SharePoint How-To: Hybrid Primer

Cloud services such as SharePoint Online in Office 365 can be an attractive alternative to on-premises SharePoint business solutions. However, there are many reasons to deploy specific solutions in the cloud while maintaining your on-premises SharePoint Server 2013 farm.

For example, many organizations keep certain data and information systems on-premises or within their boundaries to satisfy compliance regulations or legal policies. Some organizations may plan to gradually move their existing SharePoint Server 2013 content and services to the cloud, using a staged migration in which SharePoint Server 2013 workloads are moved to SharePoint Online one at a time.

At the architectural level, a SharePoint hybrid environment is created by configuring a trust relationship and common identity management provider between a SharePoint Online tenant and a SharePoint Server 2013 farm. This architecture supports trusted service connections between the on-premises and cloud SharePoint farms, which can exchange data and content when requested by an authorized user. Depending on the topology and services that are configured, content in one environment can be exposed and manipulated in the other through SharePoint apps, lists and libraries, web parts and search applications.

What does Microsoft Support for SharePoint 2013 Hybrid?

There are three options available for SharePoint 2013:

1.     Search

2.     Business Connectivity Services

3.     Duet enterprise Online

To use any of these options, core trust relationships must be created between the on-premise and cloud services.

These trusts allow the environment to communicate, allowing for consumption of services into the on-premise servers. The following diagrams outline the Hybrid Solution designs.

One-way outbound: An outbound authentication topology lets the on-premise SharePoint Server 2013 farm make authenticated connections to SharePoint Online. Connections to SharePoint Online that originate from SharePoint Server 2013 are referred to as "outbound connections."

 One-way inbound: An inbound authentication topology lets SharePoint Online make authenticated connections to the on-premise SharePoint Server 2013 farm. Connections to SharePoint Server 2013 that originate from SharePoint Online are referred to as "inbound connections."

Two-way: A two-way authentication topology lets SharePoint Online make authenticated connections to the on-premise SharePoint Server 2013 farm, and lets the on-premises SharePoint Server 2013 farm make authenticated connections to SharePoint Online.

Once you understand the architecture of the trusts, everything else falls into place. Microsoft has released information to help you determine the best approach for your organization.