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Baseline Management

The baseline management functionality is a robust tool designed to streamline the management of tenant configurations, enabling users to efficiently maintain and standardize tenant configurations, monitor tenant configuration deviations, and restore tenant configurations to a known good state.

Supported environments: Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 for GCC, Microsoft 365 for GCC High, and 21Vianet.

The process of managing tenant configurations involves the following steps:

  1. Add tenant – You need to add the tenants that you want to manage using Elements. See Add a Tenant.

  2. Create baseline – You need to create a baseline to establish benchmarks for tenant configurations. See Create a baseline.

  3. Deploy configurations to tenant – Deploy configurations to a tenant to standardize tenant configurations and monitor tenant configurations to detect deviations. See Deploy Configurations to a Tenant.

  4. Restore configurations to tenant – In case of issues or unexpected modifications, you can restore the tenant configurations to a historical backup. See Restore Tenant Configurations.

  5. Manage detected configuration deviations – There are routine comparisons of current tenant configurations against deployed baseline standards to detect configuration deviations. You can view and manage these configuration deviations. For detailed instructions, refer to Manage Detected Configuration Deviations.

Tenants Page Overview

On the Baseline management > Tenants page, you can find all connected tenants with the following details. You can click Refresh to refresh the information on this page.

  • Tenant – The tenant name together with the customer’s organization name are displayed. Once there is a backup for the tenant, the tenant name will be clickable. You can click the tenant name to view the current configurations of that tenant.

    The tenant name will not be clickable if the tenant is currently in any of the following process statuses: Retrieving settings, Deploying, and Restoring. Please wait until the process is complete before you attempt to click the tenant name.

    If a tenant has been used to create a baseline, a Pinned icon will appear next to the tenant name. By hovering over the icon, all baselines created from this tenant are listed in chronological order, with the oldest baseline displayed at the top.

    Some indicators to the tenant:

    • Compliant – Appears when no configuration deviations have been detected.

    • Non-compliant – Appears when configuration deviations are detected.

    • Auto-alignment enabled – Appears when auto-alignment is enabled for the tenant.

    • Monitor only – Appears when auto-alignment is not enabled for the tenant.

    • Out of policy – Appears when the number of assigned licenses exceeds the quantity purchased for this service. There is a 15-day grace period. After that, service jobs will be automatically suspended, and reports will stop updating.

    • New baseline version – Appears when the deployed baseline has a new published version that can be pushed to the tenant.

  • Status – The status of the tenant is displayed, and some statuses are clickable. For tenants with different statuses, the available operations are different.

    • Connected – This status appears when the tenant has been connected, and no baselines have been deployed to the tenant. Once a tenant is connected, a default daily backup of tenant configurations will automatically start every day at 00:00.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • Disconnect tenant

      • View change log

        This button will be available only after a user edits tenant configurations and save updates.

    • Expired – This status appears when the subscription for this service has expired. You can click the status to edit the subscription for this service.

    • Retrieving settings – This status appears during the process of applying a baseline to the tenant, deploying configurations to the tenant, and restoring tenant configurations to a specific date.

      If a baseline has been deployed to the tenant before, the following buttons will be available:

      • View configurations

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Enable auto-alignment

      • Manage drift notification

      • Set drift detection frequency

    • Settings retrieval failed (clickable) – This status appears when errors occur during the process of applying a baseline to the tenant, deploying configurations to the tenant, and restoring tenant configurations to a specific date.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details or click Retry to try again.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View configurations

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

      • Enable auto-alignment

      • Manage drift notification

      • Set drift detection frequency

    • Review deployment (clickable) – This status appears after you have applied a baseline to the tenant and a comparison page is generated or after you have changed the baseline of the tenant and a comparison page is generated.

      You can click the status link to open the comparison page where you can review discrepancies between the tenant’s current configurations and the applied baseline, make updates as needed, and deploy the reviewed configurations to the tenant. For detailed instructions, refer to Deploy Configurations to a Tenant.

      NOTE

      If some configurations were retrieved with exceptions, a Warning icon will appear indicating that {X} configurations were retrieved with exceptions and instances of these configurations will not appear in the configuration comparisons page. You can click this icon to retry the operation or export a detailed report. Despite exceptions, you can still review discrepancies between the tenant’s current configurations and proceed with deploying the reviewed configurations to the tenant.

      If you choose not to proceed, you can discard the review process. This action will cancel the operation, remove the review link, and return the tenant to its previous status. For detailed instructions, refer to Discard Review Process.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Deployment draft saved – This status appears after you have reviewed the configurations on the comparisons page and saved them as draft. Configurations are waiting to be deployed. When it is ready to deploy, you need to manually deploy the configurations to the tenant. For detailed instructions, refer to Deploy Configurations to a Tenant.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Scheduled deployment – This status appears after you have reviewed the configurations on the comparisons page and set a future date and time to deploy the configurations. Configurations will be deployed at the specified date and time. If you do not want to wait, you can manually start the deployment. For detailed instructions, refer to Deploy Configurations to a Tenant.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Deploy

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Deploying – This status appears during the processing of the deployment.

    • Deployed with exception (clickable) – This status appears when the deployment finished with exceptions. The total number of instances and the number of deployed instances are displayed in the Tooltip icon.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details or click Retry to try again.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Deployment failed (clickable) – This status appears when the deployment failed.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details or click Retry to try again.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Monitoring – This status appears when the deployment is successful.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Set drift notification

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Review restore (clickable) – This status appears after you restore the tenant to a specific date and a comparisons page is generated. You can click the status link to open the comparison page where you can review configurations, make updates, and restore the reviewed configurations to the tenant. For detailed instructions, refer to Restore Tenant Configurations.

