Monitoring the health of your services is critical for maintaining a smooth operation whether you’re an IT professional managing an organization’s resources or just individual users keen on staying abreast of your apps and services performances. The Microsoft 365 dashboard or the Tenant Dashboard offers a powerful tool to evaluate and determine the health status of your services. This follows through on the topics relevant to the MS-900 Microsoft 365 Fundamentals exam.
Microsoft 365 Dashboard
The Microsoft 365 Dashboard provides a single, unified view of the health status for your Microsoft 365 services. Any ongoing or past service incidents and advisories directly impacting your tenant are summarized neatly. By default, it shows the status of all services and features provided as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
To use the service health dashboard effectively, follow these simple steps:
- Login to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Navigate to Health > Service health.
- The default view seen here represents the service status for the past seven days.
Each service in this dashboard is represented by a unique square, and the color or symbol on it signifies the status of the service – green for without any issues, an exclamation mark for service advisory or red cross sign for service outage.
Tenant Dashboard
The Tenant Dashboard, known as Microsoft 365 admin center, also provides a consolidated view of the service health but with a detailed analysis. Using this, admins can monitor the services they have subscribed to and their current states.
If service issues arise, the Tenant Dashboard point out:
- which services are affected,
- the scope of the problem,
- start time of the incident,
- user impact, and
- current status and progress towards resolution.
To access this data, follow these steps:
- Login to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Navigate to Health > Service health or Incidents.
- Select an ongoing issue to check further details as outlined above.
Understanding Incident Lifecycle
Understanding the stages of an incident provides better clarity on the issue. Most incidents will transition through these five stages:
- Investigating: A potential issue has been identified, and Microsoft is investigating it.
- Mitigating: Microsoft has developed a potential solution and is testing it before deployment.
- Resolved: Issue has been addressed, and no user impact remains.
- Post-Incident Report: A summary of the incident, its impact, root cause analysis, and preventive measures.
- Additional details: Additional technical information regarding the incident.
Setting up Service Health Alerts
Both Microsoft 365 Dashboard and Tenant dashboards allow you to set up health alerts. By setting these alerts, the admin will be notified about the health status via email or text. This feature helps maintain an up-to-date understanding of the performance and integrity of the services.
Conclusion
Continuous monitoring of service health ensures an efficient and uninterrupted operation. Utilizing the Microsoft 365 dashboard and the Tenant dashboard, admins can keep a proactive eye on their infrastructure and react swiftly during any outages or disruptions. Being equipped with these tools and understanding how to interpret the data they provide is crucial, especially for those preparing for the MS-900 Microsoft 365 Fundamentals exam.
Practice Test
True or False: The Microsoft 365 service health dashboard provides real-time, detailed company-wide insights.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: The service health dashboard in the Microsoft 365 admin center enables to view the status of your services in real time and provides a variety of insights.
In the Microsoft 365 admin center, where can you find the Service health view?
- A. Under Health
- B. Under Services & add-ins
- C. Under Support
- D. Under Home
Answer: A. Under Health
Explanation: The Service health view is located under the “Health” option in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
True or False: The “Service Health” page in the M365 admin center only gives real-time status updates.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Apart from real-time service status, the Service Health page also provides historical service status data for up to 30 days
What is “Message center” in the context of Microsoft 365 Dashboard?
- A. A platform to communicate with Microsoft Support
- B. A place where you can check your emails
- C. A place where you can receive messages about your services
- D. A chat option to talk to your teammates
Answer: C. A place where you can receive messages about your services
Explanation: The Message center in the Microsoft 365 admin center is a place where you can receive messages about your services.
True or False: An admin needs to manually refresh the dashboard to see service status updates.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The Microsoft 365 service health status updates automatically, and admins do not need to manually refresh the page.
When viewing the Service Health dashboard, what does “Service Restored” mean?
- A. An issue has occurred
- B. An issue is currently taking place
- C. An issue has been fully resolved
- D. An issue might occur in the future
Answer: C. An issue has been fully resolved
Explanation: The “service restored” status on the Service Health dashboard indicates that the issue impacting the service has been fully resolved.
What does the “incident” term refer to in the Service Health dashboard?
- A. New features being added to your services
- B. A failure or degradation in a service or component
- C. Regular service maintenance
- D. Future plans for services
Answer: B. A failure or degradation in a service or component
Explanation: In the Service Health dashboard, the term “incident” denotes a failure or degradation of a service or component.
You can customize the service health view to display only those services that are relevant to your organization. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Admins can customize the view on the Service Health dashboard to show only the services relevant to their organization.
You can receive service incident notifications through email. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft allows you to set up incident notifications by email, so you’re promptly informed when there’s a service degradation or outage.
What does “Post-incident review (PIR)” refer to in the Service Health dashboard?
- A. A report generated after a service issue has been resolved
- B. The process of solving an incident
- C. A plan to prevent future incidents
- D. A real-time update on ongoing incidents
Answer: A. A report generated after a service issue has been resolved
Explanation: Post-incident review (PIR) is a report generated after a service issue has been resolved, offering details on the incident, its impact, and actions taken to resolve it. It may also include measures to prevent the incident from recurring.
Interview Questions
What is the Microsoft 365 dashboard primarily used for?
The Microsoft 365 dashboard is primarily used for monitoring the health status and activity of various services within a tenant.
How can you access the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to view service health?
To view service health in Microsoft 365, sign in to Microsoft 365 Admin Center, then navigate to the “Health” > “Service health” on the left-hand navigation panel.
What kind of information does the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard provide?
The service health dashboard provides information about the status of your Microsoft 365 services, any ongoing issues or outages, and past incidents.
What does “Service interruption” mean in the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard?
Service interruption represents an issue that impacts the normal functionality of a service or feature in Microsoft 365.
How can we receive notifications about service incident from Microsoft 365 service health dashboard?
You can set up email and text notifications for incident updates via Settings > Services & add-ins > Service Health > Preferences.
When we see a green check mark on the Microsoft 365 service health status, what does it represent?
A green check mark on the service health status indicates that all services are working correctly with no known issues.
What does the “Advisory” status on the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard mean?
Advisory status represents a situation where a service is working but there might be a known problem affecting some functionalities.
Where can I find detailed incident report in Microsoft 365 service health dashboard?
Detailed incident reports can be found by clicking on individual incidents listed on the Service health dashboard.
In what format can I download the incident reports?
Incident reports can be downloaded in PDF and CSV formats.
What is the tenant dashboard in Microsoft 365?
The tenant dashboard provides a view of the overall health status of all services in a Microsoft 365 tenant.
Can Microsoft 365 service health dashboard provide diagnostic reports for performance issues?
No, the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard provides information about service incidents and advisories but not comprehensive diagnostic reports.
What will be the impact of a ‘Restoring service’ status in the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard?
‘Restoring service’ status indicates that the service that had previously been interrupted is under recovery, but some functionalities may still be unavailable during this period.
How frequently is the service health information in Microsoft 365 dashboard updated?
The service health dashboard is updated in real-time, ensuring you have the latest health status of your services.
What kind of incidents does the Microsoft 365 service health dashboard report?
The dashboard reports incidents that impact services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, and others that are part of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Where can I find historical data about service incidents in Microsoft 365?
You can find historical data in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under “Health” > “Service Health”, and then by selecting “History”.
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