Move from on-prem server to Azure AD

[Jannick Nijholt]

Hi!

I'm looking for some advice to do, firstly I will explain our situation:

We have:

• 1 Windows Server 2012 R2 server, that handles the shares, AD and GPO's.
• 14 Office 365 Essentials licenses (For Mail and Sharepoint)
• 3 Office 365 Business licenses (For Office)

Our data is at this moment on the local server, but we'll move everything into Sharepoint when the new Windows 10 update is out, that supports file streaming from OneDrive en Sharepoint.

So the server now only functions as an AD with GPO's, nothing else. I would like to move this to Azure to remove the local server, because it has very little function then.

I know the employees (14) can login with their Office 365 account on the workstations, but how do manage my GPOs and their profile folder (that's located also on the server).

Thanks!

[#2]

Jannick,

You could add your Windows10 PC's in AzureAD and manage them with EMS. The Intune MDM will not give you all the options of the GPO in AD however. And personal folders can be synced with OneDrive for business.

I'm not sure what policies you apply now with GPO and what you're user profile requirements are. You'll have to provide a little more information to asses whether EMS is a viable replacement for your current AD infrastructure.

However, if you ask me I would sacrifice some functionality to get rid of the hassle of maintaining the AD. Certainly for a an organization of only 14 users.

One more comment though. Activating Office for 5 different users with 1 Office 365 Business license is no correct licensing.

Hope this helps!

Karel