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Difference Between The Active Directory And Microsoft Entra ID

In this article, we will discuss the difference between the Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Microsoft Azure Active Directory)

Provisioning Users

User provisioning means automatically creating the users, identities, and roles in the application that a user is going to use.

In the case of Active Directory, the users are either created manually or using an automated provisioning system such as Microsoft Identity Manager (a specific tool provided by Microsoft to manage user identities and access within an organization).

In the case of Microsoft Entra ID, the Microsoft Entra Connect is used for automatic provisioning.

Provisioning Of External Users

In the Windows active directory, the organizations create external users manually as regular users in a dedicated external AD forest. Organizations manage the lifecycle of external identities.

Microsoft Entra ID provides a special class of identity to support external identities i.e., Microsoft Entra B2B

Admin Management

In Windows Active Directory, the organizations will use a combination of domains, organizational units, and groups to delegate administrative rights to manage the directory and resources it controls.

Microsoft Entra ID provides built-in roles with its Microsoft Entra role-based access control system, with limited support for creating custom roles to delegate privileged access to the identity system, the apps, and resources

Credential Management

Credentials in Active Directory are based on passwords, certificate authentication, and smartcard authentication. Passwords are managed using password policies that are based on password length, expiry, and complexity.

Microsoft Entra ID uses intelligent password protection like smart lockout and blocking common and custom password phrases and substitutions. Microsoft Entra ID significantly boosts security through multi-factor authentication and password-less technologies, like FIDO2. Microsoft Entra ID reduces support costs by providing users with a self-service password reset system.

Mobile

Active Directory does not natively support mobile devices without third-party solutions.

Microsoft’s mobile device management solution, Microsoft Intune, is integrated with Microsoft Entra ID.

Saas Apps

Active Directory does not support SaaS apps natively.

SaaS apps supporting OAuth2, SAML, and WS-* authentication can be integrated to use Microsoft Entra ID for authentication.

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Wednesday, October 18, 2023

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