Windows Azure Tenant Setup and Management

Setting up a Windows Azure tenant is a straightforward process that can be completed in a few simple steps.

You'll need to sign up for an Azure account, which can be done on the Azure website.

Azure offers a free account option, which is perfect for testing the waters and getting familiar with the platform.

With a free account, you'll get access to $200 in credit to spend on Azure services.

To create a new Azure tenant, you'll need to provide some basic information, including your name, email address, and password.

This information will be used to create your Azure account and tenant.

Once you've created your Azure tenant, you'll be able to start managing your resources, including users, groups, and subscriptions.

You can also use the Azure portal to manage your tenant, which is a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate and find what you need.

To set up your Azure tenant, you need to configure Microsoft Entra ID for single sign-on. Although all relevant Microsoft Entra ID users are now automatically being provisioned to Cloud Identity or Google Workspace, you cannot use these users to sign in yet.

You'll need to configure single sign-on to allow users to sign in. To do this, you'll need to assign the SAML profile to another group or organizational unit. Repeat the steps above to do this.

Update the SSO settings for the Automation OU to disable single sign-on.

Azure Active Directory runs on Microsoft servers in Microsoft datacenters, providing a robust security infrastructure for your Windows Azure tenant.

To ensure secure authentication, you can configure single sign-on (SSO) using Microsoft Entra ID. This allows users to access Google Cloud resources without needing to enter separate credentials.

To enable SSO, you must adjust some settings in the Cloud Identity or Google Workspace Admin Console, such as configuring the SAML profile and assigning the SAML profile to a group or organizational unit.

Here are the key steps to configure SSO:

Additionally, you can test SSO by accessing Google Cloud resources using the configured SAML profile.

It's worth noting that users with super-admin privileges are exempt from SSO, so you can still use the Admin Console to verify or change settings.

To set up a secure account, you'll need to define some essential parameters. The Active Directory ID, also known as the Microsoft Entra Tenant ID, is a unique identifier for your tenant.

This ID is required to authenticate users and must be a valid Tenant ID. It's a crucial piece of information that helps ensure only authorized users can access your account.

The username, on the other hand, is the name of the user to whom the password belongs. It should be a valid username, with a maximum of 60 characters.

To configure Microsoft Entra ID provisioning, you'll need to identify the Active Directory ID, which is the Microsoft Entra Tenant ID. This is a valid tenant ID that you'll need to provide.

The next step is to create a new admin role and assign it to the azuread-provisioning user, which will make them a delegated administrator. This will grant them the necessary privileges to manage users and groups in your Cloud Identity or Google Workspace account.

To do this, go to Account > Admin roles and click Create new role. Provide a name and description for the role, and then set the Admin API privileges to enabled. Once you've created the role, assign it to the azuread-provisioning user.

Here are the specific privileges you'll need to enable:

Once you've assigned the role to the azuread-provisioning user, they'll be able to manage users and groups in your Cloud Identity or Google Workspace account.

Azure Active Directory (AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service. It's a database that records users and their permissions, and a set of services that enable employees to sign in and access resources.

If your organization subscribes to Microsoft Online business services like Office 365, it has Azure Active Directory. However, only some features are included for free, and you may need to upgrade to a paid license to get more capabilities.

Azure AD has a basic building block called the tenant, which is a dedicated instance of Azure AD for a particular company. To create a tenant, your organization signs up for a Microsoft cloud service and provides some details like your organization's name and location.

Your initial domain name will be the name you specify plus ".onmicrosoft.com" (domainname.onmicrosoft.com). You can't change or delete your initial domain name, but you can add custom domain names to your tenant.

A tenant has a dedicated and trusted Azure AD directory, which includes users, groups, and apps, and performs identity and access management functions for the tenant's resources.

Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know about Azure AD tenants:

Azure AD is structured in a simple way, with each tenant having its own dedicated directory and resources. This makes it easy to manage and understand your organization's identity and access management.

Azure Active Directory runs on Microsoft servers in Microsoft datacenters. This means that your sensitive data is stored and processed in a secure environment.

To ensure the security of your Azure tenant, it's essential to monitor specific events that can indicate potential security risks. Here are some key security events to keep an eye on:

By understanding where your data is stored and being aware of potential security risks, you can take proactive steps to protect your Azure tenant and the sensitive data it contains.

A Windows Azure tenant is a separate entity within the Azure Active Directory that allows for secure and isolated access to resources.

You can create a new tenant in the Azure portal by selecting the "Azure Active Directory" service and clicking on "Create a new tenant".

This is useful for organizations that want to have their own separate identity and access management system.

Azure tenants can be associated with multiple subscriptions, allowing for better resource management and cost tracking.

For example, if you have a subscription for development and another for production, you can associate each subscription with a separate tenant.

In Example 1, Contoso has a tenant with two subscriptions, one for the Prod department and one for the Dev department. Each department has its own credit card, with Credit Card A for Prod and Credit Card B for Dev.

