When moving to Office 365, customers face the question—do I still need my server? For many, the requirement to continue using a server is negated based on the functionality that Office 365 provides and as such they are able to remove their server after their migration is complete.
However, some businesses may still require the services of an on-premise server for a variety of reasons such as file systems, databases, and line of business applications.
In the latter case, a business would now be faced with the challenge of maintaining two disparate systems (being their server and Office 365).
Generally a business can maintain a single set of usernames through the implementation of Directory Synchronization. However, this is not available with Office 365 for Small Businesses and Professionals. This applies to businesses running:
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Small Business Server 2003
Small Business Server 2008
Small Business Server 2011 Standard
In the case of a business...