Introduction to Azure Identity

Azure Identity provides a unified identity platform for Azure and hybrid cloud applications. It enables you to manage users, groups, and devices, and to secure access to your Azure resources using robust authentication and authorization mechanisms. This documentation will guide you through the core concepts, common scenarios, and best practices for leveraging Azure Identity.

With Azure Identity, you can simplify identity management, enhance security posture, and enable seamless access for your users and applications across the cloud.

Key Concepts

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)

Azure AD is the cloud-based identity and access management service. It helps your employees sign in and access resources located on-premises and in the cloud, such as Microsoft Office 365, a web application, or custom line-of-business application.

Managed Identities

Managed identities for Azure resources provide an identity for applications or services to use when connecting to Azure resources that support Azure AD authentication. This eliminates the need for developers to manage credentials in code or configuration files.

Note: Using managed identities is the recommended approach for authenticating to Azure services from Azure-hosted applications.

Service Principals

A service principal is an identity created for use with applications, hosted services, and automated tools to access Azure resources. It's like a user identity, but it's assigned to an application, not an individual.

Access Tokens

Access tokens are credentials that an application or client uses to request access to a protected resource. Azure AD issues these tokens upon successful authentication and authorization.

Quickstarts

Get started quickly with our interactive quickstart guides:

Tutorials

Deep dive into advanced scenarios with our comprehensive tutorials:

API Reference

Explore the detailed API documentation for Azure Identity services.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Authentication Failures

If you encounter authentication errors, check the following:

  • Ensure the correct credentials (client ID, client secret, tenant ID) are being used.
  • Verify that the application or service principal has been granted the necessary permissions.
  • Check for expired credentials or tokens.
Tip: Use the Azure AD sign-in logs to diagnose authentication issues.

Authorization Errors

Authorization issues typically arise when a user or application does not have the required permissions to access a resource.

  • Review the role assignments for the user or service principal on the target Azure resource.
  • Ensure that the scopes requested in the access token align with the permissions granted.