Connect on-premises Active Directory to Microsoft Entra ID so users sign in once and access everything — cloud apps, on-premises servers, SaaS — without juggling passwords.
Hybrid identity is the foundation everything else in Microsoft cloud depends on. Single sign-on, Conditional Access, Self-Service Password Reset, Intune device join — none of it works properly unless your AD and Entra ID are synced cleanly and authenticating against each other.
The work itself isn't large. Entra Connect is a Microsoft tool that does the heavy lifting. The decisions are what matter — which OUs to sync, which authentication method to use (Password Hash Sync, Pass-through Authentication, or Federation), how to handle privileged accounts, what to do with stale objects that have been hanging around since 2009.
We've watched many organizations skip the design phase and end up syncing service accounts they shouldn't have, granting cloud access to disabled users, and discovering six months later that their AD hygiene was worse than they thought.
Active Directory synced to Microsoft Entra ID, with the right authentication method chosen for your environment. Single sign-on working across Microsoft 365 and integrated SaaS apps. Self-Service Password Reset enabled with writeback to on-premises AD, so a password reset works regardless of where the user is.
A starting set of Conditional Access policies — MFA for admins, blocked legacy authentication, basic risk-based controls. Not the elaborate ruleset, just the foundation that won't break anything.
Microsoft Entra Connect Health monitoring set up, so you know the moment sync breaks instead of finding out from a confused user. And documentation of every decision, so the next administrator can understand the choices we made.
Weeks 1–2. Assess current AD — domain functional level, OU structure, existing federation, account hygiene. Choose the authentication method that fits — PHS is right for most, PTA for organizations that need on-premises password verification, Federation only when there's a specific reason. Plan the sync scope and OU filters.
Weeks 3–5. Install Entra Connect on a dedicated server, configure sync, validate identity flow with test users, enable Seamless SSO. Turn on SSPR with writeback. Run the first end-to-end sign-in tests.
Weeks 6–8. Test with a pilot group across departments. Verify Conditional Access works. Set up Entra Connect Health monitoring. Document the operations runbook — what to do when sync breaks, how to add a new domain, how to filter additional OUs.
If you want to talk through your situation — current AD setup, existing federation, what you've tried before — write to us.
We usually reply the same day.