Locator and deprecation of Basic Authentication in Exchange Online

Background

Beginning October 1st, 2022, Microsoft will begin disabling Basic Authentication in Exchange Online (cf https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/clients-and-mobile-in-exchange-online/deprecation-of-basic-authentication-exchange-online, https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/basic-authentication-and-exchange-online-september-2021-update/ba-p/2772210 ).

This impacts older versions of the Exchange connector which connected to Exchange Online over EWS API using Basic Authentication.

We have released updated versions of the Exchange Connector which support connecting to Exchange Online over the Graph API, without relying on Basic Authentication

While Microsoft has granted its' customers a way to postpone this change, that will only last until January 2023 when Basic Authentication will be permanently disabled. Therefore, if you avail yourself of it, you should use the time to prepare your business environment to minimize the possible disruption.

If I was notified about this by Ayfie, does that mean I am affected?

No. The notification was sent to all active customers, as the Exchange Online capability is a default part of each Locator license.

Consequently, outside of installations deployed by Ayfie Professional Services Team, we cannot know who is actively using the Exchange connector, much less whether they use it with Exchange Online or On-Prem sources

What is the impact of losing the ability to connect to Exchange Online using Basic Authentication?

• Locator search will continue to work

• The Exchange Online connector will stop discovering, indexing or updating documents unless it is migrated

Do I need to update Locator and/or Supervisor?

Possibly.

• Any installations of Locator 2.9 or earlier must first be upgraded to the latest Locator 2.11, as the versions of the connector that support Graph API are only available for Locator 2.10 and 2.11,

• Any installations of Locator 2.10 are strongly recommended for upgrade to 2.11, as Locator 2.10 has been declared End of Life shortly after the release of the Graph API functionality and the EWS to Graph API migration tool, with subsequent patches to both being only released for Locator 2.11.

• Any installations of Locator 4.x will automatically update Locator and connectors upon restarting the Saga platform - please refer to https://ayfie-dev.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SAGA/pages/2400714758 for details

Do I need to update the Exchange connector?

• Any versions of Exchange connector earlier than 2.8.28 must be upgraded to at least 2.8.28 as the Graph API migration tool has not been released for earlier versions of the connector.

• Any installations of Locator 4.x will automatically update Locator and connectors upon restarting the Saga platform - please refer to for details

Migration Instructions

Locator 2.11 and Locator 4.x

• Disable all Exchange Online connections. This step is crucial. as otherwise documents may end up being duplicated

• Switch each connection that currently uses EWS to Graph API using the following instructions

Locator 2.11 - finding Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI

• To locate the Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI location using Powershell, you can enter the following command:
  cd (((Get-ItemProperty "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Virtual Works\ViaWorks" -Name "InstallDir")."InstallDir")+"\Exchange\Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI")

Locator 4.x - finding Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI

• To locate the Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI location using Powershell, you need to enter the following commands:
  docker exec -it ayfie-connector-exchange powershell
cd \Locator\Exchange\Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI

Locator 2.11 and Locator 4.x

• As described in the other KB, perform .\Via.Exchange.Tool.MigrationEWSToGraphAPI.exe /repository:444 for each Exchange Online repository to migrate, replacing 444 with the corresponding Repository ID found through the :

  Open

  

• Wait until the migration concludes

  Open

  

• Re-enable all previously disabled Exchange Online connections