Azure AD is being renamed to Microsoft Entra ID

James Casey

Today, one of the key announcements at Reimagine secure access with Microsoft Entra is that Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is being renamed to Microsoft Entra ID as part of our commitment to simplify secure access experiences for everyone.

We launched Microsoft Entra as a new name for all of our identity and access products last year, with Azure AD becoming a part of Microsoft Entra product family along with two new products – Permissions Management and Verified ID. Microsoft Entra product family has since grown to include Identity Governance, External Identities, and Workload Identities. Today we announced the expansion of Microsoft Entra into Security Service Edge (SSE) category with the launch of two new products – Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access.

Renaming our hero cloud identity product – Azure AD to Microsoft Entra ID, and unifying all identity and secure access products under Microsoft Entra name will make it easier for security teams to use all its capabilities to protect various identities and access points. The Microsoft Entra ID name is also more aligned with our multicloud, multiplatform approach, as more customers adopt our identity solution to securely connect every application and resource.

No action is needed from customers

Customers who are using Azure AD today or are currently deploying Azure AD in their organizations can continue to use the service without interruption. All existing deployments, configurations, and integrations will continue to function as they do today, as do all capabilities and features.

All licensing plans, pricing and service level agreements for Azure AD and Microsoft 365 plans that include Azure AD remain the same; only display names for the service plans are changing.

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.

The name change will start appearing across Microsoft experiences after a 30-day notification period which started July 11, 2023. Display names for SKUs and Service Plans will change on October 1, 2023. We expect most name text string changes in Microsoft services to be completed by the end of 2023.

Identity developer experiences are not impacted by the rename

Microsoft Identity Platform encompasses all our identity and access developer assets. The name of Microsoft Identity Platform is not changing, and we’re committed to delivering resources for you to learn how to secure access for everyone and everything.

Naming is also not changing for:

• Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) – Acquire security tokens from the Microsoft identity platform to authenticate users and access secured web APIs to provide secure access to Microsoft Graph, other Microsoft APIs, third-party web APIs, or your own web API.
• Microsoft Graph – Get programmatic access to organizational, user, and application data stored in Azure AD(going forward – in Microsoft Entra ID).
• Microsoft Graph PowerShell – Acts as an API wrapper for the Microsoft Graph APIs; helps administer every Azure AD (Microsoft Entra ID) feature that has an API in Microsoft Graph.
• Windows Server Active Directory, commonly known as “Active Directory”, and all related Windows Server identity services, associated with Active Directory.
• Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) nor Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) nor the product name “Active Directory” or any corresponding features.
• Azure Active Directory B2C will continue to be available as an Azure service (please, note that Azure AD External Identities is evolving into the next-generation identity product for customers and partners – Microsoft Entra External ID).
• Any deprecated or retired functionality, feature, or service of Azure Active Directory

You’re an important part of this journey

We are grateful for your continued partnership in building a safer world for all, and we’d like your help spreading the word about the change and implementing it in your own experiences. We are providing complete naming guidance in Microsoft Learn and ask that you please update customer-facing content and experiences with the new name in 2023.

Thank you!

Resources:

• Read the documentation about the upcoming Azure AD name change
• Join us for the Azure AD name change AMA session on July 20 as part of the Microsoft Entra Tech Accelerator event
• Read the Microsoft Security blog “Microsoft expands to security service edge (SSE) and more innovations“
• Watch the replay of Reimagine secure access with Microsoft Entra

James Casey Principal Product Manager, Identity & Network Access, Developer Experience

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