Steps to migrate users from on-premises Active Directory to Azure
In this blog, we will show you the steps to migrate users from on-premises Active Directory to Azure using Microsoft Azure Portal.
REQUIREMENTS
- Microsoft Azure Subscription.
- Windows VM with AD installed
Note: We are using windows 2016 VM for this demo.
CREATING NEW ACTIVE DIRECTORY
- Log in to Azure portal and Select New option.
- Select on Security + Identity and click on Azure Active Directory link.
- Provide the required information and Click on Create button.
- It will take few minutes to complete the creating task.
- Now, Re-login into your Azure portal and you will see your new domain on the account menu list.
- Click on the Active directory link from the service list.
CREATING AN ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT
- From the Azure Active Directory service, Click on users and groups link.
- Select the All users link.
- Click on New User link.
- Provide the Name and username of the new administrator account. You need to add the user account in [email protected] format.
- Click on the profile link and provide the required information.
- Leave the properties tab by default. Click on Directory Role link and select the Global Administrator option and click OK.
- Click on Show Password link and make a note of it. We have to reset the password for the administrator account.
- Verify the provided information and click the Create button.
- The new user will be available on the user list.
RESET THE GLOBAL ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD
- Open the Azure portal URL http://portal.azure.com and click to use another account.
- Provide the Azure global administrator name and click Next.
- Provide the temporary password and select the Sign in button.
- It will prompt us to update the password for the global administrator account. Provide the required information and click Sign in.
- We have logged into the Azure portal successfully.
DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL AZURE AD CONNECT
- Open the web browser and access the URL https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47594
- Scroll down and click on Download button.
- Download the MSI file and save it to the desktop.
- Double-click on the MSI file and follow the wizard to complete the installation process.
- After the installation completes, A new shortcut will be available on the desktop.
REVIEW ON-PREM ACTIVE DIRECTORY
- We have already installed a new Active Directory domain as azdomain.local
- Open the Active Directory users and computers snap-in and select the users OU.
- We created three AD user for the demo purpose.
SYNCHRONIZE THE ON-PREM AD TO AZURE AD
- Double click on the Azure AD connect shortcut from the desktop. Agree to the license and click continue.
- Click on the Express settings link.
- Provide Azure Global Administrator credentials.
- Provide the local domain administrator credentials.
- We have not configured the UPN Suffixes for this demo. Click on Continue without any verified domains checkbox and proceed to next screen.
- Click on Install button to start the synchronization between the on-premises and Azure AD.
- It will take few minutes to complete the synchronization process.
- Click on Exit button to close the wizard.
VERIFICATION
- Log in to the Azure portal using Global Administrator credentials and click on Active Directory services link.
- Click on All users link and you can able to view our local AD users on the list.
- We can use these users to access the Azure portal.
LINKS
https://www.assistanz.com/azure-active-directory-overview/
VIDEO
Thanks for reading this blog. We hope it was useful for you to learn about Active Directory Synchronization between on-premises and Azure AD.
Can we discard On premise AD after Azur AD sync process completion?
Hi,
We have tried in our R&D environment but received many errors to detach the on-prem AD from Azure. Will share our latest findings in the future blogs.
Regards,
Loges
Hi Loges
Thanks for the tutorial. We created the users already in O365 and we want to sync or map our on-prem ad users to O365 users. Do you know if this is possible? because users are already worrking with the O365 Mailboxes.
Many Thanks
Patrick
This does not migrate users from AD to AAD this syncs the two. This very simple process accomplishes roughly 1/4 of the scope that the title suggests.
REMOVING USERS FROM AD AND JOINING TO AZURE AD AND STILL MAINTAINING THEIR CURRENT PROFILE CAN”T BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH THESE STEPS.
Apologies for the caps but it’s important that people know this before attempting the above.