The two departments share the same Azure AD database, which is a single, unified database that stores user and group information for all users in the tenant.

Resources, however, are isolated between departments, meaning that each department has its own set of resources, such as virtual machines and storage accounts, that are separate from the other department's resources.

Budgets can also be separated between departments, allowing each department to have its own budget and financial controls.

An Active Directory forest is the topmost logical container in an Active Directory configuration that contains domains, users, computers, and group policies, which is relevant to Contoso's shared Azure AD database.

In Contoso's case, the two subscriptions are managed separately, with their own set of permissions and access controls.

Learning from examples is a powerful way to absorb new information.

In Example 1, we saw how real-life scenarios can be used to explain complex concepts. This approach makes learning more engaging and easier to understand.

By breaking down complex topics into relatable examples, like in Example 2, we can identify key patterns and principles. This helps us to apply what we've learned to our own lives.

Learning from examples also helps us to recognize and avoid common pitfalls, as we can see in the mistakes made in Example 3.

A tenant is associated with a single identity, such as a person, company, or organization, and can own one or several subscriptions. This is the case for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), where a tenant represents a single organization or identity.

Each tenant has a globally unique name and a unique ID, known as a tenant GUID. The tenant name typically ends with 'onmicrosoft.com', for example, 'atcsl.onmicrosoft.com'. In essence, a single tenant corresponds to a single instance of Azure Active Directory.

You can create multiple tenants for an organization, depending on its internal requirements. For instance, a holding company may create separate tenants for its subsidiaries, each with its own settings and configurations.

A Tenant is a single dedicated and trusted instance of Azure Active Directory, automatically created when you sign up for a Microsoft cloud service subscription. It represents a single organization, identity, or person.

A Tenant provides a single place to manage users, groups, and their permissions for applications published in Azure AD. This includes managing permissions for Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure.

Azure AD Tenants have globally unique names and a unique id (tenant GUID). The name of an Azure AD Tenant typically ends with 'onmicrosoft.com', such as 'atcsl.onmicrosoft.com'.

An organization can have multiple Tenants, depending on its requirements. This allows for maximum separation of concerns and different settings and configurations for each subsidiary.

Here are some key differences between single and multi-tenant environments:

A Tenant can have one or more subscriptions, and a subscription is linked to a payment setup, resulting in a separate bill. You can add virtual resources, such as VMs, storage, and networks, to each subscription.

Office 365 integrates with Azure AD, which has a hierarchical structure. The primary unit is the AD domain, where objects are grouped into organizational units (OUs) that mirror business structures like departments.

Larger organizations often have multiple domains grouped into a forest. This structure helps with scalability and management.

Active Directory's authentication protocols have evolved significantly over time, from LM to NTLM and then to NTLMv2 and Kerberos.

To manage users and groups in your Cloud Identity or Google Workspace account, you must grant the azuread-provisioning user additional privileges.

There are two levels of privileges you can grant: super-admin and delegated administrator. The level of privilege you grant determines what actions Microsoft Entra ID can take.

To make the azuread-provisioning user a super-admin, you must grant it the ability to manage all users, including delegated administrators and super-admin users. As a super-admin, Microsoft Entra ID can manage all users, but it can't manage other delegated administrators or super-admin users.

Here's a summary of the privileges:

Active Directory and Azure Active Directory may seem similar at first, but they have some key differences that set them apart. Active Directory is part of the Windows Server operating system, running on servers called domain controllers (DCs).

One of the main differences between the two is their structure. Active Directory has a hierarchical structure, with domain controllers at the top, while Azure Active Directory has a flat structure, with a tenant being the basic building block.

Azure Active Directory uses modern authentication protocols like OAuth, SAML, and OpenID Connect, offering features like self-service password reset, multifactor authentication (MFA), and passwordless authentication. These features are not available in Active Directory.

Active Directory decides whether to allow an action by checking permissions granted directly and via membership in AD security groups, as well as Group Policy rules. Azure AD handles authorization differently, using Azure AD security groups, Microsoft 365 groups, and Azure AD roles to grant access to cloud resources.

Here's a comparison of the two:

Active Directory uses Group Policy to manage computers, allowing you to prevent unauthorized installations, lock computers after inactivity, and more. Azure AD uses Microsoft Intune for device management, offering features like blocking jailbroken devices and wiping corporate data from lost or stolen devices.

Assigning Entra ID privileges is a crucial step in setting up Microsoft Entra ID to manage users and groups in your Cloud Identity or Google Workspace account.

You have two options: making the azuread-provisioning user a super-admin or a delegated administrator. To manage all users, including delegated administrators and super-admin users, you must make the azuread-provisioning user a super-admin.

The difference between the two options is that a super-admin can manage other super-admins and delegated administrators, while a delegated administrator can only manage non-admin users.

Here's a summary of the options:

To make the azuread-provisioning user a super-admin, you'll need to follow the steps outlined in the article section on assigning privileges to Microsoft Entra ID.