How to link Active Directory on-premises with Microsoft Azure AD using Redmond's new connector.

Microsoft announced a 'public preview' of Azure AD Connect today and outlined its plan to consolidate some related tools.

Microsoft has released a new public preview of Azure Active Directory Connect, a tool for connecting Windows Server AD to Azure AD. It will replace DirSync and the standalone Azure AD Sync tools.

To bridge scattered Active Directory 'forests,' Microsoft is introducing a preview of a new 'Cloud Provisioning' feature for the Azure Active Directory Connect service.

Microsoft's Azure AD Connect tool is rolling out to all Azure Active Directory and Office 365 business customers, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse is now in limited public preview.

A new Azure Active Directory Connect Health feature lets IT pros resolve duplicate attribute sync errors.

Then you do a switchover by putting the V1 azure ad connect server in staging mode, then remove the new Azure AD connect server from staging mode.