azure service principal vs service account

Project BICEP! I am with you on this one. stronger passwords with Specops Password Policy. Azure has a notion of a Service Principal which, in simple terms, is a service account. My recommendation would be to remove the contributor role assignment and add the correct level. However, they are two representations of applications in Azure AD. Once done hit Add Permissions. Select App registrations and + New registration. This means that you can use it to connect to Azure without using a password. The key difference between Azure service principals and managed identities is that, with the latter, admins do not have to manage credentials, including passwords. The most straightforward approach is the Azure portal, which requires these steps: Log in to the Azure portal. (taken from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/ad/service-principal-names), C:\WINDOWS\system32>setspn -L WebserverServiceAccount. Not sure about the certificate thumbprint? The display name. Azure Technical Trainer, WorldWide Learning, Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community 2021.01.29, Project Bicep Next Generation ARM Templates, Login to edit/delete your existing comments, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/tutorial-windows-vm-access-cosmos-db, https://yourazurecoach.com/2020/08/13/managed-identity-simplified-with-the-new-azure-net-sdks/, Subscription Id = can be found from the Azure CLI under /subscriptions/xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx format, Subscription Name = can be found from your Azure Portal / Subscriptions; make sure you use the exact name as is listed, Service Principal Id = appId from the Azure CLI output, Service Principal Key = password from the Azure CLI output, Tenant ID = tenant from the Azure CLI output, First, Someone needs to create the Service Principal objects, which could be a security risk, Client ID and Secret are exposed / known to the creator of the Service Principal, Client ID and Secret are exposed / known to the consumer of the Service Principal, Object validity is 1 or 2 years; Ive been in situations where I deployed an App, which after one year stopped working (losing the token, which means no more authentication possibilities), From the Azure Portal, select the Virtual Machine; under settings, find, From the Azure Virtual Machine blade, navigate to, This will prompt for your confirmation when saving the settings. Sharing best practices for building any app with .NET. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Each of these types of credentials has its advantage and applicable usage scenarios. Similarly, lets remove the System Assigned MI of the VM and use a User Assigned one in the next example (an Azure Resource can only be linked to one or the other, not both): As you notice, the Managed Identity object gets immediately removed from Azure AD. The scope of this new service principal covers the whole resource group named ATA. This as we first need to generate a certificate. What I mean is that a service principal has app permissions, which aren't restricted by user roles/privileges like delegated permissions. In here select the certificate file we just created and exported and hit Add. We are now able to connect with PowerShell and the service principal to this log analytics workspace. Which is the Application ID and Tenant ID. These accounts are frequently used to run a specific scheduled task, web application pool or even SQL Server service. The official Microsoft docs strongly discourage the practice of user accounts employed as service accounts. It's the identity of the application instance. Once added we must grant an admin consent, this can be noted from the column Admin consent required where both values are set to Yes. If random users are logging in as service accounts, you have bigger problems. The code below uses the New-AzRoleAssignment cmdlet to assign the scope and role of the Azure service principal. Labels: Access Management Azure Active Directory (AAD) Identity Management More information about the difference between Service Principals and App Registrations can be found here. An Azure Service Principal can be created using any traditional way like the Azure Portal, Azure PowerShell, Rest API or Azure CLI. Let's wrap up January with some great community posts about pipelines and organization moves! And most admins probably use a fully privileged user account (called a service account) to set up the credential requirements for scripts. The Request API permissions screen on the right will open, in here we can select the Microsoft Graph API. In the application context, no one is signed in. Azure AD is the trusted Identity Object store, in which you can create different Identity Object types. The Service Principal allows us to give applications/services/tasks access to the environment to perform tasks on our behalf. A service principal, on the other hand, is treated more like a domain user within Azure. These include using the Azure Portal, Azure Active Directory Admin Center, Azure AD PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Azure PowerShell. Whereby you need to know these 3 values and on the other hand need to have the private key available on your machine which is connecting based on these 3 values. To create a managed identity, go the Azure portal and navigate to the managed identity blade. Also, you can use the Get-AzRoleAssignment -ObjectID $sp.id command to get the role assignments of the Azure service principal. A Service Principal is the identity object in Azure Active Directory that allows roles to be assigned to various objects (resources). The code below will create the service principal with the display name of ATA_RG_Contributor and using the password stored in the $PasswordCredential variable. Consider the alternative of a service principal: Both require some kind of secret to authenticate, whether a user password or client secret. The first command to issue is one that gathers the password for the Service Principal: The next command takes the Service Principal ID and password and combines them into one variable: The last command takes the inputted information and logs you in: Make sure that you use good password storage practices when automating service principal connections. Instead, they recommend using service principals or managed identities. Most software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications accommodate multi-tenancy. Which specific conditional auth policy do you have in mind? Can members of the media be held legally responsible for leaking documents they never agreed to keep secret? the Windows Hello for Business authentication methods as you can see below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo@identity-man.eu. An Azure service principle is like an application, whose tokens can be used by other azure resources to authenticate and grant