Microsoft yesterday announced the general availability of Azure AD Basic and Azure Active Directory Synchronization Services (AAD Sync). AAD Basic is targeted towards deskless employees of organizations and it provides essential features like company branding, group-based application access and self-service password reset. Azure AAD sync simplifies the process of connecting Azure AD to Windows Server AD, including making it simple to connect complex, multi-forest deployments. It also enhances the single forest capabilities.

The features included in Active Directory Basic are:

Company branding – This feature enables you to add your company logo and color schemes to your organization’s Sign In and Access Panel pages. You also have the option to add localized versions of the logo for different languages and locales.

For more information, see Add Company branding to your Sign In and Access Panel pages.

– This feature enables you to add your company logo and color schemes to your organization’s Sign In and Access Panel pages. You also have the option to add localized versions of the logo for different languages and locales. For more information, see Add Company branding to your Sign In and Access Panel pages. Group-based application access – Easily manage user access to thousands of SaaS applications based on group membership. These groups can be in the cloud or sourced from on-premises Active Directory.

For more information, see Assign access for a group to a SaaS application.

– Easily manage user access to thousands of SaaS applications based on group membership. These groups can be in the cloud or sourced from on-premises Active Directory. For more information, see Assign access for a group to a SaaS application. Self-service password reset – Azure AD has always allowed directory administrators to reset forgotten passwords. With Azure AD Basic, you can reduce your helpdesk calls by allowing the users in the company to reset their password.

For more information, see Self-service password reset for users.

– Azure AD has always allowed directory administrators to reset forgotten passwords. With Azure AD Basic, you can reduce your helpdesk calls by allowing the users in the company to reset their password. For more information, see Self-service password reset for users. Enterprise SLA of 99.9% – We guarantee at least 99.9% availability of the Azure Active Directory Basic service

AAD Sync capabilities in this release include the following;

Active Directory and Exchange multi-forest environments can be extended now to the cloud.

Control over which attributes are synchronized based on desired cloud services.

Selection of accounts to be synchronized through domains, OUs, etc.

Ability to set up the connection to AD with minimal Windows Server AD privileges.

Setup synchronization rules by mapping attributes and controlling how the values flow to the cloud.

Preview AAD Premium password change and reset to AD on-premises.

Read more about this availability here and here.