DirSync a must for AD FS on Azure - azure

Is DirSync a must for AD FS hosted on Azure Virtual Machines?
I keep reading Azure solution with DirSync. Is it absolutely impossible to federate directly without syncing active directory.
I am looking to implement Federated Web SSO on Azure, it would be a huge set back having to sync client Active Directories.

Yes, you will need DirSync for AD FS to function properly with Azure. What's the setback, specifically? The only real caveat I can find is a 300,000 object limit, not sure if that's per domain but it seems they're open to lifting the limit if you contact support.
If it's the setup you're concerned about, it's pretty basic. You will likely need clients to provision a VM, but that's not crazy talk or anything. Here's a few (short) TechNet articles to walk you through it:
Prepare for directory synchronization
Active directory synchronization
Install or upgrade the Directory Sync tool
Synchronize your directories

Related

Azure Storage File Share with Folder Label Permission based on Azure AD and Azure AD Domain Service

I am desperately looking for a solution. Posting this question after wasting almost 4 days. We have a file storage application and we are using Azure File Share to manage the files. The file shared can be connect as a Drive in PC or VM using SMB 3.0 protocol. We are good in this stage. The problem is starting just after it.
Support we have a file shared named Our Projects. Inside of this file share lets have 3 project folders.
Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
We are using AD for user authentication. So, when a user attach a file share into own PC, expecting a solutions like that
User One have the access on Project 1 folder only
User Two have the access on Project 2 and Project 3 folders
After lot's of googling getting suggestions to do it using Azure AD Domain Service and VM. I have watched some tutorials on Azure File Share on Pluralist as well. But, I am not getting confident to active our expected solutions.
Looking for expert suggestions or what could be the best approach to achieve it?
Or is it really possible in azure, what I am expecting?
I really really looking for a good solutions from azure experts desperately.
I am new user in Azure Active Directory and Active Directory Domain Service. Please receive lot's of thanks in advance.
Please read here, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/azure/storage/files/storage-files-active-directory-overview#ad-ds
You can either give users access through either Azure ad ds, or on-prem ad ds by making sure you have a hybrid environment with Azure ad connect so that your users are properly synced across.
After that, you create the Azure file share, then you can mount it and set directory level permissions in that share like you normally would with an on prem server.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/azure/storage/files/storage-files-active-directory-overview#configure-directory-or-file-level-permissions-for-azure-files

How to configure Azure AAD Connect to synch with OpenLDAP

I am trying to set up AAD Connect to synchronise our in-house LDAP user directory with the Azure AAD. Documentation says to use AAD Connect, and that while Microsoft would (of course) prefer you have Active Directory locally to link to, it should also work with an SQL or LDAP backend, though the only instructions I can find are a year out of date. In any case, we are a linux house and do not have AD internally.
Possibly I need an older version of AAD Connect (1.1.649?) but am unable to find this anywhere.
Does anyone have any instructions on how we can configure AAD Connect to work with anything but a local Active Directory?
I have seen this blog posting, but it does not match the current AD Connect software. https://blog.kloud.com.au/2017/11/03/generic-ldap-connector-for-azure-ad-connect/
There is a trick to doing this.
Install local Active Directory
Install AADConnect linking to local AD and Azure AD
When install has completed, run the ADConnect Synchronisation Service (UIShell) configuration app
This then allows you to define an LDAP connector, and remove the unnecessary local AD one
Now you need to define rules using the Synchronisation Rules Editor to trigger updates, creates or deletes
Now you need to set up profiles in the Synchronisation Service for Full Import and for Sync on each source.
This is not trivial but there is more information here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-connector-genericldap
Don't run the install wizard as it only allows you to configure replication to a local AD, which is pointless as you can set up federation in this case.
An alternative, now available, is to install the AAD Domain Services object in Azure. This is, in effect, AD+ADConnect in a managed box, and will give you an LDAP endpoint to AD. You can then use LDAP replication of some sort to synchronise this with your local LDAP, or else use it directly for authnz.
Drawbacks are that is is, of course AD LDAP and has a strange structure; and the LDAP password synch only happens when the passwords are updated in AAD. And you cant extend the schema locally. However it may be enough if authentication and groups are all that is required.

