There can be instances where we have to mirror the Office 365 Directory in Azure, so that both Directories can be managed from the Azure Active Directory. As a prerequisite to do this, you need to have an Azure Subscription as well as an Office 365 subscription.
One such instance is if you have to configure Cloud Hybrid Search in SharePoint 2016, we have to synchronize On Premise Local Active Directory with Office 365 Directory. Before we start to synchronize On Premise Active Directory with Office 365, we have to enable the management of Office 365 directory from Azure. By default, when we create an Azure Subscription, the Service admin will have access to the default directory, which needs to be created along with Azure subscription. In addition to this, we will create a mirror copy of the Office 365 Directory in Azure, so that we can manage and synchronize On Premise directory with Office 365 Directory in Azure AD.
What are we going to do?
For instance, I have an Office 365 Directory managed by [email protected] and we have an Azure Directory managed by [email protected].
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We will bring over the Office 365 Directory to Azure, so that [email protected], can manage both Azure and Office 365 Directory. The end result is mentioned below.
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How to do it
In order to do it, sign in to your Azure subscription, using your Azure credentials. In my case, it is [email protected].
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From the active directory tab, click New.
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Select Directory and click Custom Create.
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This will open up the Window, where we can create a new Azure Active Directory with the default option of Creating a new directory.
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Change the option value to use existing directory. Also make sure you select the check box “I am ready to be signed out now”. Click on the tick mark to proceed with the sign out process. Sign out of Azure subscription and you will have to log in with the credentials of Office 365 Directory global administrator.
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Now, log in again with Office 365 Global administrator credentials.
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This time, you will be asked, if Office 365 Directory (in my case Priyan) can be used with Azure. If we click continue, Azure administrator will be made the global administrator for both Azure AD as well as Office 365 Directory. In this way, we can manage both directories in one place.
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Click Sign out now.
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Now, log in back to Azure subscription, using your Azure credentials.
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Heading over to the Active Directory tab, we can see Office 365 Directory, which is present in the listing along with the default directory.
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Now, we can use Azure AD Connect software to synchronize On Premise AD with Azure AD, if required, so that On Premise User accounts will be synchronized with Azure Active Directory/Office 365 Directory.
Summary
Thus, we saw how to mirror Office 365 directory in Azure Active Directory, so as to manage both at one place.