Hardening update to Microsoft Entra Connect Sync AD FS and PingFederate configuration

In October 2024, we released new versions (2.4.xx.0) of Microsoft Entra Connect Sync. These versions contain a back-end service change that further hardens our services. All customers are required to upgrade to the minimum versions by April 7, 2025.

Expected impacts

If you aren’t upgraded to the minimum required version, you may encounter the following impacts to the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync service when the service change takes effect:

  • Configuration of AD FS scenarios through the Connect Sync wizard may not work
  • Configuration of PingFederate scenarios through the Connect Sync wizard may not work

Note

If you’re unable to upgrade by the deadline, you can restore the impacted functionalities by upgrading to the latest version. However, you would lose the ability to configurate AD FS and PingFederate during the time period between April 7, 2025 and when you upgrade.

Minimum versions

To avoid any service impact, customers should be on version by April 7, 2025.

  • Customers in commercial clouds: 2.4.18.0 or higher.
  • Customers in non-commercial clouds: 2.4.21.0 or higher.

To upgrade to the latest version.

Important

Make sure you familiarize yourself with the minimum requirements for the versions, including but not limited to:

To assist customers with the upgrade process, we occasionally autoupgrade customers where supported. If you would like to be autoupgraded, ensure you have the autoupgrade feature configured. For autoupgrade to work, you should be on version 2.3.20.0 or higher.

Consider moving to Microsoft Entra Cloud

If you're eligible, we recommend migrating from Microsoft Entra Connect Sync to Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync. Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync is the new sync client that works from the cloud and allows customers to set up and manage their sync preferences online. We recommend that you use Cloud Sync because we're introducing new features that improve the sync experiences through Cloud Sync. You can avoid future migrations by choosing Cloud Sync if that's the right option for you. Use the https://aka.ms/EvaluateSyncOptions to see if Cloud Sync is the right sync client for you.

See the video below to understand how Cloud sync provides value to your business.

For more information, see What is cloud sync?

Upgrading Microsoft Entra Connect Sync

If you aren’t yet eligible to move to Cloud Sync, use this table for more information on upgrading.

Title Description
Upgrading from a previous version Information on moving from one version of Microsoft Entra Connect to another
Information on deprecation Information on using a deprecated or unsupported version of Microsoft Entra Connect (some information is applicable to versions that are impacted by a service change)

Next steps