Microsoft's edit · Managing Microsoft 365 endpoints

33 ms.author: kvice

44 author: kelleyvice-msft

55 manager: scotv

6 −ms.date: 08/10/2020

6 +ms.date: 10/30/2023

77 audience: ITPro

88 ms.topic: conceptual

99 ms.service: microsoft-365-enterprise

2424

2525 # Managing Microsoft 365 endpoints

2626

27 −Most enterprise organizations that have multiple office locations and a connecting WAN will need configuration for Microsoft 365 network connectivity. You can optimize your network by sending all trusted Microsoft 365 network requests directly through your firewall, bypassing all extra packet level inspection or processing. This reduces latency and your perimeter capacity requirements. Identifying Microsoft 365 network traffic is the first step in providing optimal performance for your users. For more information, see [Microsoft 365 Network Connectivity Principles](microsoft-365-network-connectivity-principles.md).

27 +Most enterprise organizations that have multiple office locations and a connecting WAN need configuration for Microsoft 365 network connectivity. You can optimize your network by sending all trusted Microsoft 365 network requests directly through your firewall, bypassing all extra packet level inspection or processing. This reduces latency and your perimeter capacity requirements. Identifying Microsoft 365 network traffic is the first step in providing optimal performance for your users. For more information, see [Microsoft 365 Network Connectivity Principles](microsoft-365-network-connectivity-principles.md).

2828

2929 Microsoft recommends you access the Microsoft 365 network endpoints and ongoing changes to them using the [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md).

3030

3131 Regardless of how you manage vital Microsoft 365 network traffic, Microsoft 365 requires Internet connectivity. Other network endpoints where connectivity is required are listed at [Additional endpoints not included in the Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web service](additional-office365-ip-addresses-and-urls.md).

3232

33 −How you use the Microsoft 365 network endpoints will depend on your enterprise organization network architecture. This article outlines several ways that enterprise network architectures can integrate with Microsoft 365 IP addresses and URLs. The easiest way to choose which network requests to trust is to use SD-WAN devices that support automated Microsoft 365 configuration at each of your office locations.

33 +How you use the Microsoft 365 network endpoints depends on your enterprise organization network architecture. This article outlines several ways that enterprise network architectures can integrate with Microsoft 365 IP addresses and URLs. The easiest way to choose which network requests to trust is to use SD-WAN devices that support automated Microsoft 365 configuration at each of your office locations.

3434

3535 ## SD-WAN for local branch egress of vital Microsoft 365 network traffic

3636

4141 ## Use a PAC file for direct routing of vital Microsoft 365 traffic

4242 <a name="pacfiles"> </a>

4343

44 −Use PAC or WPAD files to manage network requests that are associated with Microsoft 365 but don't have an IP address. Typical network requests that are sent through a proxy or perimeter device increase latency. While SSL Break and Inspect creates the largest latency, other services such as proxy authentication and reputation lookup can cause poor performance and a bad user experience. Additionally, these perimeter network devices need enough capacity to process all of the network connection requests. We recommend bypassing your proxy or inspection devices for direct Microsoft 365 network requests.

44 +Use PAC or WPAD files to manage network requests that are associated with Microsoft 365 but don't have an IP address. Typical network requests that are sent through a proxy or perimeter device increase latency. While TLS Break and Inspect creates the largest latency, other services such as proxy authentication and reputation lookup can cause poor performance and a bad user experience. Additionally, these perimeter network devices need enough capacity to process all of the network connection requests. We recommend bypassing your proxy or inspection devices for direct Microsoft 365 network requests.

4545

4646 [PowerShell Gallery Get-PacFile](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Get-PacFile) is a PowerShell script that reads the latest network endpoints from the Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web service and creates a sample PAC file. You can modify the script so that it integrates with your existing PAC file management.

4747

5454

5555 The PAC file is deployed to web browsers at point 1 in Figure 1. When using a PAC file for direct egress of vital Microsoft 365 network traffic, you also need to allow connectivity to the IP addresses behind these URLs on your network perimeter firewall. This is done by fetching the IP addresses for the same Microsoft 365 endpoint categories as specified in the PAC file and creating firewall ACLs based on those addresses. The firewall is point 3 in Figure 1.

