Azure AD Connect: How data migrates to Cloud?
When migrating to Office 365 environment, mostly organizations preserve the old on-premises structure. Sometimes it is because the migration process can take quite a bit of time to finish, or may be the company wants to follow the hybrid scenario.
An Easy “Video Tutorial” as an addon is also included in this blog for live demonstration. However I recommend you to follow all steps sequentially mentioned below.
One of the important aspects of the coexistence setup is Synchronization of Active Directory between On-Premise AD and Cloud’s Azure AD. Its accomplished using Microsoft’s Azure AD Connect Tool:
Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect Tool:
Download Azure AD Connect:Â https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47594.
Follow the On-Screen Wizard to install it. Next comes the Configuration which is explained in detail below.
Configuration Of Azure AD Connect Tool:
2) Choose Customise in the next Screen.
3) Leave all the default options as it is. Click Next.
4) Here we specify the method used to authenticate users. Here in the lab we will keep it simple and select Password Synchronization and allow password hashes from the local AD to be passed to 365.
5) Enter the Office 365 Global Admin Credentials:
6) Add a local Active directory, enter the credentials for a domain admin and press Add Directory.  After that enter the On-premise Administrator Credentials.
7)Â Here we can leave the defaults as shown but ensure the source anchor is set to objectGUID and the UPN set to userPrincipalName then press Next.
8) The next screen will show all Organizational Units (OU’s) of On-Premise Active Directory. Note:Â The best practice says that we should create one custom Syncing OU and keep all the users to be moved to the cloud in it. Leaving rest intact at on-premise unless specifically required.
9) Keep the default options selected at this step:
10) Choose Synchronize all users & groups:
Directory extension attribute sync: Allows you to sync custom attributes into 365.
12) Here we select Start the Synchronization Process when Configuration completes. Press Install to continue.
13) Azure AD Connect is configured now to sync objects to Office 365.
14)Â Press Exit to finish.
Congratulations friends, the Azure AD Connect configuration is completed now.
Practical Scenario:
Step 1 – Add a user [email protected] at on-premise.
As [email protected] is added into Syncing OU at On-Premise AD, and Azure AD Connect tool will pick it up and sync (add) to cloud. Any users added or removed inside our custom created Syncing OU will replicate in the Azure AD as well.
Step2 – Launch the miisclient.exe program or type Synchronization Service in Search to open Synchronization Service Manager. It displays Import & Export (syncing) of data from On-Premise to cloud. In the upper part of the window, there is a list of all current sync cycles and in lower left all current modifications to AD are listed.
By default Azure AD Connect syncs any changes after every 30 minutes. As we recently added the user [email protected], so either we have to wait 30 minutes or we can even force the sync to occur using below Powershell Command.
Now lets see the ADDS option which will show us a new user added to sync.
That new added user is shown when we click Add –
Thanks a ton for reading my blog. I know its a bit complicated to perform all steps first time, however if you follow along with my steps, I can assure you that you will not face any issues syncing on-premise objects to office 365.
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