What is Microsoft Entra ID?

As businesses continue to embrace cloud technologies and remote work, traditional on-premises identity management solutions often fall short in providing the necessary flexibility, scalability, and security features required to manage user access. A cloud-based IAM solution can resolve most of these issues by offering a centralized and efficient architecture to streamline identity management processes without being restricted by the user's resources. Microsoft Entra ID is one of the most recommended cloud IAM solutions, and that's with good reason. Continue reading to learn more about Microsoft Entra ID and check if it will be a good fit for your identity management needs.

On this page, we will cover:

• What is Microsoft Entra ID? (or) Understanding Microsoft Entra ID
• Why do you need Microsoft Entra ID
• What does Microsoft Entra ID offer
• How can different departments in your organization use Microsoft Entra ID
• How Microsoft Entra ID enhances on-premises Active Directory environments
• How do you sign up for Microsoft Entra ID
• Enhancing your Microsoft Entra ID administration with M365 Manager Plus

What is Microsoft Entra ID?

Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based IAM service designed to help organizations manage user identities, secure access to applications and resources, and enhance security through advanced features like MFA, conditional access, and identity protection. Being seamlessly integrated with a wide range of Microsoft services, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure services like Azure Log Analytics, Azure Cloud, and Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Entra ID acts as the backbone for identity management in the Microsoft ecosystem and is a crucial requirement to manage centralized access to said services.

Why do you need Microsoft Entra ID?

Microsoft Entra ID provides the capabilities needed to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive information and critical systems. It offers a centralized platform for managing identities, making it easier to enforce security policies, comply with regulations, and monitor access. The main focus is to bring these features to organizations that do not want to deal with the hassle of setting up and managing their own identity databases, thereby reducing the complexity and cost of the process.

Moreover, it provides specialized tools that help organizations go beyond basic identity management, like providing seamless access to applications, automating user provisioning and deprovisioning processes, providing visibility into user activities and access patterns, and ensuring a unified approach to access management by letting them sync their on-premises and cloud resources, all while ensuring that they are securely protected.

What does Microsoft Entra ID offer?

Microsoft Entra ID is packed with features designed to enhance security, improve efficiency, and provide greater visibility into your organization's IAM processes:

1. Audit logs: Track all user and admin activities, detect unusual behavior, identify potential security breaches, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements using the entries in audit logs.
2. Access reviews: Periodically review and manage user access to resources, ensuring that only the necessary permissions are granted and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
3. Microsoft Entra MFA: Enhance account security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification before accessing sensitive resources. Protect your organization from potential security breaches, and reduce the risk of phishing attacks.
4. Microsoft Entra SSO: Simplify user access by enabling users to authenticate once and gain access to all their applications without having to repeatedly sign in. Microsoft Entra SSO improves user productivity by reducing login fatigue and enhances security by maintaining a consistent and unified authentication experience.
5. Self-service password reset (SSPR): Empower your users to reset their passwords on their own, secured with MFA, thereby reducing the burden on IT help desks and improving productivity.
6. Conditional access: Create policies that require users to meet specific criteria—such as location, device type, or MFA—before being granted access to applications and data in Microsoft 365.
7. Identity protection: Proactively identify and remediate identity-based risks by leveraging advanced machine learning and real-time risk analysis. Detect suspicious user behavior, compromised credentials, and potential security breaches and automate risk-based conditional access policies to streamline security operations and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
8. Privileged identity management (PIM): Manage, control, and monitor access to critical resources by elevating privileges only when necessary and reducing the time that users have elevated permissions to access resources.
9. Identity governance: Define and enforce access policies, manage life cycle progress, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
10. Integration with third-party applications: Microsoft Entra ID supports integration with thousands of SaaS applications, which helps implement Microsoft Entra MFA, SSO, and SSPR across them seamlessly, improving the security and convenience of accessing the applications.

How can different departments in your organization use Microsoft Entra ID?

Microsoft Entra ID can be tailored to meet the specific needs of various departments within an organization, enhancing security, productivity, and compliance:

1. IT department: The IT team can enforce security policies and monitor access across the entire organization. With features like audit logs, conditional access, and identity protection, they can ensure that all systems and data remain secure while simplifying the management of user identities and access permissions.
2. Human resources (HR):The HR team can leverage Microsoft Entra ID to streamline the onboarding and offboarding processes. New employees can be granted access to the necessary applications and resources immediately upon joining, while departing employees' access can be swiftly revoked, ensuring that there are no lingering security risks.
3. Finance: The finance department can use Microsoft Entra ID to secure access to sensitive financial systems and data. With PIM, finance teams can control who has access to critical financial applications and elevate privileges only when necessary, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
4. Compliance: Legal and compliance teams can utilize the audit logs and access review features in Microsoft Entra ID to ensure that the organization meets its regulatory requirements. They can monitor access to sensitive data, identify potential compliance issues, and provide evidence during audits.
5. Sales and marketing: Sales and marketing teams can securely access customer data, sales tools, and marketing platforms from any location, enhancing collaboration and productivity while ensuring that sensitive information is protected.
6. Software development teams: Software development teams can use Microsoft Entra ID to manage access to development environments, code repositories, and deployment pipelines. With features like conditional access and MFA, development teams can ensure that only authorized developers can access sensitive codebases and development tools. Additionally, Microsoft Entra ID's integration with Azure DevOps and other development platforms enables seamless and secure collaboration across the entire development life cycle.
7. Operations: The operations department can use Microsoft Entra ID to manage access to operational systems and tools, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access critical infrastructure. This helps maintain the security and efficiency of daily operations.

