Introduction
Continuing our journey to better understand Entra Connect Sync let's see everything in action!
Start your DC1 server created in this post , login.
Make sure that the Microsoft Azure AD Sync service is running:
Start the Syncrhonization Service
Check what steps are included in the Delta Sync
To make it clean and easy to follow, let's clear the previous Operations if you have one:
Now you can manually start a Delta Sync with PowerShell:
_Import-Module ADSync
Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta _
Delta Sync only syncronizes the changed data, while the Initial Sync syncronizes all data from the connected data sources.
In the Operation Tab you can see the steps involved in the Delta Syc:
- Delta Import from the local Active Directory - CD to CS
- Delta Import from Entra ID (shown as AAD) - CD to CS
- Delta Synchronization from Entra ID (shown as AAD) - CS to MV
- Delta Synchronization from Active Directory - CS to MW
- Export to Entra ID (shown as AAD) - MW to CS
- Export to Active Directory - MW to CS
! Disable the sync scheduler now to make sure it won't automatically start a Delta Sync after you create a new user:
Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $false
Create a new user in AD
Active Directory Users and Computers
Users » right click » New » User
Name him:
Check if the object exists in the Connector Space
Connector Space tab » Right click on your CS connected to Active Directory » Search
Click Search and order the list by the Object type
No "New User" object here.
Start a Delta Import
To start a Delta Import right click on the Connector Space connected to the AD » Run » Delta Import
Check the Synchronization Statistics: 1 added item, our new user is replicated to the Connector Space.
This process of bringing in a new object from a connected data source into the Connector Space is called provisioning (from the perspective of the Connector Space)
If you search again in the Connector Space you will find the replica of the New User there.
Check the object in the Metaverse. Since it hasn't been synchronized to the Metaverse yet, it should not be visible.
Metaverse Search Tab » Search
Our new user is not here.
Run a Delta Import from Entra ID (shows as AAD).
No updates from Entra ID.
Now let's run a Delta Synchronization on the local AD Connector Space to project our new user object to the Metaverse.
Right click on the Connector Space connected to the local AD » Run » Delta Syncrhonization
You can see the Synchronization Statistics: there is one new projection.
During the Inbound Synchronization step, if the object does not yet exist in the metaverse, it is projected into the metaverse.
Projection refers to the creation of a new object in the metaverse when there is no existing matching object.
If you search the Metaverse now you will find our new object.
Do the Delta Syncronization on the Connector Space connected to the Entra ID (AAD).
There will be no changes comming from Entra ID.
Now check the object in the Connector Space connected to Entra ID (AAD). Search the Connector Space and organize the result by the Object Type.
By clicking the Properties of the new user (with the Display name blank) you can see it is flagged as "Pending Export".
**Now let's do an Export on the Connector Space connected to Entra ID (AAD) **to export the newly created object to the cloud.
Right click on the Connector Space connected to the AAD » Run » Export
After in finish successfully you can see there is 1 added item.
Check if you can find the new object in the Connector Space connected to Entra ID (AAD).
Search Connector Space:
You can see there is a new item with the Display name field blank.
(if you don't see the Display Name column click on Column Settings... and add it)
We are waiting for confirmation from Entra ID that the export was successful. Since this hasn't happened yet, the status shows "Awaiting Export Confirmation."
Check the properties of the object:
If you check your users in Entra ID you can already see the newly added user:
Let's get the confirmation from Entra ID (AAD)
Run a Full Import on the Connector Space connected to Entra ID (AAD)
Check the new user again, now the object will show it's display name:
Even if you do a Delta Sync with PowerShell you still see the new object as Awaiting Export Confirmation after the Delta Sync successfully finished.
To try this create a new user like "Delta New User" and run a Delta Sync manually ( Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta ).
Check the object in the Connector Space connected to the Entra ID (AAD). It shows as Awaiting Export Confirmation.
The "Awaiting Export Confirmation" status means that the Sync Engine has successfully exported the new user object to Entra ID but has not yet received confirmation that Entra ID processed the change.
The Sync process (exporting the change from AD to Entra ID) is asynchronous, meaning changes are sent to Entra ID, but the system waits for confirmation that they have been processed. Once Entra ID acknowledges the export, the status will update, and the object will be fully synchronized.
Until then, the object remains in this state, indicating the process is not yet complete.
Confirmation will occur during the next Sync Cycle or can be triggered manually by initiating an Import (full or delta) from Entra ID, as demonstrated in the example.
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