What does Azure AD renamed Microsoft Entra ID mean for .NET developers?
You may have heard that one of the key announcements at Reimagine secure access with Microsoft Entra was that Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is being renamed to Microsoft Entra ID as part of the ongoing commitment to simplify secure access experiences for everyone. If you haven’t already, be sure to read the official announcement by the Microsoft Entra team. They explain why the name is being changed along with some longer term plans. You might wonder what the impact will be on .NET developers.
As mentioned in the other blog post, there is no action needed from you and your existing identity experiences remain the same. Quoting the Microsoft Entra team:
To make the transition seamless, we are not changing any code that would impact functionality or your work. For example, existing login URLs, APIs, PowerShell cmdlets, and libraries within the Microsoft identity platform such as Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) are not changing.
To reiterate, there are no changes to your existing code, including apps that rely on Azure B2C, the Microsoft Identity Platform, or MSAL.
The ASP.NET Core team committed to improving the identity management experience for .NET developers in the .NET 8 timeline. Much of that effort has focused on support for self-hosted identity management and Single Page Applications (SPA). We also recognize the popularity and importance of Azure-managed identities and have partnered with the Microsoft Entra team to address those scenarios. Our teams work together to address feedback and improve the process to discover, learn, and securely implement identity in .NET web applications. In addition to the resources shared by the Microsoft Entra team, I encourage you to take a look at the new developer-centric platform Microsoft Entra External ID that is in preview today. It provides a hands-on experience of what to expect from the future.
Thank you!
Jeremy Likness and the ASP.NET Core team
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6 comments
Oh, we know why they changed the name.
If you ask them, they say it’s because of their ongoing commitment to … something. In reality, Microsoft is notorious for changing product names whenever there is a change in the management somewhere. New managers change a product name or two to make their existence felt! I’ve heard one such Microsoft executive had a plaque on her desk that read, “Nomina muto, ego sum.”
Reimagine … but nothing is changing. Got it.
That makes… no sense whatsoever?! It’s not clear how renaming (yet another!) product serves to cause anything other than confusion [INSERT SLOW CLAP HERE]
Good job making it much harder for new devs to find any help on the web, since they will be using wrong keywords.
Seriously, WTH.
I have written an internal ‘Tenancy Manager’ web app (in Blazor WebAssembly). I maintain, and regularly update it. Certain parts of it are very Azure AD specific (e.g. for managing existing users, inviting new users, controlling AD group memberships etc.). The class names include “AzureAd”. The comments talk about Azure AD. The UI and the documentation talk about Azure AD. At some point that will all (probably) have to be changed. What you’re saying is that the code will still work, and I get that, but “there are no changes to your existing code” isn’t quite right, I feel.
Ok, changing “Azure AD” to something else here and there in my code doesn’t like too hard a task, but this comes hot on the heels of this announcement:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/retirement-notice-azure-media-services-is-being-retired-on-30-june-2024/
And that announcement entails me having to undo / change all the hard work I’ve recently made to allow our internal team to process videos via Azure Media Services (AMS).
When Microsoft changes stuff here and there, it means extra and unnecessary work for downstream consumers. And for me, that work is starting to pile up.