With the Office 365 dev/test environment in Azure, you can follow step-by-step instructions to configure a simplified intranet in Azure infrastructure services, an Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscription, and directory synchronization for Azure Active Directory (AD). With this new dev/test environment, you can:

• Perform Office 365 application development and testing in an environment that simulates an enterprise organization.
• Learn about Office 365 Enterprise E5 features, experiencing them from a consequence-free configuration that is separate from your organization’s infrastructure and Office 365 subscription and your personal computer.
• Gain experience setting up directory synchronization between a Windows Server AD forest and the Azure AD tenant of an Office 365 subscription.

Do all of this for free with Office 365 Enterprise E5 and Azure trial subscriptions.

Build out the Office 365 dev/test environment with these steps:

1. Create a simulated intranet in Azure infrastructure services.
2. Add an Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscription.
3. Configure and test directory synchronization between the Windows Server AD forest of your simulated intranet and the Office 365 subscription.

Here is the progression:

Once complete, you can connect to any of the computers on the simulated intranet with Remote Desktop connections to perform administration, app development, and app installation and testing.

This dev/test environment can also be extended with an Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) trial subscription, resulting in the following:

With the Office 365 and EMS dev/test environment, you can test scenarios or develop applications for a simulated enterprise that is using both Office 365 and EMS.