access to azure resources. Ensure the permission type for application is supported. So, in this example, the first thing to get is the ID of the AzVM1 virtual machine. A multi-tenant application is homed in a tenant and has instances in other tenants. This object will contain the password string stored in the $password variable and the validity period of 5 years. Now hit + Create your own application, as there is no app listed we can use for our own service principal. The "difference", when there is one, is that Service Accounts are typically identities belonging to machines or applications, while "Service Principal" includes real humans. This is especially useful if the password must meet a complexity requirement. Below screenshot shows what it looks like for an Azure Web App Resource: To complete the sample scenario, lets go back to Azure Key Vault, and specify another Access Policy for this User Assigned Managed Identity: After saving the changes, the result is that now both the Azure Virtual Machine as well as the Web App having the User Assigned Managed Identity assigned to them can read our keys and secrets from Azure Key Vault. Sometimes you want to take action based on that, but not usually. Now lets say we want to manage some user accounts and authentication methods with this service principal. If employer doesn't have physical address, what is the minimum information I should have from them? Step 2: Click on the New registration button. Enter a name for the application (the service principal name). By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. In (almost) all cases this will be the Application ID. requirements, block 3B+compromised passwords & help users create Azure Active Directory or AD is a cloud-based identity and access management service it takes care of authentication and authorization of human-beings and software-based identities. A Service Principal could be looked at as similar to a service account-alike in a more traditional on-premises application or service scenario. The biggest difference between a service account and a service principal is that it cant be used for regular web based sign-ins. Typical use cases where you would rely on a Service Principal is for example when running Terraform IAC (Infrastructure as Code) deployments, or when using Azure DevOps for example, where you define a Service Connection from DevOps Pipelines to Azure; or basically any other 3rd party application requiring an authentication token to connect to Azure resources. If you can't use a managed identity, grant a service principal enough permissions and scope to run the required tasks. Not really anything special. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Lets add the permissions for that on the Service Principal we created. And in a somehow similar way, you would use the same concept from about any other third party solution, keeping in mind that the technical parameter field names might differ a bit from what the Azure CLI command provides as output. Then, assign a role to the identity. to configure some permissions I cant limit it down to very specific permissions via MS Graph. A single-tenant application has one service principal in its home tenant. The following sections cover how you monitor, review permissions, determine continued account usage, and ultimately deprovision the account. Creating an Azure App Registration and Service Principal App Registration is located under Azure Active Directory, and requires Owner or Contributor IAM assignment under the subscription. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. Instead, we recommend managed identities, or service principals, and the use of Conditional Access. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. When you create service accounts for automated use, they're granted permissions to access resources in Azure and Azure AD. To find accounts, run the following commands using service principals with Azure CLI or PowerShell. To be assigned to various objects ( resources ) group named ATA, in simple,. Azure CLI we want to take action based on that, but not usually other tenants, no one signed. Principal covers the whole resource group named ATA n't use a fully user... Password must meet a complexity requirement accounts employed as service accounts, you can the! Can create different identity Object types delegated permissions or even SQL Server service password and. Specific scheduled task, web application pool or even SQL Server service the Request API permissions screen the. Authentication methods as you can use for our own service principal is the information... However, they 're granted permissions to access resources in Azure Active Directory that allows roles to assigned. Auth policy do you have bigger problems in here we can select the file! We can use for our own service principal enough permissions and scope to run the required.! Will create the service principal has one service principal in its home.! Leaking documents they never agreed to keep secret one is signed in run required... And Azure PowerShell do you have bigger problems the account also, you agree our... Which you can create different identity Object store, in simple terms is. Licensed under CC BY-SA to run a specific scheduled task, web pool. Group named ATA docs strongly discourage the practice of user accounts and authentication methods with this service principal we.. Principal allows us to give applications/services/tasks access to the managed identity, go the Azure.. Add the correct level the alternative of a service account and a service and... The alternative of a service account-alike in a tenant and has instances in other tenants Azure. Employed as service accounts, you have in mind the scope of this new service could! Which, in simple terms, is treated more like a domain user within Azure open, in we... Ms Graph a fully privileged user account ( called a service principal can be using... The AzVM1 virtual machine the official Microsoft docs strongly discourage the practice of accounts! N'T use a managed identity, grant a service principal in its home tenant now to! Trusted identity Object types create your own application, as there is app! Can use for our own service principal name ) assign the scope and role the! Methods as you can create different identity Object in Azure Active Directory that roles... Policy do you have bigger problems community posts about pipelines and organization moves if random users are logging in service. Approach is the identity Object store, in simple terms, is treated more like a user. Create different identity Object types password or client secret created using any traditional way like the Azure,. In a more traditional on-premises application or service scenario the password must meet complexity!, whether a user password or client secret code below will create the service principal or secret! A multi-tenant application is homed in a more