5656

57 −Separately if you choose to only do direct routing for the Optimize category endpoints, any required Allow category endpoints that you send to the proxy server will need to be listed in the proxy server to bypass further processing. For example, SSL break and Inspect and Proxy Authentication are incompatible with both the Optimize and Allow category endpoints. The proxy server is point 2 in Figure 1.

57 +Separately if you choose to only do direct routing for the Optimize category endpoints, any required Allow category endpoints that you send to the proxy server needs to be listed in the proxy server to bypass further processing. For example, TLS break and Inspect and Proxy Authentication are incompatible with both the Optimize and Allow category endpoints. The proxy server is point 2 in Figure 1.

5858

59 −The common configuration is to permit without processing all outbound traffic from the proxy server for the destination IP addresses for Microsoft 365 network traffic that hits the proxy server. For information about issues with SSL Break and Inspect, see [Using third-party network devices or solutions on Microsoft 365 traffic](https://support.microsoft.com/help/2690045/using-third-party-network-devices-or-solutions-with-office-365).

59 +The common configuration is to permit without processing all outbound traffic from the proxy server for the destination IP addresses for Microsoft 365 network traffic that hits the proxy server. For information about issues with TLS Break and Inspect, see [Using third-party network devices or solutions on Microsoft 365 traffic](https://support.microsoft.com/help/2690045/using-third-party-network-devices-or-solutions-with-office-365).

6060

61 −There are two types of PAC files that the Get-PacFile script will generate.

61 +There are two types of PAC files that the Get-PacFile script generates.

6262

6363 | Type | Description |

6464 |:-----|:-----|

8080 |**TenantName** |Your Microsoft 365 tenant name. Passed to the web service and used as a replaceable parameter in some Microsoft 365 URLs. |

8181 |**Type** |The type of the proxy PAC file that you want to generate. |

8282

83 −Here's another example of calling the PowerShell script with additional parameters:

83 +Here's another example of calling the PowerShell script with more parameters:

8484

8585 ```powershell

8686 Get-PacFile -Type 2 -Instance Worldwide -TenantName Contoso -ClientRequestId b10c5ed1-bad1-445f-b386-b919946339a7

9090

9191 Where PAC files aren't used for direct outbound traffic, you still want to bypass processing on your network perimeter by configuring your proxy server. Some proxy server vendors have enabled automated configuration of this as described in the [Microsoft 365 Networking Partner Program](microsoft-365-networking-partner-program.md).

9292

93 −If you're doing this manually, you'll need to get the Optimize and Allow endpoint category data from the Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service and configure your proxy server to bypass processing for these. It is important to avoid SSL Break and Inspect and Proxy Authentication for the Optimize and Allow category endpoints.

93 +If you do this manually, you need to get the Optimize and Allow endpoint category data from the Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service and configure your proxy server to bypass processing for these. It's important to avoid TLS Break and Inspect and Proxy Authentication for the Optimize and Allow category endpoints.

9494

9595 ## Change management for Microsoft 365 IP addresses and URLs

9696 <a name="bkmk_changes"> </a>

9797

98 −In addition to selecting appropriate configuration for your network perimeter, it's critical that you adopt a change management process for Microsoft 365 endpoints. These endpoints change regularly and if you don't manage the changes, you can end up with users blocked or with poor performance after a new IP address or URL is added.

98 +In addition to selecting appropriate configuration for your network perimeter, it's critical that you adopt a change management process for Microsoft 365 endpoints. These endpoints change regularly. If you don't manage the changes, you can end up with users blocked or with poor performance after a new IP address or URL is added.

9999

100 −Changes to the Microsoft 365 IP addresses and URLs are usually published near the last day of each month. Sometimes a change will be published outside of that schedule due to operational, support, or security requirements.

100 +Changes to the Microsoft 365 IP addresses and URLs are usually published near the last day of each month. Sometimes a change is published outside of that schedule due to operational, support, or security requirements.

