Dynamic Distribution Groups Test

A dynamic distribution group is created dynamically when an email is being sent to the particular group based on some pre-defined rules or conditions. When configuring such a group, you need to choose the type of recipients who need to be automatically added as members of the group, and also define the other rules that govern membership. The group will be dynamically created with members who are of the recipient type chosen and who fulfill the defined rules .

Since these groups are auto-created, administrators may, on a daily basis, have to manually check whether any new dynamic distribution group has been created or not. Likewise, since the group configuration may also change dynamically, administrators will also need to keep reviewing the configuration periodically to capture modifications. For similar reasons, empty groups may also go undetected by administrators. To enable administrators to easily and efficiently manage dynamic distribution groups, it will be good practice to periodically run the Dynamic Distribution Groups test.

This test promptly alerts administrators when a new dynamic distribution group is created, modified, or deleted. Furthermore, the test also notifies administrators if any dynamic distribution group is found to be empty or orphaned. To know which dynamic distribution groups were newly created, modified, deleted, orphaned, or empty, you can use the detailed statistics reported by this test.

Target of the test : Exchange Online

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Office 365 tenant being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured. By default, this is portal.office.com
Tenant Name	This parameter applies only if you want the eG agent to use Azure AD Certificate-based Authentication for accessing and monitoring an O365 tenant and its resources. Azure AD certificate-based authentication (CBA) enables customers to allow or require users to authenticate with X.509 certificates against their Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for applications and browser sign-in. When monitoring highly secure Office 365 environments, you can configure the eG agent to identify itself to a tenant using a valid X.509 certificate, so that it is allowed secure access to the tenant and its resources. By default, the value of this parameter is none. This means that, by default, the eG agent does not use certificate-based authentication to connect to an O365 tenant. On the other hand, if you want the eG agent to use this modern authentication technique to securely access a tenant's resources, you should do the following: Enable Azure AD Certificate-based authentication for the target O365 tenant; this can be achieved manually, via the Office 365 portal, or automatically, using Powershell scripts we provide. For the manual procedure, refer to Manually Enabling Certificate-based Authentication For an Office 365 Tenantunder Microsoft Office 365. For the automatic procedure, refer to Automatically Fulfilling Pre-requisites in a Modern Authentication-Enabled Environmentunder Microsoft Office 365. When enabling certificate-based authentication, an X.509 certificate will be generated for the target tenant. Configure the Tenant Name parameter with the name of the tenant for which certificate-based authentication is enabled. Using the tenant name, the eG agent will be able to read the details of the X.509 certificate that is generated for that tenant, and use that certificate to access that tenant's resources. To determine the tenant name, do the following: Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center as an administrator. Under Setup, click on Domains. Find a domain that ends with .onmicrosoft.com - this is your Microsoft O365 tenant name.
O365 User Name, O365 Password, and Confirm Password	These parameters need to be configured only if the Tenant Name parameter is set to none. On the other hand, if a valid Tenant Name is configured, then you should set these parameters to none . For execution, this test requires the privileges of an O365 user who is vested with the View-Only Audit Logs, View-Only Recipients, Mail Recipients, and Mailbox Import Export permissions. Configure the credentials of such a user against O365 User Name and O365 Password text boxes. Confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. While you can use the credentials of any existing O365 user with the afore-said privileges, it is recommended that you create a special user for monitoring purposes using the Office 365 portal and use the credentials of that user here. To know how to create a new user using the Office 365 portal and assign the required privileges to that user, refer to Creating a New User in the Office 365 Portal under Microsoft Office 365. You can also use eG's proprietary PowerShell script to automatically create a new user, or assign the required privileges to an existing user. To know how to use this script, refer to theAutomatically Fulfilling Pre-requisites in a Basic Authentication-Enabled Environmenttopic.
Domain, Domain User Name, Domain Password, and Confirm Password	These parameters are applicable only if the eG agent needs to communicate with the Office 365 portal via a Proxy server. In this case, in the Domain text box, specify the name of the Windows domain to which the eG agent host belongs. In the Domain User Name text box, mention the name of a valid domain user with login rights to the eG agent host. Provide the password of that user in the Domain Password text box and confirm that password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. On the other hand, if the eG agent is not behind a Proxy server, then you need not disturb the default setting of these parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none.
Proxy Host, Proxy Port, Proxy User Name, and Proxy Password	These parameters are applicable only if the eG agent needs to communicate with the Office 365 portal via a Proxy server. In this case, provide the IP/host name and port number of the Proxy server that the eG agent should use in the Proxy Host and Proxy Port parameters, respectively. If the Proxy server requires authentication, then specify the credentials of a valid Proxy user against the Proxy User Name and Proxy Password text boxes. Confirm that password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. If the Proxy server does not require authentication, then specify none against the Proxy User Name, Proxy Password, and Confirm Password text boxes. On the other hand, if the eG agent is not behind a Proxy server, then you need not disturb the default setting of any of the Proxy-related parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none.
DD Frequency	Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time the test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD Frequency.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enabled/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Modified groups	Indicates the number of dynamic distribution groups that were modified during the last measurement period.	Number	Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which groups were modified and when.
Newly created groups	Indicates the number of groups that were newly created during the last measurement period.	Number	Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which groups were created, when.
Soft deleted groups	Indicates the number of groups that have been soft-deleted.	Number	If you have deleted an Office 365 group, by default it's retained for 30 days. This 30-day period is called "soft-delete" because you can still restore the group. After 30 days, the group and associated content is permanently deleted and cannot be restored. During the "soft-delete" period if a user tries to access the site they will get a 403 forbidden message. After this period if the user tries to access the site they will get a 404 not found message. Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which groups were soft-deleted and when.
Total groups	Indicates the total number of dynamic distribution groups.	Number
Orphaned groups	Indicates the number of groups that are orphaned/ownerless.	Number	If a group owner leaves your company the group could find itself without an owner. Such a group is called an Orphaned group. The content in the group is unaffected by this - the content belongs to the group and isn't tied to the owner's account. But not having a group owner means there's nobody with permissions to manage the group. Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which groups are orphaned / ownerless.
Empty groups	Indicates the number of groups that are empty currently.	Number	Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to identify the empty groups. If any group is found to be empty for too long a time, you may want to delete such a group.

The detailed diagnosis of the Modified groups measure reveals the names of the groups that were modified recently, when such groups were created, and when the modification occurred. This enables administrators easily track changes to groups. Also, the current status of each group is revealed, so that administrators can accurately pinpoint inactive groups.

Figure 1 : The detailed diagnosis of the Modified groups measure reported by the Dynamic Distribution Groups test

The detailed diagnosis of the Empty groups measure reveals the names of the empty groups, when such groups were created, whether/not the group configuration changed recently and if so when, and the current status of the groups. If an empty group is found to be inactive as well, you may want to delete the group.

Figure 2 : The detailed diagnosis of the Empty groups measure reported by the Dynamic Distribution Groups test