Windows Azure set of Secure, enterprise-class authentication and access management features

Today I am delighted to share with you some of the improvements that we have made in the http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/32995.html > Windows Azure Identity Authentication and access management features. These improvements will be built on my previous blog (we are integrating Windows Azure AD fully into Windows Azure).

Starting today, if you already have Windows Azure Active Directory (AD) tenant or you are a new customer, and you create an Azure subscription with Windows Azure AD rentals, you can access the following three new features to make it more secure, Manage access to Windows Azure more efficiently.

This is the next step in our effort to bring Windows Azure a secure, enterprise-level authentication and access management function.

Create and manage your user accounts in Active Directory:

As Windows Azure Active Directory (AD) Administrator, you can now create user accounts. You can assign users to your existing subscriptions, and users can create their own new subscriptions. Additionally, as a directory administrator, you can disable a user account or reset its password from the Azure management portal.

And as you would expect, when your employees leave the company, you can delete their user accounts in Windows Azure AD and automatically revoke their access to azure subscriptions.

Directory administrators can also create user accounts, including user names that are published by the company (such as joe@contoso.com, rather than joe@live.com), or they synchronize organizational credentials from Windows Server AD in an indoor platform. This helps to make a clear distinction between work and personal accounts.

Finally, we introduce the beginning of access control permissions-specific users can designate Windows Azure AD administrators. Administrators have the right to modify, add, or delete users.

Screenshot: Manage users at Windows Azure Ad from Windows Azure Management portal.

Screenshot: Global administrator adds a new domain name to its Windows Azure Active directory. After the domain name has been validated, you can add new users to it.