Migrate Microsoft Entra Connect Sync group writeback V2 to Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync

Important

The public preview of Group Writeback v2 in Microsoft Entra Connect Sync will no longer be available after June 30, 2024. This feature will be discontinued on this date, and you will no longer be supported in Connect Sync to provision cloud security groups to Active Directory.

We offer similar functionality in Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync called Group Provision to Active Directory that you can use instead of Group Writeback v2 for provisioning cloud security groups to Active Directory. We're working on enhancing this functionality in Cloud Sync along with other new features that we're developing in Cloud Sync.

Customers who use this preview feature in Connect Sync should switch their configuration from Connect Sync to Cloud Sync. You can choose to move all your hybrid sync to Cloud Sync (if it supports your needs). You can also run Cloud Sync side by side and move only cloud security group provisioning to Active Directory onto Cloud Sync.

For customers who provision Microsoft 365 groups to Active Directory, you can keep using Group Writeback v1 for this capability.

You can evaluate moving exclusively to Cloud Sync by using the user synchronization wizard.

The following document describes how to migrate group writeback using Microsoft Entra Connect Sync (formerly Azure AD Connect) to Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync. This scenario is only for customers who are currently using Microsoft Entra Connect group writeback v2. The process outlined in this document pertains only to cloud-created security groups that are written back with a universal scope. Mail-enabled groups and DLs written back using Microsoft Entra Connect group writeback V1 or V2 aren't supported.

Important

This scenario is only for customers who are currently using Microsoft Entra Connect group writeback v2

Also, this scenario is only supported for:

• cloud created Security groups
• these groups are written back with the AD groups scope of universal.

Mail-enabled groups and DLs written back using Microsoft Entra Connect group writeback V1 or V2 aren't supported.

For more information, see the Provisioning to Active Directory with Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync FAQ.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are required to implement this scenario.

• Microsoft Entra account with at least a Hybrid Identity Administrator role.
• An on-premises AD account with at least domain administrator permissions - required to access the adminDescription attribute and copy it to the msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectId attribute
• On-premises Active Directory Domain Services environment with Windows Server 2016 operating system or later.
  • Required for AD Schema attribute - msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectId
• Provisioning agent with build version 1.1.1367.0 or later.
• The provisioning agent must be able to communicate with the domain controller(s) on ports TCP/389 (LDAP) and TCP/3268 (Global Catalog).
  • Required for global catalog lookup to filter out invalid membership references

Naming convention for groups written back

Microsoft Entra Connect Sync uses the following format when naming groups that are written back.

• Default format: CN=Group_<guid>,OU=<container>,DC=<domain component>,DC=<domain component>
• Example: CN=Group_3a5c3221-c465-48c0-95b8-e9305786a271,OU=WritebackContainer,DC=contoso,DC=com 

To make it easier to find groups being written back from Microsoft Entra ID to Active Directory, Microsoft Entra Connect Sync added an option to write back the group distinguished name by using the cloud display name. This is done by selecting the Writeback Group Distinguished Name with cloud Display Name during initial setup of group writeback v2. If this feature is not enabled, the default format will be used.

If the Writeback Group Distinguished Name with cloud Display Name feature is enabled, Microsoft Entra Connect will use the following format.

• New format: CN=<display name>_<last 12 digits of object ID>,OU=<container>,DC=<domain component>,DC=<domain component>
• Example: CN=Sales_e9305786a271,OU=WritebackContainer,DC=contoso,DC=com 

When migrating, cloud sync will use the new format. It does not matter whether the Writeback Group Distinguished Name with cloud Display Name feature is enabled or not.

Important

If you are using the default Microsoft Entra Connect naming and then migrate the group so that it is managed by Microsoft Entra cloud sync, it will rename the group to the new format. Use the section below allow Microsoft Entra cloud sync to use the old format.

Using the default format

If you want cloud sync to use the default format, you need modify the attribute flow expression for the CN attribute. The default the mapping is:

Expression	Syntax	Description
Default expression	Append(Append(Left(Trim([displayName]), 51), "_"), Mid([objectId], 25, 12))	The default expression used by Microsoft Entra cloud sync.
New expression	Append("Group_", [objectId])	This is the new expression you can use the default format used by Microsoft Entra Connect.