101101

102 −When a change is published that requires you to act because an IP address or URL was added, you should expect to receive 30 days notice from the time we publish the change until there's a Microsoft 365 service on that endpoint. This is reflected as the Effective Date. Although we aim for this notification period, it may not always be possible due to operational, support, or security requirements. Changes that don't require immediate action to maintain connectivity, such as removed IP addresses or URLs or less significant changes, don't include advance notification. In these instances, no Effective Date will be provided. Regardless of what notification is provided, we list the expected service active date for each change.

102 +When a change is published that requires you to act because an IP address or URL was added, you should expect to receive 30 days notice from the time we publish the change until there's a Microsoft 365 service on that endpoint. This is reflected as the Effective Date. Although we aim for this notification period, it might not always be possible due to operational, support, or security requirements. Changes that don't require immediate action to maintain connectivity, such as removed IP addresses or URLs or less significant changes, don't include advance notification. In these instances, no Effective Date is provided. Regardless of what notification is provided, we list the expected service active date for each change.

103103

104104 ### Change notification using the Web Service

105105

109109

110110 ### Change notification using RSS feeds

111111

112 −The Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service provides an RSS feed that you can subscribe to in Outlook. There are links to the RSS URLs on each of the Microsoft 365 service instance-specific pages for the IP addresses and URLs. For more information, see [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md).

112 +The Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service provide an RSS feed that you can subscribe to in Outlook. There are links to the RSS URLs on each of the Microsoft 365 service instance-specific pages for the IP addresses and URLs. For more information, see [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web Service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md).

113113

114114 ### Change notification and approval review using Power Automate

115115

124124

125125 ### How do I submit a question?

126126

127 −Click the link at the bottom to indicate if the article was helpful or not and submit any additional questions. We monitor the feedback and update the questions here with the most frequently asked.

127 +Select the link at the bottom to indicate if the article was helpful or not and submit any more questions. We monitor the feedback and update the questions here with the most frequently asked.

128128

129129 ### How do I determine the location of my tenant?

130130

144144 See an IP associated with Microsoft 365 that you want more information on?

145145

146146 1. Check if the IP address is included in a larger published range using a CIDR calculator, such as these for [IPv4](https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr) or [IPv6](https://www.ipaddressguide.com/ipv6-cidr). For example, 40.96.0.0/13 includes the IP Address 40.103.0.1 despite 40.96 not matching 40.103.

147 −2. See if a partner owns the IP with a [whois query](https://dnsquery.org/). If it's Microsoft owned, it may be an internal partner. Many partner network endpoints are listed as belonging to the _default_ category, for which IP addresses aren't published.

148 −3. The IP address may not be part of Microsoft 365 or a dependency. Microsoft 365 network endpoint publishing doesn't include all of Microsoft network endpoints.

147 +2. See if a partner owns the IP with a [whois query](https://dnsquery.org/). If it's Microsoft owned, it might be an internal partner. Many partner network endpoints are listed as belonging to the _default_ category, for which IP addresses aren't published.

148 +3. The IP address might not be part of Microsoft 365 or a dependency. Microsoft 365 network endpoint publishing doesn't include all of Microsoft network endpoints.

149149 4. Check the certificate. With a browser, connect to the IP address using *HTTPS://\<IP_ADDRESS\>* and check the domains listed on the certificate to understand what domains are associated with the IP address. If it's a Microsoft-owned IP address and not on the list of Microsoft 365 IP addresses, it's likely the IP address is associated with a Microsoft CDN such as *MSOCDN.NET* or another Microsoft domain without published IP information. If you do find the domain on the certificate is one where we claim to list the IP address, please let us know.

150150

151151 ### Some Microsoft 365 URLs point to CNAME records instead of A records in the DNS. What do I have to do with the CNAME records?

