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Azure AD connect

Step-by-Step Guide: How to sync Custom Active Directory Attributes to Azure AD?

Active Directory schema accepts custom attributes. Based on business requirements some time organizations will have to introduce custom attributes to object classes. On most occasions, it is related to application integration requirements with Active Directory. In one of my previous blog posts, I explained how we can add a custom attribute to Active Directory. You can access it using https://www.rebeladmin.com/2017/11/step-step-guide-create-custom-active-directory-attributes/

In a hybrid setup, Azure AD Connect can sync attribute values from on-premise Active Directory to Azure AD (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/reference-connect-sync-attributes-synchronized). Apart from default attributes, sometimes there can be business requirements to sync custom Active Directory attributes to Azure AD. We can sync these custom attributes to Azure AD by using the Azure AD Connect “Directory extension attribute sync” feature.

In this demo, I am going to demonstrate how to sync the custom Active Directory attribute to Azure AD. To simplify the process, I already installed Azure AD Connect and configure it to sync. I also created a custom AD attribute called “nINumber” and added it to the user class.

Custom Attribute Values

Figure 1 : Custom Attribute Values

Add attribute to user class

Figure 2 : Add attribute to user class

Custom Attribute under user account

Figure 3 : Custom Attribute under user account

Let’s go ahead and see how we can configure Azure AD Connect to sync custom attributes. [Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide: How to sync Custom Active Directory Attributes to Azure AD?

How to setup Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning?

User names and passwords are the most common way of controlling access to applications. Nowadays we use more and more applications. These applications can be from on-premises or cloud. Unless there is a central identity management system, users will have to maintain different usernames, passwords to access these applications.
Azure Active Directory is a powerful, reliable cloud-based identity and access management service. It can use to manage identities and access for cloud applications as well as on-premises applications. If we already have a Windows Active Directory environment, using Azure AD connect we can sync on-premises identities to Azure AD. Azure AD Connect supports various Windows Active Directory topologies. More information about these supported topologies can be found here.
However, In Azure AD connect, synchronization and provisioning from AD are managed in the on-premises level. This can be a complex task especially if you have multiple AD forests. To simplify the hybrid identity synchronization process, Microsoft now has Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning. With this solution, Microsoft will manage provisioning from AD and synchronization as part of the service. In on-premises we only need to install light-weight agents which will act as a bridge between Azure AD and Windows AD.

Apart from the simplicity, Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning gives the following benefits,

• Allow Azure AD synchronization from multiple disconnected on-premises AD forests.
• Multiple agents will provide high availability for password hash synchronization.

What are the differences between Azure AD Connect and Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning?

Feature Azure AD Connect Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning
Synchronize multiple disconnected on-premises AD forests NO YES
Synchronize single on-premises AD forest YES YES
Synchronize multiple on-premises AD forests YES YES
Synchronization Based on Agents NO YES
Multiple Agents for High Availability NO YES
Synchronize with LDAP YES NO
Synchronize Users, Groups, Contacts YES YES
Synchronize device objects YES NO
Synchronize Exchange online attributes YES YES
Synchronize extension attributes 1-15 YES YES
Synchronize customer defined AD attributes YES NO
Support for federation YES YES
Seamless Single Sign-on YES YES
Support for Pass-Through Authentication YES NO
Support for Password Hash Sync YES YES
Support for writeback (passwords, devices, groups) YES NO
Azure AD Domain Services support YES NO
Exchange hybrid writeback YES NO

Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning Setup

In this blog post, I am going to demonstrate how to set up Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning with Windows AD. In my demo environment, I already have Windows AD configured with domain M365x620957.onmicrosoft.com

windows active directory configuration

Let’s go ahead and start the configuration process by installing the Azure AD Connect provisioning agent. [Read more…] about How to setup Azure AD Connect cloud provisioning?

Azure AD Connect Common Issues

When it comes to hybrid AD setup, we have to work with whole different types of issues than on-premises AD environments. Azure AD is a managed service by Microsoft, so there is nothing we can do to manage its health. Therefore, most of the hybrid AD issues are related to connectivity, Directory sync or authentication methods (password hash, pass-through authentication, federated). The main component which connects on-premises Active Directory environment with Azure AD is Azure AD Connect. So most of the issues in hybrid environment can also related to Azure AD Connect. In this blog post, we are going to look in to some of the most common Azure AD connect issues and learn how we can recover from those. 

