Lakeview Logistics mailbox infrastructure

Students create shared mailboxes, resource mailboxes, and configure mailbox permissions for real-world Lakeview Logistics scenarios — then test the permissions by sending email as a shared mailbox address.

Step 1 — Explore the Exchange admin centre (5 min)
Navigate to admin.exchange.microsoft.com. Explore the left navigation. Locate: Recipients → Mailboxes, Groups, Contacts, Resources. Mail flow → Rules, Connectors, Message Trace. Protection → Anti-spam. Record in your Lab Journal: how many user mailboxes exist, and what is the primary email domain shown for each?
Step 2 — Create shared mailboxes (15 min)
In the EAC: Recipients → Mailboxes → + Add a shared mailbox. Create the following three shared mailboxes:

Display name	Email address	Members (Full Access + Send As)
Lakeview Logistics Info	info@[yoursubdomain]	Sarah Chen, Marcus Webb
Accounts Payable	accounts@[yoursubdomain]	Priya Nair, Tom Bellamy
HR Department	hr@[yoursubdomain]	Diane Rousseau

Step 3 — Create resource mailboxes (10 min)
In the EAC: Recipients → Resources → + Add a resource. Create the following:

Display name	Type	Email address	Capacity / Notes
Boardroom	Room	boardroom@[yoursubdomain]	Capacity: 12 · Booking window: 180 days
Meeting Room A	Room	meetingrooma@[yoursubdomain]	Capacity: 6 · Booking window: 180 days
Company Van	Equipment	companyvan@[yoursubdomain]	No capacity · Auto-accept bookings

Step 4 — Configure mailbox permissions manually (15 min)
In the EAC, open the Accounts Payable shared mailbox → Delegation tab. Verify that Priya Nair and Tom Bellamy have both Full Access and Send As. If not, add them manually.

Then configure Send on Behalf for Marcus Webb on Kevin Park's user mailbox — Marcus will send emails on behalf of the Sales Manager when Kevin is unavailable.

Navigate to admin.microsoft.com → Users → Active users → Kevin Park → Mail tab → Manage mailbox permissions. Add Marcus Webb with Send on Behalf permission. Record the steps in your Lab Journal.
Step 5 — Configure resource mailbox booking settings (10 min)
In the EAC, click into Boardroom → Booking options. Configure:
· Auto-accept meeting requests: Yes
· Auto-decline conflicting requests: Yes
· Allow recurring meetings: Yes
· Maximum booking lead time: 180 days
· Maximum meeting duration: 480 minutes (8 hours)

Repeat for Meeting Room A with the same settings. For Company Van, enable auto-accept and set maximum duration to 600 minutes (10 hours).
Step 6 — Verify all mailboxes via PowerShell (10 min)
Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell:
Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName admin@[yoursubdomain]

Run the following to produce a mailbox inventory:
Get-Mailbox | Select-Object DisplayName, RecipientTypeDetails, PrimarySmtpAddress, ProhibitSendQuota | Sort-Object RecipientTypeDetails | Format-Table -AutoSize

Record the output in your Lab Journal. Confirm all mailbox types are present: UserMailbox, SharedMailbox, RoomMailbox, EquipmentMailbox.

Exchange Online PowerShell module: If not already installed, run Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement before connecting. This is a separate module from Microsoft Graph PowerShell — Exchange Online has its own management shell. Students will use both throughout Week 3.

Instructor note: Step 6's PowerShell output is a useful checkpoint — it confirms the lab state before Day 2 builds on it. If any mailbox type is missing, the issue is easier to diagnose from the output than from the admin centre. Have students screenshot or copy the output into their Lab Journal before disconnecting.

1:40 – 1:50 Bonus material · 10 min

⭐ Bonus: Mailbox quotas & litigation hold

⭐ Bonus A — Mailbox size quotas via PowerShell

Run the following to view quota settings for all user mailboxes:
Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Select-Object DisplayName, ProhibitSendQuota, ProhibitSendReceiveQuota, IssueWarningQuota | Format-Table -AutoSize
Set a custom quota for the Accounts Payable shared mailbox:
Set-Mailbox "Accounts Payable" -ProhibitSendQuota 45GB -ProhibitSendReceiveQuota 50GB -IssueWarningQuota 40GB -UseDatabaseQuotaDefaults $false
Verify the change: Get-Mailbox "Accounts Payable" | Select-Object *Quota*
In your Lab Journal: what are the three quota thresholds, what happens at each one, and why would you set a higher quota on an Accounts Payable mailbox than a standard user mailbox?

⭐ Bonus B — Litigation hold introduction

In the EAC, open any user mailbox → Others tab → Litigation hold → Enable
Set hold duration to 2555 days (7 years) and add a note: "Litigation hold — financial records retention"
Verify via PowerShell: Get-Mailbox -Identity [user] | Select-Object LitigationHoldEnabled, LitigationHoldDuration, LitigationHoldOwner
In your Lab Journal: what does litigation hold do to a mailbox that a standard deletion does not protect against? When would a real organisation apply this, and what legal context typically triggers it?

1:50 – 2:00 Debrief · 10 min

Reflection & preview

Ask: "The info@ shared mailbox has Send As granted to Sarah Chen. She sends an email from it. What does the recipient see in the From field?" — verify understanding of Send As vs Send on Behalf
Ask: "A user books the Boardroom for 9am–5pm every day for the next 6 months. Is that allowed with the current booking settings? What would you change to prevent it?" — surface resource mailbox booking policy considerations
Ask: "The Company Van resource mailbox auto-accepts all bookings. Two people book it for the same day. What happens?" — surface the conflict detection setting and its implications
Collect exit ticket: explain the difference between a shared mailbox and a distribution list — give a specific Lakeview Logistics scenario where each is the right choice
Preview Day 2: the mailboxes are built — now configure how email flows in and out, add DKIM signing, build DMARC, and learn to trace and diagnose mail delivery problems

Learning outcomes — by end of Day 1, students can…

Identify all mailbox typesDescribe user, shared, room, and equipment mailboxes and state the licence requirement for each

Create shared mailboxesProvision a shared mailbox with correct email address and delegate Full Access and Send As

Create resource mailboxesCreate room and equipment mailboxes with appropriate booking policies

Configure mailbox permissionsDistinguish Full Access, Send As, and Send on Behalf and apply each correctly

Audit mailboxes via PowerShellUse Get-Mailbox to produce a typed mailbox inventory and verify configuration

What you need ready

Exchange Online PowerShell module installed Week 2 assessments marked and returned Slide deck: mailbox types & permissions Lab 3-A step sheet

Day 2 →Course Outline