O365 User admin

[CAWJames]

Hi all,

 

We use O365 for staff members, mainly for Lync as we have Exchange on-prem.

 

We are toying with the idea of giving all our students email addresses in O365 and as an extension that will allow them Office 2013 Proper, as we licence the desktop for FTE.

 

(Got to love end of month IT meetings!)

 

What options do we have for student import, considering, and here is the kicker, we keep them all in a nice bespoke SQL database and not in any proprietary MS software such as AD.

 

We would like it to be an automatic user add, but we know this probably isn't feasible, so maybe a batch import once a month or so.

 

Any genius scripts out there or DirSync alternatives for non-AD?

 

Any help appreciated,

 

Thanks

 

James

[FN-GM]

Do your students not have AD accounts?

 

Is that SIMS your talking about?

 

I bet these guys can do it - SalamanderSoft Limited

[CAWJames]

Nope and Nope!

 

We have a web based admin system that we have built in house, with logon coordinated between our admin and moodle sites.

 

So all students have a 6 digit "Moodle" number and their own password, this is kept in SQL 2008

 

This is always our problem when we want to use "off the shelf"! Everyone assumes we either user Sims or AD!

[Marshall_IT]

I don't think there is anything off the shelf that will work for you.

 

Is the SQL ms? If so you should be able to query it with powershell and then take that list into office 365.

 

Set it as a scheduled task and you'll be automated.

[CAWJames]

Yes it is MS SQL. Probably outside my scripting expertise!!

[jonawd]

If you are not using a Directory system such as AD, I think your probably down to looking at custom scripts.

It shouldn't be too difficult to build the queries required from your database to create a csv for importing into Office 365, which you could then do through PowerShell with something like this:

 

 

Import the users from a CSV

[color=#000000][font=Arial]import-csv $path | foreach { [/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial]New-Msoluser -userPrincipalName $_.UserPrincipalName -displayname $_.displayname -firstname $_.firstname -lastname $_.lastname -password $_.Password -usagelocation "gb" [/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial]}[/font][/color]

 

License the users

[color=#000000][font=Arial]import-csv $path | foreach { [/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial]set-msoluserlicense -addlicenses "$server" [/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial]}[/font][/color]

 

 

Out of curiosity, do you not use a Directory service at all for managing your clients login's etc.? Or is it that you use something like Novell instead?

[CAWJames]

We run AD for our staff, but our students are kept in a bespoke admin database with an SQL backend, which Moodle talks to for their login, as Moodle is the only service we currently offer them.

[jonawd]

Ok, so your pupils don't login to computers, just moodle. Interesting setup!

 

In that case, your probably down to 2 options as far as I can see:

 

1) Import your pupils into Active Directory (even if they are never used here) and DirSync

2) Import your pupils directly into Office365.

 

As you've got a bespoke system for their data, you'll have to extract that either way, so once you've got that out, importing into either AD or Office 365 shouldn't be too difficult. There are more 3rd party options for importing into AD, so that may be easier than scripting O365.

 

Personally, I'd put them into AD as you can manage them more easily from here (new accounts, removing leavers etc.) rather than having to update Office 365 with import scripts every time.

[Davit2005]

TBH If they do not at the moment exist in AD I wouldn't bother putting them in AD you are adding a layer of complexity,

 

I would however as others have said just upload them with a powershell script. You will need to use scripts if you don't want to have to manually set license, set usage location etc anyway. At least this way you will not get O365 complaining that you can not edit them withing the Office 365 portal because they are Synchronized with your AD :-)