Windows Azure - migration questions

After global overview about Windows Azure platform i still have some questions in my mind i would like you to kindly answer. Hope it will be also usefull for some people besides me.
One of my application uses sql server db for text data and second db which is just simply images db (folder structure own db) where
images are stored and by using ftp my aplication can download/upload
there. The question is: a) If i would go azure does "sql azure" is
place where can i place my sql server db? b) What about my folder
structure database - is there some place on azure storage i could put
my folders containing images and configure ftp to it? I heard about
BLOBS but can i ftp to it?
Is there possibility to place Windows forms application to Azure that it could work as remote application which specific users could
access instead of installing on every client machine?
Regarding Worker role - is there possibility to just simply move Windows service application to azure as worker role or there are some
things which has to be rebuilt to work in azure?
If i would go azure does "sql azure" is place where can i place my sql
server db.
You could definitely use SQL Azure to host your SQL database. Other alternative would be to use a SQL Server inside a Virtual Machine.
What about my folder structure database - is there some place on azure
storage i could put my folders containing images and configure ftp to
it? I heard about BLOBS but can i ftp to it?
Blobs is definitely the place to store files and folders though they don't support FTP. However there are many storage explorers available (both free and paid), using which you can upload files and folders from your local computer into Azure Blob Storage. Another alternative would be Azure File Storage.
Is there possibility to place Windows forms application to Azure that
it could work as remote application which specific users could access
instead of installing on every client machine?
Yes, it is possible. Please look into Azure Remote App Service.
Regarding Worker role - is there possibility to just simply move
Windows service application to azure as worker role or there are some
things which has to be rebuilt to work in azure?
You can't deploy a Windows Service application as is into a Worker role. You have to tweak your code a bit. Other alternatives that you may want to look into is hosting your Windows Service in a Virtual Machine (to the best of my knowledge, it should be without any code changes) or converting your Windows Service into a WebJob.
In addition to everything that Gaurav mentions and as he alludes to, you can also investigate Azure Files. You can mount file shares from any onprem application. Since Azure Files supports the SMB protocol, you can use standard file system API to interact with it.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/storage-dotnet-how-to-use-files.

Is it necessary to create an ACS with Azure Active Directory?

Is it required that I create my own Azure ACS if I want to use the Active Directory? Am I able to simply create a new application instance on the Active Directory Pane (on the Azure Management Console) without having an ACS to build on? I don't want to need to pay to create my own ACS niche.
I think you're talking about creating an "Access Control Namespace".
It actually isn't necessary to do so. You can register an application with Azure AD without having an ACN "niche" - having an ACN is something that is generally better for larger enterprise applications or those that have to handle requests on many different levels (with many different applications). So unless you're building something very large, there's no reason to set an ACN up on the Management Console (and you can continue to use everything for free with the AD functionality without an ACN). Hope this helps.

how to write a cloud-based Active directory .NET application

I work for a network management company and I want to write a .Net application (MVC 4) that will allow us to service Active Directory users from a cloud-based application.
As I have never written a cloud-based app, I don't know if I'm using that term correctly or not. I am in the requirements gathering stage. Basically, I'd like to provide our customers with the ability, for example, to change their own password using our cloud-based application.
is this an application that should be written specifically using Azure? If not, what tools and platform(s) should I take into consideration?
What tutorials or other resources are available ?
Actually, I don't even know enough about Active Directory and Cloud computing to ask the right questions. But, I hope someone will point me in the right direction
Read How to Authenticate Web Users with Windows Azure Active Directory Access Control. There are great walk-throughs there. There is more reading and code samples here - Access Control Service 2.0.
That's using ACS.
You could go direct to Azure Active Directory if you wished?
Refer: Adding Sign-On to Your Web Application Using Windows Azure AD.
If you use Office 365, you already have an AAD tenant.

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