Microsoft 365 network connectivity principles
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## Microsoft 365 architecture
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−Microsoft 365 is a distributed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud that provides productivity and collaboration scenarios through a diverse set of micro-services and applications. Examples include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online Protection, Office in a browser, and many others. While specific Microsoft 365 applications might have their unique features as it applies to customer network and connectivity to the cloud, they all share some key principals, goals, and architecture patterns. These principles and architecture patterns for connectivity are typical for many other SaaS clouds. At the same time, they're different from the typical deployment models of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service clouds, such as Microsoft Azure.
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+Microsoft 365 is a distributed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud that provides productivity and collaboration scenarios through a diverse set of micro-services and applications. Examples include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, Office in a browser, and many others. While specific Microsoft 365 applications might have their unique features as it applies to customer network and connectivity to the cloud, they all share some key principals, goals, and architecture patterns. These principles and architecture patterns for connectivity are typical for many other SaaS clouds. At the same time, they're different from the typical deployment models of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service clouds, such as Microsoft Azure.
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One of the most significant architectural features of Microsoft 365 (that is often missed or misinterpreted by network architects) is that it's a truly global distributed service, in the context of how users connect to it. The location of the target Microsoft 365 tenant is important to understand the locality of where customer data is stored within the cloud. However, the user experience with Microsoft 365 doesn't involve connecting directly to disks containing the data. The user experience with Microsoft 365 (including performance, reliability, and other important quality characteristics) involves connectivity through highly distributed service front doors that are scaled out across hundreds of Microsoft locations worldwide. In most cases, the best user experience is achieved by allowing the customer network to route user requests to the closest Microsoft 365 service entry point. This is preferable rather than connecting to Microsoft 365 through an egress point in a central location or region.
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