Azure UPN Explained for Office 365 and Azure Users

Azure UPN, or User Principal Name, is a crucial component of Office 365 and Azure. It's a unique identifier for each user within your organization.

A UPN is in the format of username@domainname, where username is the unique identifier chosen by the user and domainname is the domain name of your organization.

In Azure, you can create a UPN suffix, which is an extension of your domain name, such as domainname.onmicrosoft.com. This allows you to create a unique UPN for each user.

The UPN is used to authenticate users and grant access to resources within your organization.

In Microsoft Active Directory, a User Principal Name (UPN) is a username and domain in an email address format. Each UPN must be unique in the domain.

A UPN is useful because it's more standards compliant than using the down-level logon name with a backslash. This allows it to be used for authentication with web services and non-Windows operating systems.

All Active Directory user accounts must have a UPN. An implicit UPN is generated by the system at account creation if a UPN is not explicitly created by an administrator.

Azure AD UPN is similar to the UPN in Active Directory. It's a username and domain in an email address format.

Each UPN is based on internet standard RFC 822, which makes it useful for federated, SAML, and OAuth scenarios.

A UPN is not the same as an email address, although they often have the same value for ease of use. The UPN can be adjusted by an administrator, but the user's email address can be changed to a different value.

Having a user's UPN and primary email SMTP address be different values can cause issues with ActiveSync email clients, requiring manual server address entry.

The UPN is used for signing in to Azure Cloud Services, like O365, and it's essential to plan the namespace for easy user login.

A UPN is not the same as a user's email address. In many cases, they share the same value for convenience, but they have distinct internal uses and are defined in different Active Directory attributes.

The UPN can be edited by an administrator to a different value, whereas the user's email address can also be changed. This is important to know because if the UPN and email address are different, it can cause issues with certain applications.

Having a mismatch between the UPN and primary email SMTP address can lead to problems with ActiveSync email clients. These clients use the email address to autodiscover the correct server and then use the email as the login name.

If the UPN and email are different, the user may need to manually enter the server address and then enter the similar-looking but different username. This can be frustrating for users who are trying to access cloud services.

A suitable domain name for your local AD domain is one that can be registered online. This can help avoid problems with DNS names like "company.local" that are not internet routable.

Adding another UPN suffix to the local AD domain can be a good solution. This allows you to register a new domain name that can be used for email addresses, which are already registered and unique.

The User Sign-in Name is a crucial part of the UPN and email puzzle. It's the name users enter to sign in to Azure Cloud Services, like O365.

The UPN is used for signing in to Azure AD, and it's essential to plan the namespace for easy login. If you want users to login with "first name.last [email protected]", you'll need to consider this when setting up your UPN.

Users sign in to Azure Cloud Services with the UPN, which is why it's so important to plan the namespace. The logon from federated accounts is redirected to the local Active Directory domain via ADFS, making the UPN suffix of the Azure AD user account a critical factor.

A suitable domain name can make a big difference in user login experience. If your local AD domain has a DNS name like "company.local", you might run into problems with registration and SSL certificates.

To avoid these issues, you can add another UPN suffix to the local AD domain, which can be registered online. The simplest option is to choose the email address, as it's already registered and users are familiar with it.

Here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons of having a UPN and email address that are different values:

To configure the UPN in Azure, you should register the DNS name of your local Active Directory domain online. This allows the domains to be registered and resolved, making it easier to route traffic.

The automatically created UPN, sAMAccountName@AD-Domain, can be used for ADFS delegation in Azure AD. However, this requires registering the DNS name online.

For a unique and easy-to-remember UPN, consider adding another UPN suffix to your local AD domain, such as your email address. This way, users can log in with a familiar address, like their email address, and you can take advantage of the already registered DNS suffix.

Changing the UPN in Azure requires updating the user's account settings.

To do this, you need to sign in to the Azure portal with an account that has the necessary permissions.

You can then navigate to the Azure Active Directory section and select the Users tab.

From there, you can search for the user account that needs a UPN change and select it.

In the user's profile, you can update the User principal name field to the new UPN.

Note that you may also need to update the user's account alias if it's the same as the old UPN.

It's also a good idea to verify that the new UPN is valid and available before making the change.

After updating the UPN, you can verify that the change was successful by checking the user's account details.

If your local AD domain has a DNS name like "company.local", you might run into problems registering the domain or acquiring official SSL certificates.

You can't register the domain because it's not a valid DNS name, and you can't get official SSL certificates without a registered domain.

Renaming the local AD domain is not a viable option, so what can you do instead?

One solution is to add another UPN suffix to the local AD domain, which can be registered online.