In this article we are going to discuss about Microsoft Entra which was previously known as Azure Active Directory.
What is Microsoft Entra?
Azure Active Directory is now Microsoft Entra ID. Microsoft Entra is a unified identity and access management (IAM) solution that helps organizations manage identities and secure access to resources. It is the new name for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which has been renamed to reflect its broader capabilities beyond the Azure cloud platform.
Why is Microsoft Entra important?
Identity is the new security perimeter. In today’s hybrid and multi-cloud world, organizations need a unified IAM solution that can manage identities and access to resources across all of their environments. Microsoft Entra provides a comprehensive set of IAM capabilities, including:
- Identity management: Create, manage, and secure user identities, including internal users, external users, and devices.
- Access management: Define and enforce access policies for applications and resources, both on-premises and in the cloud.
- Authentication: Provide secure sign-in options, including passwordless authentication and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Authorization: Control what users can access and what actions they can perform.
- Security: Protect identities and resources from unauthorized access and attacks.
Getting started with Microsoft Entra
To get started with Microsoft Entra, you will need to create a tenant. A tenant is a dedicated instance of Microsoft Entra that is isolated from other tenants. Once you have created a tenant, you can start managing identities and access to resources.
Managing identities
To manage identities, you can use the Microsoft Entra admin center. The admin center provides a central console for managing users, groups, and devices. You can also use the admin center to create custom roles and assign them to users and groups.
Here are some common identity management tasks that you can perform in the Microsoft Entra admin center:
- Create, edit, and delete users and groups.
- Add and remove users from groups.
- Reset user passwords.
- Assign roles to users and groups.
- Manage user licenses.
- Configure self-service password reset.
- Configure multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Manage device identities.
In addition to the admin center, you can also use the following tools to manage identities with Microsoft Entra:
PowerShell: You can use PowerShell to automate identity management tasks.
Graph API: You can use the Graph API to programmatically manage identities.
Azure Active Directory Connect: You can use Azure Active Directory Connect to synchronize identities between your on-premises environment and Microsoft Entra.
Managing access
To manage access, you can use conditional access. Conditional access allows you to define policies that control who can access resources and when. You can base these policies on factors such as user identity, device type, and location.
Authentication
Microsoft Entra supports a variety of authentication methods, including passwordless authentication and MFA. Passwordless authentication methods, such as Windows Hello and Microsoft Authenticator, are more secure than passwords because they do not require users to remember or type a password. MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more factors of authentication.
Authorization
Microsoft Entra uses role-based access control (RBAC) to control what users can access and what actions they can perform. RBAC allows you to assign roles to users and groups, and then define permissions for each role.
Security
Microsoft Entra includes a variety of security features to protect identities and resources from unauthorized access and attacks. These features include identity protection, security alerts, and risk-based adaptive authentication.
Conclusion
Microsoft Entra is a comprehensive IAM solution that can help organizations manage identities and secure access to resources across all of their environments. It is a good choice for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises.