In this post I will show you what is Azure AD Connect (AADC) and all the options to synchronize your on-premises environment to Azure Active Directory (AAD). This is very relevant because you need this configurations for Microsoft 365 (Office 365), so you can have all of your users, groups and/or devices synchronized in both directions. This is mandatory when we want to have objects with the same SID and same credentials in both environments. For instance, if one user reset or change his password in Azure AD, this new password is automatically synchronized to On-Premises Active Directory (Write-Back feature).
Azure AD Connect is required for all authentication/sync methods we will cover today:
- Password Hash Synchronization
- Pass-through Authentication (PTA)
- Active Directory Federation Services (2019)
- Additional Feature - Seamless Single Sign-On
Let's see the requirements and then all the authentication/sync methods functionalities in depth.