Azure Active Directory

Microsoft's cloud-based identity and access management service that helps employees sign in and access resources. Azure AD provides OAuth, OpenID Connect, SAML, and other identity protocols for securing applications and managing user identities.

APIs

Microsoft Graph API

The primary API for accessing Azure AD and other Microsoft 365 services.

• Documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/overview
• Authentication: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/auth/

Azure AD B2C API

Business-to-consumer identity management solution for customer-facing applications.

• Documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory-b2c/overview

Features

• Single Sign-On — Enable users to sign in once and access all connected apps.
• Multi-Factor Authentication — Enforce MFA for extra security beyond passwords.
• Conditional Access — Define access policies based on user, device, location, and risk signals.
• OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect — Industry-standard protocols for authorization and authentication.
• SAML 2.0 Support — Federate with thousands of SAML-based SaaS applications.
• Identity Protection — Detect and respond to identity-based risks with AI-powered signals.
• Privileged Identity Management — Just-in-time privileged access with approval workflows.
• B2B Collaboration — Invite external users from partner organizations.
• External Identities — Customer and partner identity management with B2C and B2B.

Use Cases

• Enterprise SSO — Single sign-on for employees across thousands of SaaS applications.
• Zero Trust Security — Zero trust architecture with identity as the control plane.
• Consumer Identity — Customer-facing login with social identities via Azure AD B2C.
• API Security — Secure APIs with OAuth 2.0 tokens issued by Azure AD.
• Hybrid Identity — Extend on-premises Active Directory to the cloud.

Links

• Portal: https://portal.azure.com
• Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/
• Getting Started: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/get-started-azure-ad
• Pricing: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/active-directory/
• Blog: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-active-directory-identity/bg-p/Identity
• Status: https://status.azure.com

Maintainers

• Kin Lane — kin@apievangelist.com