How Microsoft Entra ID enhances on-premises Active Directory environments

For organizations with existing on-premises Active Directory (AD) environments, integrating Microsoft Entra ID can significantly enhance security, scalability, and flexibility. While on-premises AD is useful for managing identities within a corporate network, the shift towards cloud services and remote work demands a more dynamic and accessible approach. Microsoft Entra ID extends the capabilities of traditional AD, enabling organizations to bridge the gap between on-premises and cloud environments.

1. Hybrid identity management: Microsoft Entra ID allows organizations to create a hybrid identity environment by synchronizing on-premises AD with the cloud. This enables seamless access to both on-premises and cloud resources, providing a unified identity for users regardless of where they are working from.
2. Enhanced security: By integrating Microsoft Entra ID, organizations can apply advanced security features such as conditional access and Microsoft Entra MFA to on-premises AD users. This ensures that even users accessing on-premises resources are subject to the same stringent security policies as those accessing cloud services.
3. SSO: With Microsoft Entra ID, organizations can enable SSO across both on-premises and cloud applications. This simplifies the user experience by allowing employees to log in once and gain access to all the resources they need, whether on-premises or in the cloud.
4. Improved compliance and reporting: Microsoft Entra ID provides detailed and comprehensive audit logs and reporting features that cover both on-premises and cloud environments. This comprehensive visibility helps organizations meet compliance requirements and maintain a strong security posture.
5. Self-service capabilities with password writeback: By integrating Microsoft Entra ID with AD, organizations can enable self-service features such as SSPR with password writeback. This allows users to reset their on-premises AD passwords directly from the cloud, without needing IT intervention.

How do you sign up for Microsoft Entra ID?

Signing up for Microsoft Entra ID is a straightforward process that allows your organization to start managing identities and securing access to resources in the cloud. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Choose a subscription plan: Microsoft Entra ID offers three paid tiers and a free version. Review the available options and choose the subscription that best fits your organization’s needs.
1. Microsoft Entra ID Free: An entry-level option for organizations looking to manage user identities and secure access to cloud resources without any recurring costs. Basic features like user creation and management, Microsoft Entra SSO for Microsoft applications, default MFA configuration using security defaults, and Microsoft Entra SSPR are supported. However, only 50,000 users can be created and managed under the Free edition.
2. Microsoft Entra ID P1: This tier offers unlimited directory objects, SSPR capabilities for on-premises users, customizable Microsoft Entra MFA deployment, and access reviews.
3. Microsoft Entra ID P2: This tier brings in improvements to the features in the P1 tier as well as Microsoft Entra ID add-ons, such as entitlement management in PIM and identity protection, which can track and prevent risky sign-ins.
4. Microsoft Entra Suite: This tier includes all available features and add-ons that you can get for Microsoft Entra ID, such as Entra Private Access, Entra Internet Access, Entra ID Governance, Entra ID Protection, and Entra Verified ID.
2. Create a Microsoft Entra ID tenant: Once you're done purchasing the plans, you will receive an email with the link to the Microsoft Entra admin center. There, you’ll need to create a new Microsoft Entra ID tenant if your organization doesn’t have one.
3. Configure initial settings: After creating your tenant, configure the initial settings for your Microsoft Entra ID environment. This includes adding users and groups, setting up basic security measures like Microsoft Entra MFA, and defining your organization’s access policies.
4. Explore additional features: Once your Microsoft Entra ID tenant is set up, you can start exploring additional features and integrations. This might include synchronizing with on-premises AD using Azure AD Connect, integrating SaaS applications with Microsoft Entra ID, or setting up conditional access policies.

Enhancing your Microsoft Entra ID administration with M365 Manager Plus

ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus is a comprehensive administration and security solution for Microsoft 365 used for reporting, managing, monitoring, auditing, and creating alerts for critical activities in your Microsoft 365 environments. You can easily manage users, groups, contacts, mailboxes, teams, and sites in bulk and automate these processes, all without any PowerShell scripting.

There are also other benefits to using M365 Manager Plus to manage and monitor your Microsoft 365 environment.

• Gain a thorough understanding of not just your Microsoft Entra ID environment but also Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and other Microsoft 365 services, with detailed reports and intuitive visualizations.
• Filter your reports just once and save them as custom reports that you can access in just a few clicks.
• Export reports generated in M365 Manager Plus in not just CSV but also other presentable formats, such as HTML, PDF, and XLSX.
• Delegate granular permissions to technicians without elevating their Microsoft 365 privileges, and create custom roles with any combination of reporting, management, and auditing tasks.
• Easily manage users, groups, contacts, mailboxes, teams, and sites in bulk without PowerShell scripting.
• Keep tabs on even the most granular user activities in your Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 environments.
• Configure alert profiles in M365 Manager Plus to notify you of specific activities that take place outside of business hours or occur at unusual frequencies.
• Monitor the health and performance of Microsoft 365 features and endpoints around the clock.