      If some configurations were retrieved with exceptions, a Warning icon will appear indicating that {X} configurations were retrieved with exceptions and instances of these configurations will not appear in the configuration comparisons page. You can click this icon to retry the operation or export a detailed report. Despite exceptions, you can still review discrepancies between the tenant’s current configurations and proceed with restoring the reviewed configurations to the tenant.

      If you choose not to proceed, you can discard the review process. This action will cancel the operation, remove the review link, and return the tenant to its previous status. For detailed instructions, refer to Discard Review Process.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Scheduled restore – This status appears after you have reviewed the configurations on the comparisons page and set a future date and time to restore the configurations. Configurations will be restored at the specified date and time. For detailed instructions, refer to Restore Tenant Configurations.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Restoring – This status appears during the process of the restore.

    • Restored with exception (clickable) – This status appears when the restore finished with exceptions. The total number of configurations and the number of restored configurations are displayed.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details or click Retry to try again.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Restore failed (clickable) – This status appears when the restore failed.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details or click Retry to try again.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

    • Restored – This status appears when the restore is successful.

      When a tenant with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Create baseline from tenant

      • Apply baseline

      • View configurations

      • Restore to a specific date

      • View change log

      • Manage domain mappings

      • Disconnect tenant

  • Drift detection – The number of configuration deviations that have been detected for the tenant is displayed. You can view and manage these configuration deviations. For detailed instructions, refer to Manage Detected Configuration Deviations.

    If some configurations were retrieved with exceptions, a Warning icon will appear indicating that {X} configurations were retrieved with exceptions and instances of these configurations will not appear in the drift detection page. You can click this icon to retry the operation or export a detailed report. Despite exceptions, you can still review configuration deviations that have been detected for the tenant.

  • Drift detected date – The date when drifts are detected is displayed.

  • Drift notification – If drift notification is enabled for a tenant, the Enabled value will be filled in. By clicking it, the applied workflows for drift notification will be listed. Clicking a workflow name will open the Workflow > Workflow details page where you can view detailed information and update the workflow if needed.

  • Auto-alignment status – The status of the last auto-alignment job.

    • N/A – This status appears when auto-alignment is not enabled for the tenant, or when auto-alignment is enabled for the tenant, but the auto-alignment job has not completed (no results available). Disabling auto-alignment will reset the status to N/A and clear the last aligned time.

    • Completed – The auto-alignment job is completed successfully. You can navigate to Process center to view the results.

    • Failed (clickable) – The auto-alignment job has failed. You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details.

    • Completed with exception (clickable) – The auto-alignment job is completed with exception. You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report for details.

  • Auto-alignment time – The time of the last auto-alignment job.

  • Baseline – If a baseline has been deployed to the tenant, the baseline name will be displayed. Clicking the baseline name will redirect you to the detailed baseline page, where you can view the configurations that have been deployed to the tenant. This baseline serves as the reference standard for detecting configuration drifts in the tenant.

    If multiple baselines are deployed to the tenant, they will be listed in the ranking order for clarity.

  • Last deployed – If a baseline has been deployed to the tenant, the date when the baseline was deployed to the tenant will be displayed.

Baselines Page Overview

On the Baseline management > Baselines page, you can find the built-in baseline and all created baselines with the following details. You can click Refresh to refresh the information on this page.

  • Baseline name – The baseline name and baseline color is displayed. You can view the details of a baseline by clicking the baseline name. The baseline name will be unclickable if errors occur during the baseline creation process (Status equals Settings Retrieval failed).

  • Tenant scope – The tenants where this baseline has been applied.

  • Versions – The number of baseline versions. A New version tag will appear when new versions have been published after the baseline was initially applied to a tenant.

    Clicking the number link will redirect you to the Version history page where you can find all baseline versions and manage them. For detailed instructions, refer to Manage Baseline Versions.

  • Created – The date when this baseline is created is displayed.

  • Modified – The date when this baseline is updated is displayed.

  • Status – The baseline statuses and their definitions are detailed below:

    • Retrieving settings – This status appears during the baseline creation process.

      For a baseline with this status, you cannot perform any operations to manage the baseline.

    • Retrieved with exception (clickable) – This status appears when some configurations failed to be retrieved during baseline creation. While the baseline remains usable, note that this baseline is incomplete since some configurations failed to be retrieved from the tenant. A Warning icon will appear next to the baseline name to indicate this issue.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report.

      When a baseline with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Edit

      • Delete

      • Apply to tenant

      • Duplicate

    • Settings Retrieval failed (clickable) – This status appears when errors occur during the baseline creation process.

      You can click the status link and then click Export report to export the report to find more details or click Retry to try again.

      When a baseline with this status is selected, the Delete button will be available.

    • Draft - This status appears when a baseline is created for the first time and saved as draft. Draft baselines cannot be applied to any tenant until it is published.

    • Unused – This status appears when the baseline is created but has not been applied to any tenant, or when the baseline was applied to a tenant but the tenant has switched to another baseline.

      When a baseline with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Edit

      • Delete

      • Apply to tenant

      • Duplicate

    • Active – This status appears when the baseline has been applied to a tenant.

      When a baseline with this status is selected, the following buttons will be available:

      • Edit

      • Apply to tenant

      • Duplicate