Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator AssociateImplement an identity management solutionMedium

A company with an existing on-premises Active Directory environment plans to migrate some applications to Azure. These applications are critical and require seamless single sign-on (SSO) and LDAP authentication against the same user accounts stored in their on-premises Active Directory. The company wants to avoid deploying and managing domain controllers in Azure IaaS virtual machines. Which Azure AD feature should be implemented to meet these requirements?

  1. AAzure AD B2B collaboration
  2. BAzure AD Domain Services (Azure AD DS)
  3. CAzure AD Connect with Pass-through Authentication (PTA)
  4. DAzure AD Connect with Password Hash Synchronization (PHS)
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B. Azure AD Domain Services (Azure AD DS)

Azure AD Domain Services (Azure AD DS) provides managed domain services, including LDAP and Kerberos/NTLM authentication, directly from Azure AD. It synchronizes with an existing Azure AD tenant (which can be synchronized from on-premises AD) and eliminates the need to deploy IaaS domain controllers.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Azure AD B2B collaboration is for inviting external users, not for providing domain services for internal applications.
  • C. PTA enables SSO for modern apps by validating passwords against on-premises AD but does not provide LDAP or Kerberos for Azure-hosted legacy apps.
  • D. PHS provides SSO for modern apps but does not offer LDAP or Kerberos/NTLM authentication directly for legacy applications.

Azure AD Domain Services (Azure AD DS)

A managed domain service provided by Microsoft Azure that offers LDAP, Kerberos, and NTLM authentication compatible with legacy applications.

  • Provides domain services without managing IaaS DCs.
  • Supports LDAP, Kerberos, NTLM authentication.
  • Synchronizes with Azure AD (which can be synced from on-prem AD).

Memory trick: DS for Legacy Apps: Domain Services for Direct Support.

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