Connectivity

Azure AD Connect requires connectivity to Azure AD to do the directory synchronization. Azure AD connect server also need to be able to communicate with on-premises Active Directory Domain Controller. When there is directory synchronization issues, we will see following symptoms. 

• New user accounts added in on-premises Active Directory, does not appears in Azure AD or taking long time to appear (more than 30 minutes ).

• After on-premise user change their password, he/she cant authenticate to Azure AD. 

• If password-writeback feature is been used, password reset in Azure AD does not work for on-premise users. 

• We can see synchronization errors under Azure AD Connect health. 

• When there are directory sync issues, Azure AD will also send email notification to directory administrators. 

[Read more…] about Azure AD Connect Common Issues

Step-by-Step guide to connect down-level devices to Azure AD (in hybrid environment)

Devices runs with Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 can directly connect to Azure AD. I have used it on my last few posts and explain different features available for Domain Joined Devices. However not every device in an infrastructure runs with Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016. If it is cloud only environment, you can simply connect your VMs in Azure to Azure AD without issue. but if it is remote devices you do not have option than upgrading to windows 10 and windows 2016. In Hybrid Environment with some configuration changes, Azure AD allow to join devices runs with, 

• Windows 8.1

• Windows 7

• Windows Server 2012 R2

• Windows Server 2012

• Windows Server 2008 R2

In this demo, I am going to explain how we can connect these down-level devices to Azure AD. 

If it is hybrid environment, it will be either federated or non-federated environment. In this post, I am only going to focus on non-federated environment. The configuration and prerequisites are different from one method to another. 

In non-federated environment, 

1. You must have healthy AD synchronization using Azure AD Connect
2. If you are using Seamless single sign-on with Azure AD Connect, it is still supported configuration. more info about it can find using https://www.rebeladmin.com/2017/09/azure-active-directory-seamless-single-sign-azure-ad-seamless-sso/ 
3. If down-level devices are using roaming profiles it is not going to work with Azure AD. In that case you need to move to Windows 10
4. You need to have Azure Global Administrator Account and Domain Admin Account to do the configuration changes. 

Create Service Connection Point 
 
First step of the configuration is to create service connection point (SCP) in local AD so devices can discover Azure AD tenant information during the registration process. 
In order do that we need to run following PowerShell script in Azure AD Connect server. 

Import-Module -Name "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect\AdPrep\AdSyncPrep.psm1";

$aadAdmin = Get-Credential;

Initialize-ADSyncDomainJoinedComputerSync –AdConnectorAccount [AD connector account] -AzureADCredentials $aadAdmin;
 
In above,
 
$aadAdmin – Parameter is to represent the Azure AD admin account used in the configuration. 
 
[AD connector account] – This should replace with the AD account used for Azure AD Sync
 
Note – 
• This must run from the server you have AD Connect configured
• It is recommended to run it from Microsoft Azure Active Directory Module for PowerShell tool. If you use it you do not need to import the module. 
• You must have AD DS tools installed on the same server otherwise command will fail. 
 
Azurec1
 
Verify Service Connection Point Details
 
After you run the command successfully we can verify SCP using,

$scp = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry;

$scp.Path = "LDAP://CN=62a0ff2e-97b9-4513-943f-0d221bd30080,CN=Device Registration Configuration,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=therebeladmin,DC=com";

$scp.Keywords;
 
In above DC=therebeladmin,DC=com represents the domain. 
 
If it was successful, you will get response like below. 
 
Azurec2
 
Allow Users to Join Devices to Azure AD
 
Before you joined the devices, first verify if you allow users to connect devices to Azure AD. 
To do that, 
 
1. Log in to Azure Portal
2. Go to Azure Active Directory 
3. Then Devices
 
Azurec3
 
4. Then click on Device Settings
 
Azurec4
 
5. Then the settings can find under, User may join devices to Azure AD option. In my demo setup, I am allowing all the users to join devices. 
 
Azurec5
 
Join down-level devices to Azure AD
 
Now we have all the prerequisites ready. Next step is to register device with Azure AD. In my demo, I have a VM which runs Windows 8.1. I am going to add it to Azure AD.
 
