What is Azure AD Connect

In this blog we will learn what is Azure AD Connect (Microsoft Entra Connect), we will understand why you should use Azure AD Connect, and we will talk about Azure AD Connect benefits.

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Azure AD Connect (Microsoft Entra Connect) is a Microsoft tool that is used to integrate on-premise Active Directory with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID). Azure AD Connect tool is designed to meet hybrid identity goals. By using Azure AD Connect you can synchronize your Active Directory objects to Azure Active Directory.

Why Azure AD Connect

Let’s consider a scenario where there’s an organization named Office365 Concepts. They’ve implemented an on-premises Active Directory and have established several user accounts within it. The administrator has the ability to reset passwords or modify attributes directly within the Active Directory.

Now, suppose this company has recently adopted Microsoft 365, acquiring a Microsoft 365 Tenant alongside their existing on-premises Active Directory. The organization aims to migrate these Active Directory accounts to Office 365, enabling them to assign Office 365 licenses to users for utilizing Office 365 services.

The organization faces a decision: they could replicate these user accounts in Office 365, resulting in cloud-hosted accounts where all modifications occur within the Office 365 environment. However, the organization’s preference is to maintain their on-premises servers and manage user accounts exclusively from their on-premises Active Directory.

To fulfill this requirement, Azure AD Connect comes into play. By deploying Azure AD Connect on a server, the organization can synchronize user accounts from their Active Directory to Office 365. Users can be assigned Office 365 licenses, enabling them to access services accordingly. Notably, any modifications to user accounts or password resets will originate from the on-premises Active Directory.

It’s essential to emphasize that this synchronization process involves copying, not moving, user accounts. The primary account remains within the on-premises Active Directory, while a synchronized replica is established within Office 365.

How Azure AD Connect helps to meet Hybrid Identity goals

Now, let’s delve into how Azure AD Connect facilitates organizations in achieving their hybrid identity objectives.

Imagine you operate within an on-premises environment comprising Active Directory and an Exchange server. Additionally, you’ve established an Office 365 tenant and are now seeking to implement a hybrid environment. (For clarity, a hybrid environment, or hybrid deployment model, combines both on-premises and Office 365 elements into a unified organization. This model allows for mailbox migrations from on-premises to Office 365, control of email flow from on-premises, and numerous other benefits.)

To achieve this goal, deploying the Azure AD Connect tool within your on-premises environment becomes essential. This tool serves as a prerequisite for hybrid deployment. Through Azure AD Connect, we can seamlessly integrate our on-premises Active Directory with Office 365, enabling the deployment of a hybrid identity model.

Features and benefits provided by Azure AD Connect.

Now let’s talk about the features and benefits provided by Azure AD Connect.

Synchronize objects to Azure AD: We can synchronize objects from Active Directory to Azure Active Directory. In Active Directory, users, contacts, groups, and devices are called objects.
Password Hash Synchronization: The second benefit of using Azure AD Connect is password hash synchronization. We can synchronize passwords from Active Directory to Azure Active Directory so that users can use same password in Office 365 that they use in their Active Directory accounts. When password hash synchronization is implemented, authentication is performed in Azure Active Directory.
Pass-through Authentication: As we discussed above. in password hash synchronization passwords are synchronized from Active Directory to Azure Active Directory, and the users are authenticated from Azure Active Directory. But if you do not want to synchronize your passwords to Azure Active Directory, you can use pass-through authentication feature. In pass-through authentication scenario users are authenticated from on-premises Active Directory instead of Azure Active Directory. Because in case of pass-through authentication passwords are not synchronized to Azure AD.
Password writeback: Let’s assume you have enabled password-hash synchronization and passwords from Active Directory are getting synced to Azure Active Directory. Now in Office 365 we have enabled self service password reset (SSPR) where users can change their passwords. With the help of password writeback these passwords can be written back to on-premises Active Directory.
Single Sign-On: With the help of this feature users do not need to type their password when they will try to login to Microsoft 365 applications from their domain-joined devices. They will be able to sign in automatically by typing only their email address.
Next benefit is we can federate our domain using Azure AD Connect.
Device writeback: We can use device writeback feature with Azure AD Connect if you have registered your devices with azure active directory.
Group writeback: If we want to synchronize Office 365 groups from Office 365 to on-premise Active Directory, we can use group writeback feature of Azure AD Connect.
We can use Exchange mail public folders option in Azure AD Connect where we can sync public folders from on-premises Exchange to Office 365.

So basis on our business requirement we can use one of these features or we can use a combination of these features.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Azure AD Connect serves as a vital link between on-premises Active Directory environments and Azure Active Directory, facilitating seamless identity management and access control across hybrid infrastructures. By synchronizing user identities, streamlining authentication processes, and providing a unified view of identities, Azure AD Connect empowers organizations to leverage the full potential of cloud-based services while maintaining a secure and efficient user experience.

Found this article helpful and informative? You might like our other article on Azure AD Connect Architecture.

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