Forum Discussion
How to create mailing lists (distribution lists) in AD with custom settings and sync with Office365
You can create and manage DLs in your on-premises AD via PowerShell, they will be synced to AAD and can be "consumed" in Outlook/OWA. "Subscription" is by default automatic, but you can toggle that if needed.
DLs are one option, but they don't offer "list archive". if you want to have such functionality, also look at Office 365 Groups. The problem with those are that they only exist in O365, there is no on-premises analog. You can still provision/manage them via PowerShell or the Graph API.
Thank you so much, Vasil. I really appreciate it. I created a distribution group in AD and added two members to it for testing purposes. I did not find any way to change permissions for these members. For example who can send email to this distribution list - one or more members, anyone in or outside organization etc. How can we do this? Also, it didn't propagate to Office365. Do I need to do something in AD Connect configuration or somewhere else?
By default anyone in the organization will be allowed to send to the DL. This is configurable (as are multiple other settings as detailed here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124513(v=exchg.150).aspx), however in your scenario you will have to do the configuration via the AD tools, as you don't have Exchange installed, not the Exchange schema extensions.
Here's a sample article that explains how to extend the schema: http://guides.appriver.com/m/21389/l/698027-extend-active-directory-schema-to-include-exchange-attributes
And this one covers the attributes you (might want to edit: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hot/2012/08/30/error-when-you-try-to-restrict-senders-to-send-message-to-specified-distribution-group-in-on-premise-organization-that-has-no-exchange-server/
As for the sync, you need to have a minimum set of attributes before an object is considered for sync. For DLs those include DisplayName, proxyaddresses and/or mail.
Thank you again, Vasil. I was able to create distribution group in AD and restrict posting to specific members. This later synced with our Office 365 online. Really appreciate help and guidance that you provided.
-- Vishal Gandhi --