1. Log in to the Device as Administrator
 
 
Azurec6
 
3. Double click on the MSI after download and click on Install to proceed. 
 
Azurec7
 
Note – This VM is already part of the local domain. 
 
4. Then go to Start > Search > PC Settings after that click on Network 
 
Azurec8
 
5. The click on Workplace > Join
 
Azurec9
 
6. It will prompt for the login and provide the relevant password. 
 
Azurec10
 
7. After successful join, it will show following
 
Azurec11
 
8. Now I can see the device under Azure AD Devices. 
 
Azurec12
 
This marks the end of this blog post. Hope this was useful. If you have any questions feel free to contact me on rebeladm@live.com also follow me on twitter @rebeladm to get updates about new blog posts.

Azure AD Password Synchronization

Azure AD Connect allows engineers to sync on-permises AD data to Azure AD. If you use express settings for the AD connect setup, by default it enables the password synchronization as well. This allows users to use same Active Directory password to authenticate in to cloud based workloads. This allow users to use single login details without maintaining different passwords. It simplifies the user’s login experience as well as reduce the helpdesk involvements. 

Windows Active Directory uses hash values, which is generated by hash algorithm as passwords. It is not being saved as clear text password and it is impossible to revert it back to a clear text password. There is misunderstanding about this as some people thinks Azure AD password sync uses clear text passwords. In every 2 minutes’ intervals Azure AD connect server retrieves password hashes from on-premises AD and sync it to Azure AD per user-basis in chronological order. This also involves with encryption and decryption process to add extra security to password sync process. In event of password change it will sync to Azure AD in next password sync interval. In healthy environment, maximum delay to update password will be 2 minutes. 

If the password was changed while user has open session, it will affect on next Azure authentication attempt. It will not log out the user from existing session. Also, password synchronization doesn’t mean SSO. Users always have to use corporate login details to authenticate to Azure Services. You can find more information about SSO using https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/connect/active-directory-aadconnect-sso 

Enable synchronization of NTLM and Kerberos credential hashes to Azure AD

However Azure AD Connect does not synchronize NTLM and Kerberos credential hashes to Azure AD by default. So, if you had Azure AD directory setup and only enabled Azure Domain Services recently make sure you check following,

pass1
1. If there is existing Azure AD Connect server, Upgrade the Azure AD connect to latest
2. If there is existing Azure AD Connect server, confirm password synchronization is enabled in Azure AD connect 
 
In order to do that, open Azure AD connect and select option to “view current configuration” and check if password synchronization is enabled. 
 
pass2
 
If it’s not, we need to go back to initial page and select option “customize synchronization options” and under optional features select password synchronization
 
pass3
 
Run following PowerShell script on local AD to force full password synchronization, and enable all on-premises users’ credential hashes to sync to Azure AD. 

$adConnector = "<CASE SENSITIVE AD CONNECTOR NAME>"  
$azureadConnector = "<CASE SENSITIVE AZURE AD CONNECTOR NAME>"  
Import-Module “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure AD Sync\Bin\ADSync\ADSync.psd1”  
$c = Get-ADSyncConnector -Name $adConnector  
$p = New-Object Microsoft.IdentityManagement.PowerShell.ObjectModel.ConfigurationParameter "Microsoft.Synchronize.ForceFullPasswordSync", String, ConnectorGlobal, $null, $null, $null
$p.Value = 1  
$c.GlobalParameters.Remove($p.Name)  
$c.GlobalParameters.Add($p)  
$c = Add-ADSyncConnector -Connector $c  
Set-ADSyncAADPasswordSyncConfiguration -SourceConnector $adConnector -TargetConnector $azureadConnector -Enable $false   
Set-ADSyncAADPasswordSyncConfiguration -SourceConnector $adConnector -TargetConnector $azureadConnector -Enable $true  
 
You can find AD connector and Azure AD Connector name using, Start > Synchronization Service > Connections.
 
pass4
 
After that you can try to log in to Azure as a user in on-premises AD. If sync is working properly, it should accept your corporate login. 
 
This marks the end of this blog post. If you have any questions feel free to contact me on rebeladm@live.com also follow me on twitter @rebeladm to get updates about new blog posts.