Pros and Cons Cloud Only Configuration

[Shaun Jennings]

Researching the Pros and Cons of going from a hybrid Office 365 configuration to a cloud only configuration. Currently utilizing AADConnect and ADFS in the hybrid environment.

[#2]

You might at least specify which workloads you are considering configuring in Hybrid.

[#3]

That would be Exchange hybrid.

[#4]

So if you have AD FS and want to continue using it as authentication method for O365, you are tied in to AAD Connect anyway, and centrally managing your user objects via AD. Hybrid basically extends this to cover any Exchange related objects and attributes, effectively "extending" the on-premises organization to the cloud. Hybrid will offer the best experience during a migration, for both end users and admin, and if you decide to keep some mailboxes on-premises, it allows you to have a seamless experience, such that the users don't even notice when they are "talking" to a cloud user.

On the con side, it requires some additional setup and maintenance.

[#5]

I'm looking more at we are currently in a hybrid environment and there is a request to look at removing Exchange on-premises and go to cloud only accounts. What happens when we remove Exchange completely from on-premises and use Cloud only accounts for Office 365?

[#6]

There's documentation on that here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/decommission-on-premises-exchange

[#7]

@Vasil MichevI have seen that documentation but it does not offer the answers to the questions that I have. We are trying to decide if we need to keep the hybrid exchange environment or get rid of it and I would like to know what other's have done and experienced. Is there a drawback going to Cloud only accounts? Are there caveats to keeping AD Sync/AD Connect without having the Exchange on-premises hybrid server other than you cannot manage some extended attributes?

[#8]

You can still use adconnect without any caveats! And correct me if I’m wrong @Vasil but if they go cloud only all the attributes remain in Ad from the former extension of the schema?
The pros with going hybrid if all your users are in the cloud is the management of attributes and some settings. The cons is the infrastructure you have to keep on-premises!

[#9]

Cloud-only and keeping AAD Connect are two different things, the latter requiring you to keep at least one Exchange box if you want to stay in "supported" configuration. If you are OK with the "supported" bit and feel confident you can manage objects and attributes directly via ADUC or PowerShell, then go for it, technically there are no blockers for such configuration.

If you do a real "cloud-only", you loose the central management, so any change you make in AD will have to be manually pushed to the cloud, and vice versa.