Office 365 & AD integration - Help

[Kyle]

HI,

 

We want to use the Office 365 email service and switch over possibly at half term or if not then in the summer. The issue is we don't want to do the AD integration part yet. Can this be done months down the line or does it need to be done when you set things up?

[jamesbmarshall]

You don't need to do any kind of integration from day one. DirSync and ADFS can both be configured much later (if at all).

 

I strongly recommend that most people try the least complex method of deployment and ramp up, rather than go for everything at once.

[zag]

Yes you can just import users from a CSV file at first.

[apeo]

@zag: Can I assume that users maintain separate accounts i.e. 1 for O365 and 1 for internal network so if password changes on one account it doesnt affect the other? Or do you use a third party solution or something to sync the password?

[Edu-IT]

@zag: Can I assume that users maintain separate accounts i.e. 1 for O365 and 1 for internal network so if password changes on one account it doesnt affect the other? Or do you use a third party solution or something to sync the password?

That is what ADFS does. So, in this case, it would be two seperate passwords if you didn't have any integration.

[apeo]

That is what ADFS does. So, in this case, it would be two seperate passwords if you didn't have any integration.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but ADFS does not sycn password, and should you lose connection to your ADFS servers then O365 will not be able to authenticate users. I was curious to if @zag had a means to sync that passwords or just lived with users maintaining separate accounts.

[jamesbmarshall]

ADFS does not sync passwords, but acts as a method to divert authentication to your local AD for access to Office 365. You're correct - if AD FS is unavailable then nobody can access Office 365.

 

There may well be a password sync solution coming soon. Maybe.