Description:

FAQ related to Basic authentication on Exchange Online disablement

Works with Evolve and Foundation versions.

Solution:

Q1: What is Microsoft changing that may impact Automate Evolve and Foundation customers?

Answer: Microsoft is disabling Basic Authentication on Exchange Online effective October 1, 2022. Please look into this article for details: Deprecation of Basic authentication in Exchange Online | Microsoft Docs

Q2: Can a customer get extension from Microsoft for not disabling the basic authentication for their tenant?

Answer: As per this article — Basic Authentication Deprecation in Exchange Online – May 2022 Update – Microsoft Tech Community. Microsoft have made it clear that extension is not possible.

They state the following in this article, please contact Microsoft directly for more information.

There is no way to request an exception after October. Tenant selection is random, and we cannot put your tenant to the back of the queue to give you more time or change your settings on any specific date. If you want Basic Auth to be disabled at a time of your choosing (either now, or as soon as you are ready), use Authentication Policies. More info on that below.

Q3: As a customer of Automate products, how do I know if I am impacted?

Answer: Only the customers using full Evolve or Foundation products using email approval feature (incoming emails sent to the product) with Microsoft Exchange online are impacted.

Below are the product lines that are NOT impacted:

• Studio (or module only licenses) with Connect 12.1 or 20.2
• Studio with LMS only
• Studio with User Governance or Central 11.x and 12.x
• Studio with Studio Manager 20.x

Below products ARE impacted if they are using Email approval feature (incoming emails sent to the product*) with Microsoft Exchange online:

• Foundation 12.x, 11.x and 10.7
• Evolve 20.2.x and below

*Note: If Foundation and Evolve customers are not using email approval feature (incoming emails sent to the product), then they are NOT impacted, and no action is required by these customers.

Q4: How do I check if I am using exchange online or exchange on-premises in Foundation or Evolve?

Answer: Evolve customers follow the steps below:

1. Open Administration App on Evolve site
2. Go to Settings -> Mail -> Incoming email settings
3. On the Incoming email settings page, check the details of exchange server to confirm if you are using exchange online or exchange on-premises.
4. Get Server parameter details and check with your IT team if this is Exchange Online URL or not.

Foundation customers follow the steps below:

1. Go to Workflow Central Admin site
2. Under Server Administration section, go to Configure Options page
3. Check the value of the following configuration keys server to confirm if you are using exchange online or exchange on-premises:
   1. EMailApprovalMailServer
   2. EMailApprovalMailServerPort
   3. EmailApprovalMailServerType

Get these parameter details and check with your IT team if these are Exchange Online details or not.

Q5: What are the next steps for impacted Evolve (versions 20.x) customers?

Answer: To address this issue, Precisely has released Evolve Server version 20.3 which adds support for this change. Impacted Evolve customers should upgrade their Evolve server to this version.

Customers currently on 20.2.9 need to upgrade only the Evolve server to 20.2.9 HF1, no need to upgrade Evolve Worker and Studio as 20.2.9 Worker and Studio are compatible with 20.2.9 HF1 Evolve server. Customer who are facing this issue and have received any patch on top of 20.2.9, please contact support to get a customed patch or installer.

Impacted Evolve customers can upgrade their Evolve systems on their own with the help of upgrade guides which can be received from the support team. Customers can also get paid help from the Precisely Professional Services team and partners in upgrades. If you are impacted by this change, please contact our customer support team.

Q6: What are the next steps for impacted Foundation (12.x, 11.x and 10.7) customers?

Answer: For Foundation 12.1 customers we will provide customer specific patches. The impacted Foundation customers should contact Precisely customer support and can request for a patch if they have an active maintenance agreement. While requesting support for a patch, please provide the following information:

• Current version of Winshuttle Workflow
• Incoming email configuration details about authentication. For this, please share the value of the following Workflow configuration keys:
  • EMailApprovalMailServer
  • EMailApprovalMailServerPort
  • EMailApprovalMailServerType
• If you received any patches from Winshuttle after your last upgrade and you have information available about those patches, please share that with the support team. This will be helpful to expedite merge those in the new patch.

Answer: For customers on Foundation 12.0 and below Microsoft modern authentication only works with TLS 1.2 and above, and we support strict TLS 1.2 only with Foundation version 12.1 and above. If you are on product version 10.x/11.x/12.0 then you need to upgrade to at least Foundation 12.1 to get patch to support Microsoft’s modern authentication or move to Evolve (Recommended) where this is already supported. 

Q7: Which email authentications are supported with Evolve 20.2.9 HF1 after Microsoft disables Basic Authentication on Exchange Online?

Answer: Following are the configurations supported with Evolve 20.2.9 HF1:-

*With non-MFA account only. Refer to this documentation from Microsoft for more information:
Turn off MFA for one user when Security Defaults are enabled – Microsoft Q&A

For new Tenant created on Microsoft Office 365 with Enable security defaults setting set to On by default, steps mentioned in the attached  document needs to be followed over Microsoft Exchange Online account. 

Q8: Where can I get the Evolve installers and their compatible Evolve Worker and Studio installers:

Answer: Please raise a support ticket to get the installers.

Note:– Please find enclosed documents created by engineering for SMTP settings over Exchange Online and document for OAuth Authentication Apps setup.