Azure AD as a service from Microsoft

Azure Active Directory is a cloud-based service from Microsoft for managing access rights and identities. It can be used for external resources and SaaS applications as well as for cloud services such as Microsoft 365 (or Office 365). Azure AD can be connected to local Active Directories. In addition, Azure AD is available in different versions with different scopes of services.

Azure Active Directory is a cloud-based directory service that manages access rights and identities. Through connections to local Active Directories, single sign-on solutions can be realised, through which cloud-based and local resources can be accessed with the same user IDs.

Interfaces support external services. Azure Active Directory can be managed via PowerShell or a graphical web interface. In addition to the free offer, a paid version with many additional functions is also available. Azure AD is a platform-as-a-service offering that does not require the operation of a separate infrastructure.

For subscribers to Microsoft SaaS services, the Azure directory service is automatically activated. This regulates the access of individual clients to the cloud applications. Application developers can equip their application with single sign-on. APIs are provided for programming personalised applications and using organisation-internal user data. Azure AD can be used to control user access to resources and applications. Multi-level authentication and connection to local Active Directories are supported.

Azure AD does not use LDAP, but REST interfaces and accesses resources via HTTP requests. In contrast to local directory services, other protocols and standards such as SAML, Open Authorisation and OpenID are used.