Azure AD Hybrid Identity: An Overview

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Jane Doe

In today's diverse IT landscape, organizations often manage identities across both on-premises environments and cloud services. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Hybrid Identity provides a unified approach to managing user identities and access across these environments, enabling seamless sign-on experiences and robust security.

What is Hybrid Identity?

Hybrid Identity bridges the gap between your on-premises identity infrastructure (like Active Directory Domain Services) and Azure AD. It allows users to access cloud resources using their existing on-premises credentials. This is crucial for organizations that are progressively migrating to the cloud or have a long-term need for a hybrid approach.

Key Components of Azure AD Hybrid Identity

Azure AD Hybrid Identity is built upon several core components and features:

1. Identity Synchronization

This is the foundation of hybrid identity. It involves synchronizing user, group, and contact information from your on-premises Active Directory to Azure AD.

• Azure AD Connect: The primary tool for synchronizing identities. It offers different synchronization modes:
• Password Hash Synchronization (PHS): Hashes of user passwords are synchronized to Azure AD.
• Pass-through Authentication (PTA): User authentication requests are passed directly to on-premises AD.
• Federation (using AD FS): Authentication is handled by on-premises federation services.
• Azure AD Connect Cloud Sync: A lightweight agent for synchronizing identities from on-premises environments to Azure AD.

2. Single Sign-On (SSO)

Once identities are synchronized, SSO allows users to sign in once with their corporate credentials and gain access to both on-premises and cloud applications without re-authentication.

• Seamless SSO: Works with PHS and PTA to provide SSO for domain-joined devices when users are on their corporate network.
• Federated SSO: Leverages federation services for a more complex SSO experience.

3. Device Management

Managing devices across hybrid environments is also a key aspect.

• Azure AD Join: Devices are joined directly to Azure AD.
• Hybrid Azure AD Join: Devices are joined to both on-premises AD and Azure AD, allowing management from both worlds.
• Azure AD Registered: Devices are registered with Azure AD, typically for BYOD scenarios.

Benefits of Azure AD Hybrid Identity

Adopting a hybrid identity strategy offers numerous advantages:

• Enhanced User Experience: Users benefit from a single set of credentials and seamless access to resources.
• Improved Security: Centralized identity management allows for consistent application of security policies, conditional access, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all environments.
• Simplified Administration: Manage identities from a single pane of glass (Azure AD) while leveraging existing on-premises investments.
• Cost Efficiency: Reduces the need for managing separate identity solutions for cloud applications.
• Phased Cloud Adoption: Enables organizations to migrate to the cloud at their own pace.

Simplified illustration of Azure AD Hybrid Identity flow.

Common Hybrid Identity Scenarios

Here are some typical scenarios where hybrid identity is implemented:

• Migrating applications to Azure cloud services while maintaining on-premises user management.
• Using SaaS applications like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or Workday with existing on-premises credentials.
• Providing remote access to corporate resources for employees.
• Implementing modern security measures like Conditional Access policies for hybrid resources.

Getting Started with Hybrid Identity

Implementing hybrid identity typically involves these steps:

1. Assess your current identity infrastructure.
2. Choose the right synchronization method (PHS, PTA, Federation) based on your security and operational requirements.
3. Deploy and configure Azure AD Connect.
4. Configure Single Sign-On for your applications.
5. Implement device management strategies (Hybrid Azure AD Join, Azure AD Join).
6. Enable security features like MFA and Conditional Access.

Azure AD Hybrid Identity is a powerful strategy for modern organizations looking to balance on-premises investments with cloud innovation. By unifying identity management, you can simplify operations, enhance security, and provide a better experience for your users.