| title | description | services | ms.service | ms.subservice | ms.topic | ms.date | ms.author | author | manager | ms.reviewer | ms.collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What is device identity in Azure Active Directory? |
Device identities and their use cases |
active-directory |
active-directory |
devices |
overview |
01/24/2023 |
joflore |
MicrosoftGuyJFlo |
amycolannino |
sandeo, jogro, jploegert |
M365-identity-device-management |
A device identity is an object in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). This device object is similar to users, groups, or applications. A device identity gives administrators information they can use when making access or configuration decisions.
There are three ways to get a device identity:
- Azure AD registration
- Azure AD join
- Hybrid Azure AD join
Device identities are a prerequisite for scenarios like device-based Conditional Access policies and Mobile Device Management with the Microsoft Intune family of products.
The modern device scenario focuses on two of these methods:
- Azure AD registration
- Bring your own device (BYOD)
- Mobile device (cell phone and tablet)
- Azure AD join
- Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices owned by your organization
- Windows Server 2019 and newer servers in your organization running as VMs in Azure
Hybrid Azure AD join is seen as an interim step on the road to Azure AD join. Hybrid Azure AD join provides organizations support for downlevel Windows versions back to Windows 7 and Server 2008. All three scenarios can coexist in a single organization.
Registering and joining devices to Azure AD gives users Seamless Sign-on (SSO) to cloud-based resources.
Devices that are Azure AD joined benefit from SSO to your organization's on-premises resources.
Getting devices in to Azure AD can be done in a self-service manner or a controlled process managed by administrators.
- Learn more about Azure AD registered devices
- Learn more about Azure AD joined devices
- Learn more about hybrid Azure AD joined devices
- To get an overview of how to manage device identities in the Azure portal, see Managing device identities using the Azure portal.
- To learn more about device-based Conditional Access, see Configure Azure Active Directory device-based Conditional Access policies.