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Configure filtering

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Updated: July 22, 2015

Important

This topic will be archived soon.
There is a new product called “Azure Active Directory Connect” that replaces AADSync and DirSync.
Azure AD Connect incorporates the components and functionality previously released as Dirsync and AAD Sync.
At some point in the future, support for Dirsync and AAD Sync will end.
These tools are no longer being updated individually with feature improvements, and all future improvements will be included in updates to Azure AD Connect.

For the most recent information about Azure Active Directory Connect, see Integrating your on-premises identities with Azure Active Directory

You can enable filtering in AADSync at any time. If you have already run the default configurations of directory synchronization and then configured the filtering, the objects that are filtered out are no longer synchronized to Azure AD. As a result, any objects in Azure AD that were previously synchronized but were then filtered are deleted in Azure AD. If objects were inadvertently deleted because of a filtering error, you can re-create the objects in Azure AD by removing your filtering configurations, and then synchronize your directories again.

Important

Microsoft does not support modification or operation of the AADSync outside of those actions formally documented. Any of these actions may result in an inconsistent or unsupported state of AASync and as a result, Microsoft cannot provide technical support for such deployments.

With the exception of outbound attribute-based filtering the configurations will be retained when you install or upgrade to a newer version of AADSync. It is always a best practice to verify that the configuration was not inadvertently changed after an upgrade to a newer version before running the first synchronization cycle.

Filtering Options

Warning

In this article, Source AD is used as name for your Active Directory Domain Service Connector. If you have multiple forests, you will have one Connector per forest and the configuration must be repeated for each forest.

The following three filtering configuration types can be applied to the Directory Synchronization tool:

  • Domain-based : You can use this filtering type to manage the properties of the SourceAD Connector in AADSync. This type enables you to select which domains are allowed to synchronize to Azure AD.

  • Configure organizational-unit–based filtering : You can use this filtering type to manage the properties of the SourceAD Connector in AADSync. This filtering type enables you to select which OUs are allowed to synchronize to Azure AD.

  • Attribute–based : You can use this filtering method to specify attribute-based filters. This enables you to control which objects should be synchronized to the cloud.

Configure domain-based filtering

This section provides you with the steps you need to perform to configure your domain filter.

Note

If you have modified your domain filter, you also need to update your run profiles.

To set the domain filter, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to the computer that is running AADSync by using an account that is a member of the ADSyncAdmins security group.

  2. On Start, tap or click Synchronization Service to open the Synchronization Service Manager.

    Synchronization Service

  3. To open the connectors view, click Connectors in the Tools menu.

  4. In the Connectors list, select the connector that has Active Directory Domain Service as Type.

  5. To open the Properties dialog, click Properties in the Actions menu.

  6. Click Configure Directory Partitions.

  7. In the Select directory partitions list, verify that only the partitions you want to synchronize are selected.

    Warning

    To remove a domain from the synchronization process, clear the domain’s check box.

  8. To close the Properties dialog, click OK.

If you have updated your domain filter, you also need to update the following run profiles:

  • Full Import

  • Full Synchronization

  • Delta Import

  • Delta Synchronization

  • Export

If you have removed a partition from the directory partitions list, you need to make sure that all run profile steps that are referencing this partition are also removed.

To remove a step from a run profile, perform the following steps:

  1. In the Connectors list, select the connector that has Active Directory Domain Service as Type.

  2. To open the Configure Run Profiles for dialog, click Configure Run Profiles in the Actions menu.

  3. In the Connector run profiles list, select the run profile you want to configure

  4. For each step in the step details list, perform the following steps:

    1. If necessary, click the step to expand the step details.

    2. If the Value of the Partition attribute is a GUID, click Delete Step.

  5. To close the Configure Run Profiles for dialog, click OK.

If you have added a partition to the directory partitions list, you need to make sure that a run profile step for that partition is available on each of the run profiles in the list above.

To add a step to a run profile, perform the following steps:

  1. In the Connectors list, select the connector that has Active Directory Domain Service as Type.

  2. To open the Configure Run Profiles for dialog, click Configure Run Profiles in the Actions menu.

  3. In the Connector run profiles list, select the run profile you want to configure

  4. To open the Configure Run Profile dialog, click New Step.

  5. On the Configure Step page, in the step type list, select the step type, and then click Next.

  6. On the Connector Configuration page, in the Partition list, select the name of the partition you have added to your domain filter.

  7. To close the Configure Run Profile dialog, click Finish.

  8. To close the Configure Run Profiles for dialog, click OK.

Configure organizational-unit–based filtering

To configure organizational-unit–based filtering

  1. Log on to the computer that is running AADSync by using an account that is a member of the ADSyncAdmins security group.

  2. On Start, tap or click Synchronization Service to open the Synchronization Service Manager.

    Synchronization Service

  3. In the Synchronization Service Manager, click Connectors, and then double-click SourceAD.

  4. Click Configure Directory Partitions, select the domain you want to configure, and then click Containers.

  5. When prompted, enter your domain credentials for the on-premises Active Directory forest.

    Note

    When presented with the credentials dialog box, the account used to import and export to AD DS will be displayed. If you do not know the password to the account you can enter another account to use. The account you use must have read permissions to the domain currently being configured.

  6. In the Select Containers dialog box, clear the OUs that you don’t want to synch with the cloud directory, and then click OK.

