Azure Active Directory (AAD) is a cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) proposed by Microsoft.
It allows you to :
- Centralising identity management AAD is used as a directory to store and manage user and group information, making it easier to control access to resources.
- Secure authentication thanks to features such as thesingle sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA), AAD strengthens the security of connections to applications and services.
- Managing conditional access By defining policies based on various factors (location, device, behaviour, etc.), it enables context-sensitive access to resources to be secured.
- Integrating hybrid environments AAD: AAD can synchronise with an on-premises Active Directory, facilitating identity management in mixed environments (cloud and on-premises).
- Support a wide range of applications It manages access to SaaS applications, cloud services and in-house applications, helping to improve the quality of service. governance access.
🔺 Differences between AAD and AD
Azure Active Directory (AAD) and Active Directory (AD) The main differences are :
- Deployment :
- AD is an on-premise solution requiring a local infrastructure.
- AAD is a cloud service managed by Microsoft, with no physical infrastructure.
- Authentication protocols :
- AD uses LDAP, Kerberos and NTLM.
- AAD supports SAML, OAuth and OpenID Connect.
- Identity management :
- AD manages the internal identities and resources of a corporate network.
- AAD is designed to secure access to SaaS applications and cloud resources, incorporating modern features such as SSO, MFA and conditional access.
