KickStart To Azure Active Directory

Introduction to Directory Services

Directory bridges us to a customizable information store, which functions as a single point from the which users can locate the resources and services, distributed throughout the network. Initially with Windows 2000 Server, we receive Active Directory, which is Microsoft hierarchal, replicated and extensible LDAP (LightWeight Directory Access Protocol) directory Service. This AD will be holding the user accounts, group accounts, computer accounts and so on..

Azure Active Directory User Accounts

Microsoft Account	Work or School Account
It’s called a home or personal account.	Organizational account.
Access private benefits like OneDrive, Office 365, Xbox, Live, etc.	Created by an Azure AD Administrator.
Automatically and transparently builds a trust in the relationship with your Microsoft Account and Azure AD.	Its associated with microsoft.com, by default, you will be facing issue on connecting with the user as he will be having a large account name. eg: [email protected]. it can be over come by connecting your Webmail ID with translation.

Azure Active Directory Editions

We have three editions here: Free, Basic and Premium. Here, we will be having a feature table of Basic and Premium, which is given below:

Basic	Premium
99.9% uptime	SLA Self Service password reset with write-back.
Self-service password reset	Includes Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) 2016.
Azure AD Join for Windows 10	MFA (Multi Factor Authentication) added.
Single Sign On possibility upto 10 SaaS apps/ users	MDM (Mobile Device Management) auto enrollment for the smart phones.
	No SSO app limit.

Azure Active Directory pricing details

Click here to find the complete details and features of Azure Active Directory pricing.

Tour on Azure AD Interface

You should have an Azure account. To go through this demo, click here to sign up for a free Azure account for the temporary usage.

Follow the steps, given below:

Step 1: Login to the Azure portal.

Sign in to your Azure account on this login.



Step 2: Here, I have my AD pinned on the Dashboard. If you don’t have it, go to New -> Search bar, search from Azure Active Directory and pin it on the dashboard.





Click Azure AD and create a button, followed by it.



Now, you will be taken to a new portal on an another tab.

This popup will allow you to create a new Active Directory on Azure.