  7. Click OK on the SourceAD Properties page

  8. Run a full import and a delta sync by completing the following steps:

    1. In the connectors list, select SourceAD

    2. To open the Run Connector dialog, select Run from the Actions menu.

    3. In the Run profiles list, select Full Import, and then wait for the run profile to complete.

    4. To open the Run Connector dialog, select Run from the Actions menu.

    5. In the Run profiles list, select Delta Synchronization, and then wait for the run profile to complete.

Configure attribute based filtering

There are several ways to configure filtering based on attributes. Configuration on inbound from AD is recommended since these configuration settings will be kept even after an upgrade to a newer version. Configuration on outbound to AAD is supported, but these settings will not be kept after an upgrade to a newer version and should only be used when it is required to look at the combined object in the metaverse to determine filtering.

Inbound filtering

Inbound based filtering is leveraging the default configuration where objects going to AAD must have the metaverse attribute cloudFiltered not set to a value and the metaverse attribute sourceObjectType set to either “User” or “Contact”.

The attribute cloudFiltered should be set to True when the object should not be synchronized to Azure AD and kept empty in other cases. This method is used when we can look at an object and say that we do not want to synchronize an object (negative filtering).

In this example we will filter out all users where extensionAttribute15 has the value NoSync.

  1. Log on to the computer that is running AADSync by using an account that is a member of the ADSyncAdmins security group.

  2. Open Synchronization Rules Editor by finding it in the Start Menu.

  3. Make sure Inbound is selected and click Add New Rule.

  4. Give the rule a descriptive name, such as In from AD – User DoNotSyncFilter, select the correct forest, User as the CS object type, and Person as the MV object type. In Link Type select Join and in precedence type a value currently not used by another Synchronization Rule, e.g. 50. Click Next.

  5. In Scoping filter click Add Group, click Add Clause and in attribute select ExtensionAttribute15. Make sure the Operator is set to EQUAL and type in the value NoSync in the Value box. Click Next.

  6. Leave the Join rules empty and click Next.

  7. Click Add Transformation, select the FlowType to Constant, select the Target Attribute cloudFiltered and in the Source text box, type in True. Click Add to save the rule.

  8. Perform a full sync: on the Connectors tab, right-click SourceAD, click Run, click Full Synchronization, and then click OK.

The attribute sourceObjectType will provision a User or Contact to AAD if this attribute has the value User or Contact respectively. By creating a Synchronization Rule with a higher precedence than those out of box, we can override the default behavior. This method also gives us an opportunity to express both positive and negative rules.

In this example we will only synchronize users where the department attribute is “Sales” or is empty.

  1. Log on to the computer that is running AADSync by using an account that is a member of the ADSyncAdmins security group.

  2. Open Synchronization Rules Editor by finding it in the Start Menu.

  3. Make sure Inbound is selected and click Add New Rule.

  4. Give the rule a descriptive name, such as In from AD – User DoNotSyncFilter, select the correct forest, User as the CS object type, and Person as the MV object type. In Link Type select Join and in precedence type a value currently not used by another Synchronization Rule, e.g. 60. Click Next.

  5. Leave the scoping filter and join rules empty and click Next twice.

  6. Click Add Transformation, select the FlowType to Expression and select the Target Attribute to sourceObjectType. In the Source, type in the following expression:

    IIF(IsNullOrEmpty([department]),NULL,IIF([department]<>”Sales”,”DoNotSync”,NULL))

  7. Click Add to save the rule

  8. Perform a full sync: on the Connectors tab, right-click SourceAD, click Run, click Full Synchronization, and then click OK. Here is a result how this would look like:

    cloudFiltered

    Warning

    Note that we are using a mix of cloudFiltered and sourceObjectType to determine which objects we want to synchronize to AAD.

With the use of expressions we have very powerful filtering options. In the expression above, note that we provided the literal NULL when department is not present and when the department was Sales. This indicates that this attribute did not contribute a value and the out-of-box rules will be evaluated. We want this so they can determine if it is a User or Contact we should create in AAD.

Outbound based filtering

In some cases it is necessary to do the filtering only after the objects have joined in the metaverse. It could for example be required to look at the mail attribute from the resource forest and the userPrincipalName attribute from the account forest to determine if an object should be synchronizedx. In these cases we will create the filtering on the outbound rule.

Note

This method requires a change to the out-of-box Synchronization Rules. Changing the scope of a Synchronization Rule is supported, but the change might not be preserved after upgrading to a newer version of AADSync. If you use outbound based filtering, make a note of the changes to make and after an upgrade ensure the filtering is still there and reapply if required.

In this example we will change the filtering so only users where both mail and userPrincipalName ends with @contoso.com will be synchronized.

  1. Log on to the computer that is running AADSync by using an account that is a member of the ADSyncAdmins security group.

  2. Open Synchronization Rules Editor by finding it in the Start Menu.

  3. Under Rule Types click on Outbound.

  4. Find the rule named Out to AAD – User Join. Click Edit.

  5. Click Scoping filter on the left hand navigation. Click Add clause and in Attribute select mail, in Operator select ENDSWITH, and in Value type @contoso.com. Click Add clause and in Attribiute select userPrincipalName, in Operator select ENDSWITH, and in Value type @contoso.com.

  6. Click Save.

  7. Perform a full sync: on the Connectors tab, right-click SourceAD, click Run, click Full Synchronization, and then click OK.

Password synchronization with filtering

See Also

Concepts

Azure Active Directory Sync