AD Migration On AWS (With MSP)

Client Overview

A mid-sized enterprise in the financial sector with a global presence had been running its Active Directory (AD) infrastructure on-premises for over a decade. The existing AD setup was becoming a bottleneck due to increasing demands for scalability, security, and operational efficiency. The client sought a cloud-based solution to modernize their directory services without disrupting business operations.

Business Challenges

Legacy Infrastructure: The client’s on-premises AD was outdated, leading to frequent downtime and performance issues.
High Maintenance Costs: Managing physical domain controllers, licensing, and infrastructure costs was becoming expensive.
Scalability Issues: The existing AD setup could not efficiently support business growth and global expansion.
Security & Compliance: The financial industry requires strict security and compliance, making cloud-based security enhancements critical.
Remote Workforce Support: A growing remote workforce requires a flexible and scalable authentication system.

Technology Used

Nexus Infra 360 partners with industry-leading OEMs to deliver top-tier infrastructure solutions.

Solution Overview

Active Directory Migration to AWS

The solution involved migrating from the on-premises AD infrastructure to AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed AD) while ensuring minimal downtime and business continuity.

1. Assessment & Planning

Conducted a detailed audit of the existing AD environment, including users, groups, policies, and applications.
Identified dependencies, including on-premises applications and cloud-based services integrated with AD.
Selected AWS Managed Microsoft AD due to its seamless integration with Windows workloads and AWS services.
Defined a phased migration approach to minimize risks.

2. Migration Strategy

The migration followed a hybrid approach to ensure a smooth transition without disrupting authentication services.

2.1 Hybrid Connectivity Setup

2.2 Trust Relationship Establishment

2.3 Migration of AD Objects & Policies

Used Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to migrate users, groups, and organizational units (OUs) from the on-prem AD to AWS Managed AD.
Ensured group policies (GPOs) were replicated and reconfigured to match the cloud environment.
Conducted test migrations in a staging environment before the full rollout.

2.4 Application & Workload Migration

Identified business-critical applications dependent on AD authentication.
Configured AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) integration for AWS services.
Migrated key workloads to AWS, ensuring they could authenticate using AWS Managed AD.
Deployed Amazon WorkSpaces and Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for remote user access and storage.

3. Validation & Testing

Conducted user authentication tests to ensure seamless logins for both on-prem and AWS-based users.
Validated Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and security configurations.
Performed load testing to check AD performance under high user demand.
Ensured compliance with financial industry security standards.

4. Go-Live & Optimization

Gradually decommissioned on-premises domain controllers after ensuring all authentication requests were successfully processed by AWS Managed AD.
Optimized costs by rightsizing AWS instances and leveraging AWS Reserved Instances for predictable workloads.
Implemented AWS Security Hub and AWS CloudTrail for continuous monitoring and compliance tracking.

Results & Business Impact

Reduced Operational Costs: Eliminated on-premises AD hardware and maintenance costs, leading to a 40% reduction in operational expenses.
Improved Scalability: The client can now scale directory services on-demand without infrastructure constraints.
Enhanced Security & Compliance: Leveraged AWS security tools, reducing security incidents by 60%.
High Availability & Reliability: Multi-AZ deployment ensures 99.99% uptime for authentication services.
Seamless Remote Workforce Integration: Remote employees can securely authenticate through AWS services without VPN dependency.

Conclusions

By migrating to AWS Managed Microsoft AD, the client achieved a secure, scalable, and cost-effective directory service solution. The transition was executed with minimal downtime, leading to improved security posture, operational efficiency, and seamless integration of cloud-based workloads.