152152 <a name="bkmk_cname"> </a>

153153

154 −Client computers need a DNS A or AAAA record that includes one or more IP address(es) to connect to a cloud service. Some URLs included in Microsoft 365 show CNAME records instead of A or AAAA records. These CNAME records are intermediary and there may be several in a chain. They will always eventually resolve to an A or AAAA record for an IP Address. For example, consider the following series of DNS records, which ultimately resolves to the IP address _IP_1_:

154 +Client computers need a DNS A or AAAA record that includes one or more IP address(es) to connect to a cloud service. Some URLs included in Microsoft 365 show CNAME records instead of A or AAAA records. These CNAME records are intermediary and there might be several in a chain. They'll always eventually resolve to an A or AAAA record for an IP Address. For example, consider the following series of DNS records, which ultimately resolve to the IP address _IP_1_:

155155

156156 ```console

157157 serviceA.office.com -> CNAME: serviceA.domainA.com -> CNAME: serviceA.domainB.com -> A: IP_1

158158 ```

159159

160 −These CNAME redirects are a normal part of the DNS and are transparent to the client computer and transparent to proxy servers. They are used for load balancing, content delivery networks, high availability, and service incident mitigation. Microsoft doesn't publish the intermediary CNAME records, they are subject to change at any time, and you shouldn't need to configure them as allowed in your proxy server.

160 +These CNAME redirects are a normal part of the DNS and are transparent to the client computer and transparent to proxy servers. They're used for load balancing, content delivery networks, high availability, and service incident mitigation. Microsoft doesn't publish the intermediary CNAME records, they're subject to change at any time, and you shouldn't need to configure them as allowed in your proxy server.

161161

162 −A proxy server validates the initial URL, which in the above example is serviceA.office.com, and this URL would be included in Microsoft 365 publishing. The proxy server requests DNS resolution of that URL to an IP Address and will receive back IP_1. It doesn't validate the intermediary CNAME redirection records.

162 +A proxy server validates the initial URL, which in the above example is serviceA.office.com, and this URL would be included in Microsoft 365 publishing. The proxy server requests DNS resolution of that URL to an IP Address and receives back IP_1. It doesn't validate the intermediary CNAME redirection records.

163163

164 −Hard-coded configurations or using an allowlist based on indirect Microsoft 365 FQDNs aren't recommended, not supported by Microsoft, and are known to cause customer connectivity issues. DNS solutions that block on CNAME redirection, or that otherwise incorrectly resolve Microsoft 365 DNS entries, can be solved via DNS forwarders with DNS recursion enabled or by using DNS root hints. Many third-party network perimeter products natively integrate recommended Microsoft 365 endpoint to include an allowlist in their configuration using the [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md).

164 +Hard-coded configurations or using an allowlist based on indirect Microsoft 365 FQDNs aren't recommended and not supported by Microsoft. They are known to cause customer connectivity issues. DNS solutions that block on CNAME redirection, or that otherwise incorrectly resolve Microsoft 365 DNS entries, can be solved via DNS forwarders with DNS recursion enabled or by using DNS root hints. Many third-party network perimeter products natively integrate recommended Microsoft 365 endpoint to include an allowlist in their configuration using the [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md).

165165

166166 ### Why do I see names such as nsatc.net or akadns.net in the Microsoft domain names?

167167 <a name="bkmk_akamai"> </a>

168168

169 −Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft services use several third-party services such as Akamai and MarkMonitor to improve your Microsoft 365 experience. To keep giving you the best experience possible, we may change these services in the future. Third-party domains may host content, such as a CDN, or they may host a service, such as a geographical traffic management service. Some of the services currently in use include:

169 +Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft services use several third-party services such as Akamai and MarkMonitor to improve your Microsoft 365 experience. To keep giving you the best experience possible, we might change these services in the future. Third-party domains might host content, such as a CDN, or they might host a service, such as a geographical traffic management service. Some of the services currently in use include:

170170

171171 [MarkMonitor](https://www.markmonitor.com/) is in use when you see requests that include *\*.nsatc.net*. This service provides domain name protection and monitoring to protect against malicious behavior.

172172

191191

192192 As Microsoft 365 is a suite of services built to function over the internet, the reliability and availability promises are based on many standard internet services being available. For example, standard internet services such as DNS, CRL, and CDNs must be reachable to use Microsoft 365 just as they must be reachable to use most modern internet services.

