Azure AD Renamed to Microsoft Entra ID: A Comprehensive Guide

Microsoft Entra ID, formerly known as Azure AD, is a cloud-based identity and access management solution.

It's a game-changer for businesses, providing a single sign-on experience for employees across multiple applications and services.

Microsoft Entra ID helps organizations manage access to their resources, ensuring that the right people have the right level of access.

It's a robust solution that can be used with other Microsoft services, such as Microsoft 365 and Azure.

The name change from Azure Active Directory to Microsoft Entra ID is a move to eliminate confusion between the old and new services. The original Azure AD was confusing, even for experienced developers, who assumed it was an extension of Active Directory, but it's actually a completely different service.

Microsoft has a history of renaming services to avoid confusion, as seen with the change from Windows Server Azure to Microsoft Azure, and the renaming of Azure Security Center to Microsoft Defender for Cloud. This helps clear up that the Microsoft cloud isn't just limited to running Windows Server workloads.

The name Azure AD no longer accurately reflects the scope and capabilities of the service, which has evolved to become a comprehensive identity platform working across multiple clouds, hybrid environments, and devices. Microsoft Entra ID is a more fitting name for this modern and innovative service.

The name change is not a technical one, but rather a marketing-driven decision to better communicate the value proposition and differentiation of the service in the market. This means IT teams using Azure AD don't need to do anything, and Azure AD will continue to work as it always has.

Entra ID is a combination of two words: Entra and ID. Entra is derived from the Latin “intrare”, meaning “to enter”. This name signifies Microsoft's mission to enable users to enter any application or resource with their identity, regardless of where they are or what device they use.

Microsoft Entra ID conveys Microsoft's vision to empower users and organizations with intelligent and adaptive identity solutions that enhance security, productivity, and collaboration in the cloud era.

The name change from Azure AD to Microsoft Entra ID is part of Microsoft's effort to simplify secure access experiences for everyone. It's a move to unify all identity and access capabilities under the Microsoft Entra name, making it easier to navigate and use all products and capabilities in their expanded portfolio.

Here are some key benefits of Entra ID:

These benefits will be available to customers using Entra ID, without requiring changes to their configurations or integrations.

The transition to Microsoft Entra ID will start with a month-long announcement period, where you'll see the news on various Microsoft communication channels.

You can expect to see the Microsoft Entra ID name replacing Azure AD across Microsoft product experiences, including the admin center, Azure portal, and Microsoft 365 admin center, starting in August 2023.

The name change is expected to be complete across most product experiences by the end of 2023.

You're an important part of this journey, and your feedback and insights have guided the evolution of identity security beyond directory-based identity management to a connected global fabric of people, devices, apps, and digital workloads—all needing secure access to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Many of you have been with us on this journey since the earliest days of identity and access management, starting with Windows Active Directory, then embracing digital transformation and adopting our cloud identity—Azure AD.

You're now being asked to help spread the word about the name change to Microsoft Entra ID by the end of 2023, especially if you're a content creator, author of internal documentation, developer of Azure AD-enabled apps, independent software vendor, or Microsoft partner.

To make the change, join the Ask Me Anything (AMA) on June 27, 2023, and prep for updating the Azure AD name in your own content or apps with the documentation in Microsoft Learn.

Here are some ways to get involved:

By working together, we can make the transition to Microsoft Entra ID a success and continue to build a safer world for all.

The Microsoft Entra ID transition is underway, and it's essential to understand what's changing and what's staying the same. The name change from Azure AD to Microsoft Entra ID will be complete across most product experiences by the end of 2023.

There are no changes to any Azure AD capabilities, APIs, login URLs, PowerShell cmdlets, Microsoft authentication library (MSAL), developer experiences, or tooling. All licensing plans and pricing for Azure AD and Microsoft 365 plans that include Azure AD remain the same.

The name change is driven by Microsoft's desire to unify all their identity and secure access products under the Microsoft Entra umbrella. This means Entra ID will join other Entra products such as Identity Governance, External Identities, and Workload Identities.

To make the transition seamless, Microsoft is not changing any code that would impact functionality or your work. Existing login URLs, APIs, PowerShell cmdlets, and libraries within the Microsoft identity platform are not changing.

Here's a summary of the changes to Azure AD SKU names:

Azure AD features will also move under the new name, such as Azure AD Conditional Access becoming Microsoft Entra Conditional Access, and Azure AD MFA becoming Microsoft Entra MFA.

The name change from Azure AD to Microsoft Entra is largely a marketing-driven move, aimed at unifying Microsoft's identity and secure access products under a single umbrella.

Microsoft Entra ID will bring a simplified and consistent naming scheme across Microsoft's cloud services. For example, Azure AD B2C will become Microsoft Entra ID B2C, and Azure AD B2B will become Microsoft Entra ID B2B.

This change will not affect existing deployments, configurations, or integrations, so IT teams don't need to do anything. Azure AD will continue to work as it always has.

Microsoft Entra ID will offer a unified and integrated identity experience across Microsoft's cloud offerings, such as Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, or other Microsoft cloud services. Customers can manage their identities using Entra ID as a single-entry point.

The benefits of Entra ID include a more flexible and extensible identity platform that can support new scenarios and use cases in the future, such as decentralized identity using blockchain technology or verifiable credentials using digital certificates.