I'm a bit confused about why my posts about a school project are being removed from different subreddits. I initially shared my project in r/microsoft, and it was taken down without any explanation. I then tried posting in r/sysadmin, hoping someone could offer help, but that post also got removed by the mods with no interaction from anyone. I'm reaching out to ask if I did something wrong or if there's a proper place to seek assistance regarding my project.
For context, my project involves setting up an Azure/Microsoft tenant for educational purposes. I'm planning to create a small Proxmox cluster with a few nodes and run several VMs, including DC1, DC2, and Windows 11, to simulate a small company environment. I'm specifically interested in integrating this setup with Azure, using Azure AD Connect to sync users and set up policies in Exchange Online. I'm just trying to figure out if I can do this for free, as I'll only need access for about 3 to 5 months. Is there a way to get a free tenant for school purposes, or did I violate some rules by asking for help?
4 Answers
Make sure to check out Microsoft Learn for pricing and licensing information. They offer a 12-month free tier that includes Entra ID. That will cover quite a bit of what you're trying to achieve. Be aware that educational licenses are generally not free, although they are more affordable than enterprise options. If you’re looking to stay on the free side, you might need to be creative with trials and resources.
It looks like your posts might have been removed because they're not really suited for that subreddit. r/sysadmin is more for professional discussions, so maybe try r/homelab instead. It's a great spot for questions like yours!
You should definitely be able to do all of this! Look for the 'developer sandbox' options, which let you create a full tenant. You can even set it up with dummy accounts pretty easily.
You should be able to utilize some free credits through Microsoft's student offerings! If you search for "Microsoft Azure for Students," you can get $100 worth of credits for up to 12 months. There’s also a regular trial that gives you $200 for 30 days. Just be mindful of the costs—you can keep it under budget by keeping your resource usage low and setting alerts.
Yeah, just keep in mind you usually need to be part of the Developer Program to access those sandboxes for free.