Moving to the Cloud with Microsoft Entra ID Domain Services & AVD

With tools like Microsoft Entra ID and Azure Virtual Desktop, moving your apps, processes, and infrastructure to the cloud is straightforward. Entra ID, though released some time ago, has gained significant attention with the introduction of Azure Virtual Desktop, making cloud transitions more accessible for organizations.

What Is Azure AD Domain Services?

Azure AD Domain Services (ADDS / AD DS) is the cloud version of the Windows Domain Controller many IT professionals already know. It's a managed service for identity management, hosting all your resources on Azure.

Azure AD DS makes cloud migration easier by providing a managed identity service that supports domain joining, group policy, LDAP, and Kerberos/NTLM authentication.

Azure AD DS vs Domain Controller

Compared to classic Domain Controllers, Azure AD DS has a few key differences:

• No extendable schema
• No domain or forest trusts
• No Enterprise or Domain Admin privileges

Beyond these, it supports domain joining for VMs, group policy application, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), and Kerberos / NTLM authentication, all compatible with Active Directory. Another core advantage is how it simplifies migrating existing assets to Azure.

Azure AD Domain Services Pricing

Like Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure AD Domain Services pricing is appealing. You pay only for what you use, with no upfront costs.

There are three packages: Standard, Enterprise, and Premium. Each offers different frequencies of backups, authentication loads, and object counts. Technical support is available for an additional cost.

For help choosing a package or understanding Azure AD Domain Services pricing, consult the pricing calculator.

Moving to the Cloud: ADDS, AVD and ezeep

Organizations gain several benefits by moving to the cloud, summarized as follows:

• Efficiency. Move on-prem servers and apps to the cloud. This significantly reduces maintenance, updates, and security efforts.
• Scale. Increase your flexibility. Adjust capacity up or down as needed, fine-tuning everything on demand.
• Availability. Resources and applications that use authentication can be moved to the cloud. This makes them accessible to the workers who need them.
• Add-ons. Keep processes adaptable. Enhance your capabilities with cloud-based partner integrations when required.

Many online videos demonstrate how to achieve this and how ADDS works in practice.

The video above shows AADDS used with AVD and FSLogix in Azure Files Storage accounts. It documents all the steps needed, including setting up AADDS and a custom AVD deployment linked to AADDS.

When partner integrations, such as ezeep for connecting on-premises printers to the cloud, are included, a fully cloud-based environment becomes a viable choice over traditional 100% on-prem setups.

Moving enterprise printing to the cloud with ezeep ensures your documents are always accessible and secure, regardless of your infrastructure. This cloud-native approach means no print servers to maintain and consistent printing from any device.

Try ezeep and simplify your print environment today.