I'm looking for a complete guide on setting up Microsoft 365, specifically from acquiring licenses to creating a user within a hybrid domain join. I've been in IT for a while and can handle Active Directory, but I've never actually set up a domain before. Our organization plans to migrate from our PST hosted email server to Microsoft 365, and the quote for the setup and migration is quite high—$15K. I'm unsure about the initial steps, like how to declare 'this is my domain and here are my licenses,' and I also need help with configuring AD Sync for the hybrid setup. We're only planning to use email and Office licenses for now. If anyone has good resources like YouTube videos or documentation, I'd really appreciate it!
1 Answer
You might be underestimating your skills! I suggest starting with a free 30-day trial tenant with Business Premium licenses. You can test it out with a test domain and point the DNS as needed. Most new tenants come with security defaults enabled, which is a good starting point. Setting up AD Sync is manageable; just decide which attributes to map and whether you want password writeback. The setup wizard will guide you through it all!

I had no idea a trial tenant was available! I'll definitely look into that. Setting up local AD will be my next step for testing sync. Thanks for the suggestion!