Microsoft Azure Active Directory is an access and identity management solution on cloud. It offers application access management and core directory services apart from advanced identity protection. It is a multi-tenant Identity as a Service solution of Microsoft.
Confused?
Let me simplify this.
Azure Active Directory allows companies of different sizes an affordable way to enable Single-Sign-On to multiple applications like ServiceNow, Office 365, Salesforce and others.
Difference between Active Directory and Azure Active Directory
Do you know the difference between Azure Active Directory and Active Directory?
Active Directory or AD is a database organising your company’s computers and users. It provides authorisation and authentication to applications, printers, file servers and other resources. It has the record of all PCs, servers and users and it authenticates the users.
After the user signs in, the Active Directory dictates what the users can access or cannot access. It also allows to control and manage servers and PCs.
Azure Active Directory is a cloud version of the Active Directory. It is an authentication store, containing groups and users. Users have a password and username which they use to sign in. Apart from managing groups and users, Azure Active Directory manages access to the applications working with OAuth and SAML. Compared to Active Directory, Azure Active Directory:
- Cannot join any server or PC to it
- Does not have Group Policy
- Does not provide support for Kerberos, LDAP or NTLM
So, Azure Active Directory cannot replace Active Directory.
How Can Azure Active Directory Help?
Employees need to access multiple Azure services to complete their task. It is quite difficult for both employees as well as administrators to manage several user logins. This is exactly the place where Azure Active Directory comes in. With the help of this solution, the administrators and employees can handle several user logins without any problem. You need to assign single password and username to all services.
So, Azure Active Directory allows employees to sign up to different services and access them over cloud using a single set of login credentials.
Apart from Single-Sign-On or SSO, Azure Active Directory also comes with robust security and identity management capabilities, like access control based on role, application usage monitoring, privileged identity management, etc.
Difference between Windows Active Directory and Azure Active Directory
Windows Active Directory is Azure Active Directory’s previous version.
Active Directory is a directory service that allows working with complex, interconnected network resources unitedly.
Windows Active Directory had multiple layers performing the work.
Azure Active Directory simplified this by using just two layers.
Users of Azure Active Directory
The following users commonly use the Azure Active Directory.
- Application Developers: They build applications using these services. Development is fast as several resources are used.
- IT Administrators: They take care of all sign-in processes. They are also assigned the job of solving all authentication concerns.
- Online Customers: They use services like CRM and Office 365 and all their demands are immediately catered to.
Azure Active Directory is available in the following editions:
- Office 365 apps
- Free
- Premium P1
- Premium P2
So, check the details and you are ready to use this amazing solution!
