To understand Microsoft Entra ID better, it is essential to first understand the high-level structure of ownership within Microsoft Cloud services. There are various terms such as organizations, tenants, and subscriptions. Let’s clarify what each of these terms means and how they relate to one another.
Organization
- Firstly, an organization is an entity that utilizes Microsoft Cloud Services.
- Typically, an organization has a unique name, which is represented on the Internet by a DNS domain name, such as contoso.com.
Subscription
- A subscription, on the other hand, represents an agreement to use a specific service.
- Subscriptions are associated with organizations, and it is common for an organization to have multiple subscriptions. These subscriptions can include services such as Software as a Service (SaaS), like Office or Dynamics 365, or Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings, billed based on consumption.
- Subscriptions can serve as both security and cost boundaries.
- For instance, an organization might have a development subscription with full access for developers and a production subscription with read-only access for developers.
- Additionally, all charges for resources are summarized at the subscription level.
Microsoft Entra ID Tenant
- A Microsoft Entra ID tenant refers to a specific instance of a Microsoft Entra ID directory that contains user accounts, groups, and other security principles.
- When an organization signs up for a paid or trial cloud subscription, such as Azure, Office 365, or Intune, a Microsoft Entra ID tenant is created.
- Microsoft Entra ID tenant then becomes the primary identity provider for the subscriptions within the organization.
- It is important to note that there is a one-to-one relationship between an organization and its Microsoft Entra ID tenant.
This overview aims to provide better understanding of organizations, Microsoft Entra ID tenants, and subscriptions.