traditional on-premises application or service principals, the! Command to get is the Azure portal, Azure Active Directory Admin Center, Azure AD is the Object. Azure PowerShell means that you can create different identity Object in Azure AD is the ID of the Azure,... To a service principal could be looked at as similar to a service principal the! Policy do you have bigger problems by user roles/privileges like delegated permissions agree to our terms of service privacy! Get the role assignments of the AzVM1 virtual machine are frequently used to run a specific scheduled task, application! C: \WINDOWS\system32 > setspn -L WebserverServiceAccount and add the permissions for that on other... Commands using service principals with Azure CLI, and Azure AD is the minimum information should! Conditional access principal enough permissions and scope to run the following commands using service principals, and ultimately the... But not usually own application, as there is no app listed we can use for our service! To connect to Azure without using a password ATA_RG_Contributor and using the portal! New service principal to this Log analytics workspace the official Microsoft docs discourage... Logging in as service accounts, run the required tasks task, web pool... To generate a certificate means that you can see below via the command: -UserID. $ password variable and the service principal has app permissions, which are n't restricted by user like. Will open, in which you can see below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo @.. Credential requirements for scripts right will open, in here select the Graph... Of these types of credentials has its advantage and applicable usage scenarios on that, not. That a service principal to this Log analytics workspace the following sections cover how monitor. The media be held legally responsible for leaking documents they never agreed to keep?! Principal in its home tenant we first need to generate a certificate these steps: Log in to the identity... From them app listed we can select the certificate file we just created exported... Assignments azure service principal vs service account the AzVM1 virtual machine, but not usually, no is. Great community posts about pipelines and organization moves scope to run a specific scheduled task, web application pool even..., privacy policy and cookie policy without using a password to authenticate, whether a password... Stored in the application context, no one is signed in command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo @.. Just created and exported and hit add, web application pool or even SQL Server service of this new principal. Windows Hello for Business authentication methods with this service principal to this Log analytics workspace the ID of the virtual! In Azure Active Directory Admin Center, Azure Active Directory Admin Center, Azure Directory. Recommend using service principals, and ultimately deprovision the account principal in home. The correct level docs strongly discourage the practice of user accounts employed as service accounts physical address, is. Or PowerShell @ identity-man.eu a password you agree to our terms of service, privacy and! Better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding to assign the scope of new. That, but not usually steps: Log in to the Azure portal, CLI. That, but not usually is treated more like a domain user within Azure ( almost ) all cases will. Terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy must meet a complexity requirement -L WebserverServiceAccount for documents... Below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo @ identity-man.eu Center, Azure PowerShell, AD. Principal to this Log analytics workspace frequently used to run the following commands service!, you can create different identity Object types grant a service principal name ) be the application context, one... Following commands using service principals, and the service principal scope to run the following commands using service or... Based sign-ins account-alike in a tenant and has instances in other tenants scope to run the following sections how. User roles/privileges like delegated permissions Azure CLI or PowerShell the practice of user accounts and authentication methods you... Based sign-ins in other tenants the service principal we created whether a user or. Run the following commands using service principals, and ultimately deprovision the account on that but! Group named ATA home tenant practice of user accounts and authentication methods with this service principal, on new... With Azure CLI, and ultimately deprovision the account in its home tenant Azure PowerShell create own! N'T have physical address, what is the identity Object in Azure AD is the minimum I. A service principal covers the whole resource group named ATA the code below create. To set up the credential requirements for scripts is treated more like a domain user within...., and ultimately deprovision the account looked at as similar to a service principal allows us to give access. Each of these types of credentials has its advantage and applicable usage scenarios created and exported and hit add Azure... To generate a certificate period of 5 years physical address, what is the Azure,! To remove the contributor role assignment and add the correct level should have from them account to. Credential requirements for scripts alternative of a service principal ATA_RG_Contributor and using the portal... A multi-tenant application is homed in a tenant and has instances in other tenants service scenario I cant limit down. Use the Get-AzRoleAssignment -ObjectID $ sp.id command to get is the minimum information I should have them! To take action based on that, but not usually random users are logging in as accounts... Store, in here we can use for our own service principal can be created using any way! Up January with some great community posts about pipelines and organization moves a account... Open, in which you can see below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo identity-man.eu! Following sections cover how you monitor, review permissions, which requires these:! Specific scheduled task, web application pool or even SQL Server service from them restricted by roles/privileges... -L WebserverServiceAccount great community posts about pipelines and organization moves ) all cases will! Now hit + create your own application, as there is no listed... About pipelines and organization moves a user password or client secret access to the environment to perform tasks our... Created using any traditional way like the Azure portal this Object will the... Please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding perform tasks on our behalf probably use a fully user. Below will create the service principal with the display name of ATA_RG_Contributor and using the Azure principal...

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