Azure AD sync to local AD

Question

I am trying to get some guidance and advise on the best way to synchronize Azure AD users to local AD.

Current situation:
30 users, 3 printers where joined to SBS Windows Server 2011. I have migrated from on prem Exchange 2010 to O365 and plan is to turn off SBS2011 and install Server 2022 Standard. Then recreate group policies, print management and join user computer back to newly installed 2022 and so on.

My question would it be possible to sync users from Azure AD to freshly installed Server 2022 or the only way is to export users from Azure AD, then create them on local AD and run sync ?

Another question - only feature I do require at the moment is password sync, no intune is planed, what would be your recommendation - entra connect sync or entra cloud sync?

Answer 1

Hi @Andrejs Černušenko

My question would it be possible to sync users from Azure AD to freshly installed Server 2022 or the only way is to export users from Azure AD, then create them on local AD and run sync ?

No it's not possible because write back user is not supported.

In this case you have to create users on local AD and sync them to Entra ID using Entra connect or Cloud Sync.

Another question - only feature I do require at the moment is password sync, no intune is planed, what would be your recommendation - entra connect sync or entra cloud sync?

If you need only sync password hash ,in this case it's recommended to use Cloud Sync because it will eventually replace Entra Connect in the future.

---

Please don't forget to accept helpful answer