Manage Azure AD Roles

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) roles grant permissions to manage Azure AD resources. Understanding and properly assigning roles is crucial for maintaining security and operational efficiency within your organization.

Understanding Built-in Roles

Azure AD provides a set of pre-defined roles that cover common administrative tasks. These roles are designed to follow the principle of least privilege, meaning users are granted only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions.

Common Built-in Roles:

• Global Administrator: Has access to all administrative features and data in Azure AD and Microsoft 365. This is the most powerful role and should be assigned with extreme caution.
• User Administrator: Can create and manage all users and groups. This role cannot manage other administrative roles.
• Helpdesk Administrator: Can reset passwords for users and helpdesk administrators.
• Service Support Administrator: Can manage service health and the Microsoft 365 service incidents.
• Application Administrator: Can create and manage all aspects of application registrations and enterprise applications.
• Security Administrator: Can manage security features in Azure AD and Microsoft 365.

Role Scoping

Most Azure AD roles can be assigned at the directory level, granting permissions across the entire tenant. However, some roles can be scoped to specific administrative units, allowing for more granular control in large or segmented organizations.

How to Assign Roles

Roles can be assigned through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or Microsoft Graph API. The Azure portal provides a user-friendly interface for managing role assignments.

Steps to Assign a Role in the Azure Portal:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal with an account that has administrative permissions.
2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory.
3. Under Manage, select Users or Groups depending on whether you are assigning the role to a user or a group.
4. Select the user or group to whom you want to assign a role.
5. In the user/group profile, select Assigned roles.
6. Click Add assignments.
7. Search for and select the desired role.
8. Click Add.

Custom Roles

If the built-in roles do not meet your organization's specific needs, you can create custom roles in Azure AD. Custom roles allow you to define a precise set of permissions that can be assigned to users or groups.

For more details on creating and managing custom roles, refer to the Custom Roles documentation.

Best Practices

• Regularly review role assignments: Periodically check who has which roles assigned to ensure permissions are still appropriate.
• Use groups for role assignments: Assign roles to Azure AD security groups rather than directly to individual users. This simplifies management, especially as users join or leave teams.
• Implement Privileged Identity Management (PIM): For highly privileged roles, consider using Azure AD Privileged Identity Management to manage just-in-time (JIT) access, requiring approvals and providing audit trails.
• Educate administrators: Ensure that individuals assigned administrative roles understand their responsibilities and the impact of their actions.