diff --git a/src/externalldap.js b/src/externalldap.js
index 401e3ea10..0f146034c 100644
--- a/src/externalldap.js
+++ b/src/externalldap.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ var assert = require('assert'),
     BoxError = require('./boxerror.js'),
     constants = require('./constants.js'),
     debug = require('debug')('box:externalldap'),
+    groups = require('./groups.js'),
     ldap = require('ldapjs'),
     settings = require('./settings.js'),
     tasks = require('./tasks.js'),
@@ -368,10 +369,29 @@ function sync(progressCallback, callback) {
 
                     debug(`Found ${ldapGroups.length} groups`);
 
-                    // we ignore all errors here and just log them for now
-                    async.eachSeries(ldapGroups, function (group, iteratorCallback) {
-                        console.log(group);
-                        iteratorCallback();
+                    // we ignore all non internal errors here and just log them for now
+                    async.eachSeries(ldapGroups, function (ldapGroup, iteratorCallback) {
+                        console.log(ldapGroup);
+
+                        var groupName = ldapGroup[externalLdapConfig.groupnameField || 'cn'];
+                        if (!groupName) return iteratorCallback();
+
+                        groups.getByName(groupName, function (error, result) {
+                            if (error && error.reason !== BoxError.NOT_FOUND) return iteratorCallback(error);
+
+                            if (result) {
+                                debug(`[up-to-date group] groupname=${groupName}`);
+
+                                iteratorCallback();
+                            } else {
+                                debug(`[adding group] groupname=${groupName}`);
+
+                                groups.create(groupName, 'ldap', function (error) {
+                                    if (error) console.error('Failed to create group', groupName, error);
+                                    iteratorCallback();
+                                });
+                            }
+                        });
                     }, function (error) {
                         if (error) return callback(error);