Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online Management
Active Roles facilitates the administration and provisioning of Active Directory (AD), Exchange, and Azure AD resources in on-premises, cloud-only and hybrid environments as well. You can manage all these resources through the Active Roles Web Interface.
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In an on-premises environment, when you create new AD objects (users, guest users, groups, contacts, and so on), Active Roles creates and stores these new objects in the local infrastructure of your organization.
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In a cloud-only environment, when you create new AD objects (users, guest users, groups, contacts, and so on), Active Roles creates and stores these new objects in the Azure Cloud.
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In hybrid environments, when you create new AD objects (users, guest users, contacts, and so on) Active Roles synchronizes the on-premises AD objects and their properties to the AD cloud. This synchronization is performed by the Active Roles between Active Roles and Microsoft Microsoft 365, whenever you configure an AD object with the Active Roles Web Interface.
NOTE: Active Roles Web Interface supports AD-related operations only on sites based on the Administrators template. While some of the configuration procedures described in this document are also supported through the Active Roles Management Shell, they are all described with using the Active Roles Web Interface.
Fore more information about the management of Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online objects, see Managing Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online objects in the Active Roles Web Interface User Guide.
Active Roles supports 3 Azure tenant types:
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Non-federated
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Synchronized identity
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Federated
In addition, Active Roles supports 2 Azure tenant environment types for all 3 supported Azure tenant types:
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Azure Cloud
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Azure US Government
For more details on the supported tenant environment types, see Compare Azure Government and global Azure in the Microsoft Azure documentation.
Non-federated tenants
In a non-federated tenant, the on-premises domains are not registered in Azure AD, and neither Azure AD Connect nor any third-party synchronization tools are configured in the domain for synchronization. In non-federated tenants, the changes made in Active Roles are immediately replicated to Azure or Microsoft 365 using Graph API calls or cmdlet calls. Azure users or guest users are typically created with the onmicrosoft.com UPN suffix.
Example: Non-federated tenant configuration
A non-federated tenant may have the following settings:
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On-premises domain: test.local
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Azure AD Domain: ARSAzure.onmicrosoft.com
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Azure AD Connect is not configured for synchronization.
The on-premises domain is not registered in Azure. The Azure user is created in Active Roles with the ID of user001@test.local and in Azure as user001@ARSAzure.onmicrosoft.com. The user is created in Azure simultaneously when it is created in Active Roles using a Graph API call.
NOTE:One Identity recommends using non-federated tenants for testing purposes only, and does not recommend setting them up as a live production environment.
For the supported Azure operations and methods, see Azure object management in non-federated Azure tenants.
Synchronized identity tenants
In a synchronized identity tenant, the on-premises domain is optionally registered in Azure AD, while Azure AD Connect is configured to synchronize the local AD objects to Azure. Azure users or guest users are typically created either with the selected on-premises domain or with the onmicrosoft.com UPN suffix.
Figure 150: Synchronized identity configuration
Example: Synchronized identity tenant configuration
A synchronized identity tenant may have the following settings:
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On-premises domain: test.local
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Azure AD Domain: rd4.qsftdemo.com
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Azure AD Connect is configured for synchronization.
The on-premises domain is optionally registered in Azure. The Azure user is created in Active Roles with the ID of user001@test.local and in Azure as user001@rd4.qsftdemo.com.
For the supported Azure operations and methods, see Azure object management in Federated and Synchronized Identity Azure tenants.
Federated tenants
In a federated tenant, the on-premises domain is always registered in Azure AD, while Azure AD Connect and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) are configured to facilitate synchronization. Azure users and guest users are typically created with the onmicrosoft.com UPN suffix of the selected on-premises domain.
Figure 151: Federated configuration
Example: Federated tenant configuration
A federated configuration may have the following settings:
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On-premises domain: rd4.qsftdemo.com
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Azure AD Domain: rd4.qsftdemo.com
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Azure AD Connect and ADFS are configured for synchronization.
The on-premises domain is registered and verified in Azure. The Azure user is created in Active Roles and Azure AD with the same ID of user001@rd4.qsftdemo.com.
For the supported Azure operations and methods, see Azure object management in Federated and Synchronized Identity Azure tenants.
In a non-federated Azure tenant, you can modify most Azure properties of Azure objects, with the exception of attributes that uniquely identify the object (such as UserPrincipalName and ObjectId).
NOTE:One Identity recommends using non-federated tenants for testing purposes only, and does not recommend setting them up as a live production environment.
The following table provides information about the operations and methods of operation that can be performed on Azure objects in a Non-federated environment.
Table 79: Supported Azure configurations comparison chart
User |
Create |
Using Graph API |
Read |
Using Graph API and Exchange Online cmdlets |
Update |
Using Graph API and Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Guest User |
Create |
Using Graph API |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Graph API |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Security Group |
Create |
Using Graph API |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Graph API |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Mail Enabled Security Group |
Create |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Graph API |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Distribution Group |
Create |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Graph API |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Native Microsoft 365 Group (Cloud-only) |
Create |
Using Graph API |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Graph API |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
Contacts |
Create |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Read |
Using Graph API |
Update |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delete |
Using Graph API |
NOTE: Active Roles provides cloud-only support only for Native Microsoft 365 Groups management.
The following synchronization methods are applicable only to synchronized identity and federated Azure tenants, with Azure AD Connect used to perform the synchronization.
NOTE: Non-federated Azure tenants do not require synchronization. In such tenants, Active Roles uses direct Graph API calls to perform Azure AD or Microsoft 365 object management.
Table 80: Supported Azure configurations comparison chart
User |
Create |
|
|
Created by Graph API |
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API and Exchange Online cmdlets |
Update |
Azure properties |
Identity |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Settings |
Using Graph API |
Job Info |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Contact Info |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Licenses |
Using Graph API |
O365 Admin Roles |
Using Graph API |
OneDrive |
Created by OneDrive Policy using PowerShell commands |
Exchange Online properties |
Mail Flow Settings |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delegation |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
E-mail Address |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Mailbox Features |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Mailbox Settings |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Guest Users |
Create |
Invite Guest |
|
Created by Graph API |
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
Azure properties |
Identity |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Settings |
Using Graph API |
Job Info |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Contact Info |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Licenses |
Using Graph API |
O365 Admin Roles |
Using Graph API |
Exchange Online properties |
Mail Flow Settings |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delegation |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
E-mail Address |
Synced using AAD Connect |
Mailbox Features |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Mailbox Settings |
Using Exchange Online cmdlets |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Security Group |
Create |
|
|
|
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
|
|
Synced using AAD Connect |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Mail Enabled Security Group |
Create |
|
|
|
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
|
|
Synced using AAD Connect |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Distribution Group |
Create |
|
|
|
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
|
|
Synced using AAD Connect |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Native Microsoft 365 Group (Cloud-only) |
Create |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Contacts |
Create |
|
|
Synced using AAD Connect |
Read |
|
|
Using Graph API |
Update |
|
|
Synced using AAD Connect |
Delete |
|
|
Using Graph API |
NOTE: Consider the following when using federated and synchronized identity Azure tenants:
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Active Roles provides cloud-only support only for Native Microsoft 365 Group management.
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"Synced using AAD Connect" in the table means that the object operation is initially performed on the on-premises object. Once the Microsoft Azure AD Connect synchronization cycle is completed, the object is updated in Azure AD or Microsoft 365.
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For more information on how to perform back synchronization, see Configuring Active Roles to synchronize existing Azure AD objects.