Forum Discussion
On prem file server with no domain controller
Spoiler
I have been asked to research in to seeing if this is possible.
Goal:
To be able to have an on premise file server but no domain controller. Due to network and file size constraints, the on premise file server is a must. Users use their Azure AD credentials to authenticate and access the file shares on the server.
From what I have seen, this doesn't seem possible as Azure really isn't a replacement for ADDS. Microsoft documentation refers to having a domain controller on prem for a hybrid setup using Azure connect.
- You could use Azure Active Directory Domain Services, create a VPN connection from Azure to your on-prem network and join the server to AADS domain. That way all user can authenticate to the server using their Azure AD credentials (You have to let their password expire after configuring AADS because only then the password will be synced to it)
- Look into Azure File Sync, you still need a domain controller for authentication but you could map the file share directly:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/file-sync/file-sync-deployment-guide?tabs=azure-portal%2Cproactive-portal
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/storage-how-to-use-files-windows.