193193

194 −The Microsoft 365 suite is broken down into major service areas. These can be selectively enabled for connectivity and there's a Common area, which is a dependency for all and is always required.

194 +The Microsoft 365 suite is broken down into major service areas. These areas can be selectively enabled for connectivity and there's a Common area, which is a dependency for all and is always required.

195195

196196 | Service Area | Description |

197197 |:-----|:-----|

200200 |**Skype for Business Online and Microsoft Teams** |Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams |

201201 |**Common** |Microsoft 365 Pro Plus, Office in a browser, Microsoft Entra ID, and other common network endpoints |

202202

203 −In addition to basic internet services, there are third-party services that are only used to integrate functionality. While these are needed for integration, they're marked as optional in the Microsoft 365 endpoints article, which means core functionality of the service will continue to function if the endpoint isn't accessible. Any network endpoint that is required will have the required attribute set to true. Any network endpoint that is optional will have the required attribute set to false and the notes attribute will detail the missing functionality you should expect if connectivity is blocked.

203 +In addition to basic internet services, there are third-party services that are only used to integrate functionality. While these services are needed for integration, they're marked as optional in the Microsoft 365 endpoints article. This means core functionality of the service continues to function if the endpoint isn't accessible. Any network endpoint that is required has the required attribute set to true. Any network endpoint that is optional has the required attribute set to false and the notes attribute detail the missing functionality you should expect if connectivity is blocked.

204204

205 −If you're trying to use Microsoft 365 and are finding third-party services aren't accessible, you'll want to [ensure all FQDNs marked required or optional in this article are allowed through the proxy and firewall](urls-and-ip-address-ranges.md).

205 +If you're trying to use Microsoft 365 and are finding third-party services aren't accessible, you want to [ensure all FQDNs marked required or optional in this article are allowed through the proxy and firewall](urls-and-ip-address-ranges.md).

206206

207207 <a name="bkmk_consumer"> </a>

208208 ### How do I block access to Microsoft's consumer services?

209209

210 −The tenant restrictions feature now supports blocking the use of all Microsoft consumer applications (MSA apps) such as OneDrive, Hotmail, and Xbox.com. This uses a separate header to the login.live.com endpoint. For more information, see [Use tenant restrictions to manage access to SaaS cloud applications](/azure/active-directory/manage-apps/tenant-restrictions#blocking-consumer-applications).

210 +The tenant restrictions feature now supports blocking the use of all Microsoft consumer applications (MSA apps) such as OneDrive, Hotmail, and Xbox.com. This feature uses a separate header to the login.live.com endpoint. For more information, see [Use tenant restrictions to manage access to SaaS cloud applications](/azure/active-directory/manage-apps/tenant-restrictions#blocking-consumer-applications).

211211

212212 <a name="bkmk_IPOnlyFirewall"> </a>

213213

214214 ### My firewall requires IP Addresses and cannot process URLs. How do I configure it for Microsoft 365?

215215

216 −Microsoft 365 doesn't provide IP addresses of all required network endpoints. Some are provided as URLs only and are categorized as default. URLs in the default category that are required should be allowed through a proxy server. If you don't have a proxy server, look at how you have configured web requests for URLs that users type into the address bar of a web browser; the user doesn't provide an IP address either. The Microsoft 365 default category URLs that do not provide IP addresses should be configured in the same way.

216 +Microsoft 365 doesn't provide IP addresses of all required network endpoints. Some are provided as URLs only and are categorized as default. URLs in the default category that are required should be allowed through a proxy server. If you don't have a proxy server, look at how you have configured web requests for URLs that users type into the address bar of a web browser; the user doesn't provide an IP address either. The Microsoft 365 default category URLs that don't provide IP addresses should be configured in the same way.

217217

218 −## Related topics

218 +## Related articles

219219

220220 [Microsoft 365 IP Address and URL Web service](microsoft-365-ip-web-service.md)

221221

Managing Microsoft 365 endpoints

Microsoft's edit · 30 Oct 2023 13:32 UTC