2.1.1. Create and Configure Users and Groups

💡 First Principle: Centralizing identity management in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is the foundation for secure and scalable access control, simplifying administration by providing a single source of truth for users, groups, and devices.

Scenario: You're setting up a new project team in Azure. You need to create individual user accounts for each team member and then organize them into a group to simplify permission assignments.

At its First Principle, identity management in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) centralizes user, group, and device management, simplifying access control and enhancing security through unified administration. This foundational layer is crucial for controlling who can access your Azure resources and what actions they can perform.

This task delves into the practical application of identity creation and management. You'll explore how to:

• Create Users: Add individual user accounts with appropriate properties and authentication methods.
• Create Groups: Organize users into logical groups for efficient permission management.
• Manage Device Identities: Register or join devices to Entra ID to enforce security policies and enable conditional access.
• Configure Entra ID Join: Streamline the enrollment of organization-owned Windows devices into Entra ID for cloud-native management.

Mastering these concepts is crucial for the AZ-104 exam, as it assesses your ability to implement secure and scalable identity solutions.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: Assigning permissions directly to individual users instead of groups. This becomes unmanageable at scale and makes auditing access rights difficult.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Individual Permissions vs. Group-Based Access: Assigning permissions to individuals is faster for a single user but creates significant long-term management overhead. Group-based access requires more initial setup but is far more scalable and maintainable.

Reflection Question: How does centralizing identity management with Entra ID for users, groups, and devices fundamentally enhance security and simplify access control across your Azure environment?