Manage Applications in Azure AD

This document guides you through the process of managing applications registered in your Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) tenant. Managing applications involves tasks such as registering new applications, configuring their properties, managing user access, and monitoring their activity.

Registering a New Application

To integrate your application with Azure AD for authentication and authorization, you need to register it. This process creates a Service Principal object that represents your application in your directory.

Navigate to the Azure portal.
Go to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
Click New registration.
Provide a name for your application, specify the supported account types, and configure the Redirect URI if applicable.
Click Register.

Configuring Application Properties

Once an application is registered, you can configure various properties to control its behavior and integration with Azure AD.

Authentication

Configure platform-specific settings, such as redirect URIs and implicit grant flow options, under the Authentication section.

Certificates and Secrets

Manage secrets (passwords) and certificates used by your application to authenticate itself to Azure AD. Note: Treat secrets with the same care as passwords and avoid hardcoding them directly in your application code.

# Example of how to use a client secret (handled securely)
# This is illustrative and actual implementation depends on your SDK
client_secret = "YOUR_SECURE_CLIENT_SECRET"

API Permissions

Grant your application the necessary permissions to access protected resources, such as Microsoft Graph API. You can request delegated permissions (on behalf of a user) or application permissions (as the application itself).

Exposing an API

If your application exposes an API that other applications can call, you can configure scopes and roles to define the permissions required to access your API.

Managing User Access to Applications

Control which users and groups can access your applications. You can assign users directly or through group memberships.

In your app registration, go to Users and groups.
Click Add user to assign specific users or groups.
Ensure users are assigned the appropriate roles (if applicable) for the application.

Tip: For enterprise applications, consider using Azure AD groups to manage access efficiently. Assigning permissions to a group simplifies management as users join or leave teams.

Single Sign-On (SSO) Configuration

Configure Single Sign-On for your application to allow users to access it using their Azure AD credentials. Azure AD supports various SSO methods, including SAML-based SSO and OAuth 2.0/OpenID Connect.

To configure SSO:

Navigate to Enterprise applications in Azure AD.
Select your application.
Under Manage, select Single sign-on.
Choose your preferred SSO method and follow the on-screen instructions.

Monitoring Application Activity

Monitor sign-in logs and audit logs for your applications to track access patterns, identify potential security issues, and troubleshoot problems.

Sign-in logs: Provide details about user sign-ins to your applications.
Audit logs: Record changes made to your applications and their configurations.

You can access these logs under Azure Active Directory > Monitoring & health > Sign-in logs or Audit logs.

By effectively managing your applications in Azure AD, you enhance security, streamline user access, and enable seamless integration with cloud and on-premises resources.