SC-300 Implement and Manage User Identities Practice Question
Your company uses Microsoft Entra Connect to sync identities from an on-premises Active Directory. You have a user named 'User1' who exists in both environments, but they are not currently linked. You need to perform a 'soft-match' to link them. Which attribute must be identical on both the on-premises and cloud objects?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
proxyAddresses
Soft-matching is a critical process for merging existing cloud identities with on-premises accounts during the initial setup of directory synchronization. It prevents the creation of duplicate accounts and ensures that users maintain their existing cloud data and permissions while transitioning to a synchronized identity model managed from the local Active Directory environment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
ObjectGUID
Why it's wrong here
The ObjectGUID is a unique binary identifier for the on-premises user. While it is used for 'hard-matching' by being converted to the SourceAnchor (ImmutableID) in the cloud, it is not used for soft-matching because the cloud object would not naturally have this value before the link is established.
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DisplayName
Why it's wrong here
The DisplayName attribute is used for identification by humans but is not considered a unique identifier for synchronization logic. Since multiple users can have the same display name, Entra Connect does not use this field for matching to avoid the risk of linking incorrect accounts together during synchronization.
- ✓
proxyAddresses
Why this is correct
Entra Connect uses the primary SMTP address or the proxyAddresses attribute to perform a soft-match. If the SMTP address on-premises matches the 'mail' or 'proxyAddresses' attribute in Entra ID, the sync engine will link the two accounts, assuming no other hard-link (ImmutableID) is already present.
- ✗
EmployeeID
Why it's wrong here
EmployeeID is an optional attribute that is often used for organizational reporting or dynamic group rules. However, Microsoft Entra Connect does not use this attribute for the core identity matching logic. Matching is strictly limited to specific identity-related fields like the UPN or the email address attributes.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
This SC-300 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SC-300 exam.