Office 365 – How to synchronize with our active directory
What is Office 365?
Microsoft office 365 is a subscription service on the cloud that provides access from almost anywhere with an internet connection.
It’s a tool that doesn’t need an infrastructure investment, as it provides high availability servers on the cloud, where we can store all our data. It also offers a 99.9% platform operability guarantee with its SLA (service level agreement).
Who competes with Office 365?
Office 365 is currently the main tool on the market, but it competes with G Suite Google cloud services. G Suite offers Gmail as mail service, storage from Google Drive, Office tools from Google Docs and communication through Hangouts. Microsoft, on the other hand, offers its updated office package, Skype for business and One Drive to store files. Depending on the license you have, you can download these apps on up to 5 devices.
How safe are my files?
Office 365 is the only supplier that has the AEPD authorization (Spanish Data Protection Agency) claiming that the Microsoft contracts offer the adequate guarantees so that clients can trust their personal information to the company with the services of Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Azure.
So, in my opinion, office 365 is the best tool and option for companies, as we are in a new digital era where we have the need to communicate and have access to our files in real time from anywhere at any time, with the security and support that office 365 can provide.
I will now explain how to synchronize the local users from our company with Azure Connect synchronizer to the Office 365 cloud.
1 – We sign in at Office 365 Management, go to Users –> Active Users –> More –> Sync Directories
2 – A page will load that will request the size of our organization. Select the number of users, and then click Next.
It is recommended to have a clean local active directory before the synchronization.
3 – We run an analysis of our local directory in the cloud and we check that it has the requirements. We chose Next –> Begin analysis. If this doesn’t happen we can continue if we decide to do so manually.
4 – We check our domains.
If you haven’t registered your domain at Office 365 Management, you can do it from Configuration –> Domains –> Add domain.
5 – In our local directory we download and install Azure AD Connect with de Administrator login. Select Express Settings.
6 – We introduce our Global Azure AD credentials –> Click Next
7 – We introduce our company’s administrator credentials. Using NetBios or FQDN format –> Click Next
8 – If this page appears it’s because we haven’t checked the domains with Azure.
9 – The configuration page appears, where we have the option to start the synchronization process when the installation has completed and the option of hybrid implementation with our local Exchange server –> Install
10 – When installed, it’s recommended to log out and log in again. We can now assign licenses to our users of the Active Directory from our Office 365 Management.
Written by Mauricio Dellavalle