For more information see Add an attribute mapping - Microsoft Entra ID to Active Directory

Step 1 - Copy adminDescription to msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID

1. In your on-premises environment, open ADSI Edit.

2. Copy the value that it in the group's adminDescription attribute

   

3. Paste in to the msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID attribute

   

The following PowerShell script can be used to help automate this step. This script will take all of the groups in the OU=Groups,DC=Contoso,DC=com container and copy the adminDescription attribute value to the msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID attribute value.

    Import-module ActiveDirectory

   $groups = Get-ADGroup -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Groups,DC=Contoso,DC=com" -Properties * | Where-Object {$_.adminDescription -ne $null} |
      Select-Object Samaccountname, adminDescription, msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID

   foreach ($group in $groups) 
    {
    Set-ADGroup -Identity $group.Samaccountname -Add @{('msDS-ExternalDirectoryObjectID') = $group.adminDescription}
    } 

Step 2 - Place the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync server in staging mode and disable the sync scheduler

1. Start the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync wizard

2. Click Configure

3. Select Configure staging mode and click Next

4. Enter Microsoft Entra credentials

5. Place a check in the Enable staging mode box and click Next

   

6. Click Configure

7. Click Exit

   

8. On your Microsoft Entra Connect server, open a PowerShell prompt as an administrator.

9. Disable the sync scheduler:

   Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $false  
   

Step 3 - Create a custom group inbound rule

In the Microsoft Entra Connect Synchronization Rules editor, you need to create an inbound sync rule that filters out groups that have NULL for the mail attribute. The inbound sync rule is a join rule with a target attribute of cloudNoFlow. This rule tells Microsoft Entra Connect not to synchronize attributes for these groups.

1. Launch the synchronization editor from the application menu in desktop as shown below:

2. Select Inbound from the drop-down list for Direction and select Add new rule.

3. On the Description page, enter the following and select Next:

   • Name: Give the rule a meaningful name

   • Description: Add a meaningful description

   • Connected System: Choose the Microsoft Entra connector that you're writing the custom sync rule for

   • Connected System Object Type: Group

   • Metaverse Object Type: Group

   • Link Type: Join

   • Precedence: Provide a value that is unique in the system

   • Tag: Leave empty

     

4. On the Scoping filter page, Add the following and then select Next.

   Attribute	Operator	Value
   cloudMastered	EQUAL	true
   mail	ISNULL

   

5. On the Join rules page, select Next.

6. On the Transformations page, add a Constant transformation: flow True to cloudNoFlow attribute. Select Add.

   

Step 4 - Create a custom group outbound rule

You'll also need an outbound sync rule with a link type of JoinNoFlow and the scoping filter that has the cloudNoFlow attribute set to True. This rule tells Microsoft Entra Connect not to synchronize attributes for these groups.

1. Select Outbound from the drop-down list for Direction and select Add rule.

2. On the Description page, enter the following and select Next:

   • Name: Give the rule a meaningful name
   • Description: Add a meaningful description
   • Connected System: Choose the AD connector that you're writing the custom sync rule for
   • Connected System Object Type: Group
   • Metaverse Object Type: Group
   • Link Type: JoinNoFlow
   • Precedence: Provide a value that is unique in the system
   • Tag: Leave empty

   

3. On the Scoping filter page, choose cloudNoFlow equal True. Then select Next.

   

4. On the Join rules page, select Next.

5. On the Transformations page, select Add.

Step 5 - Use PowerShell to finish configuration

1. On your Microsoft Entra Connect server, open a PowerShell prompt as an administrator.

2. Import the ADSync module:

   Import-Module  'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect\Tools\ADSyncTools.psm1' 
   

3. Run a full sync cycle:

   Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Initial
   

4. Disable the group writeback feature for the tenant:

   Set-ADSyncAADCompanyFeature -GroupWritebackV2 $false 
   

5. Run a full sync cycle (yes again):

   Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Initial
   

6. Re-enable the sync scheduler:

   Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $true  
   

   

Step 6 - Remove the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync server from staging mode

1. Start the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync wizard
2. Click Configure
3. Select Configure staging mode and click Next
4. Enter Microsoft Entra credentials
5. Remove the check from the Enable staging mode box and click Next
6. Click Configure
7. Click Exit

Step 7 - Configure Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync

Now that you have successfully removed the groups from the scope of Microsoft Entra Connect Sync, you can set up and configure Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync to take over synchronization. See Provision groups to Active Directory using Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync.

Next Steps

• Provision groups to Active Directory using Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync
• Govern on-premises Active Directory based apps (Kerberos) using Microsoft Entra ID Governance
• Provisioning to Active Directory with Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync FAQ