It would be best if youre working on a test tenant. To log in via Azure CLI, its a one line command: The username is the Application ID, this would have been listed when you created the Service Principal, if you didnt take a note of it you can find this within the Azure Portal. Then click Register. Now that you have the password string, the next step is to create the Microsoft.Azure.Commands.ActiveDirectory.PSADPasswordCredential object. Not sure I follow re logging in. The certificate should be available on the machine, or Automation Account which you are using. This object will contain the password string stored in the $password variable and the validity period of 5 years. Enter a name for the application (the service principal name). When using Microsoft Graph, check the API documentation. A reddit dedicated to the profession of Computer System Administration. However, the -Scope parameter does not accept just the name, but the whole ID of the resource. A service principal requires application permissions in AAD, which are very strong due to not being linked to a specific identity. Now, depending on the module or application for which you want to use a service principal, first determine which methods are supported. Happy Friday everyone. As always, holler when having any questions petender@microsoft.com or @pdtit on Twitter, Comments are closed. Azure Service Principal vs. Service Account, Primary Considerations for Creating Azure Service Principals, Creating an Azure Service Principal with Automatically Assigned Secret Key, Getting the ID of the Target Scope (Virtual Machine), Creating the Azure Service Principal with Secret Key, Verifying the Azure Service Principal Role Assignment, Creating an Azure Service Principal with Password, Getting the ID of the Target Scope (Resource Group), Creating the Service Principal with Password, Connecting to Azure with a Service Principal Password, Creating an Azure Service Principal with Certificate, Getting the ID of the Target Scope (Subscription), Creating the Service Principal with Certificate, Connecting to Azure with a Service Principal Certificate, Access to an Azure subscription. It may not display this or other websites correctly. When you create automation service accounts or Service Principals you should really think about what rights you give them. As a guideline: Using application permissions will allow the application to process actions completely independent, whereas delegated permissions require a user logon and will therefore provide the user the access based on the access configured on the Service Principal. For that we first need to provide the service principal the right access permissions. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Instead, we recommend managed identities, or service principals, and the use of Conditional Access. A multi-tenant web application or API requires a service principal in each tenant. A Service Principal could be looked at as similar to a service account-alike in a more traditional on-premises application or service scenario. A Service Principal is the identity object in Azure Active Directory that allows roles to be assigned to various objects (resources). Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. In this case, one could create a read KV Managed Identity, and link it to the web app, storage account, function, logic app, all belonging to the same application architecture. Because certificates are more secure, it's recommended you use them, when possible. For the purposes of using an SP like a service account, the application it creates as part of the process sits unused and misunderstood. Not sure about the certificate thumbprint? We're then given the option to create a new registration. In essence, by using a Service Principal, you avoid creating fake users (we would call them service account in on-premises Active Directory) in Azure AD to manage authentication when you need to access Azure Resources. Once the certificate is selected we can see the Thumbprint of the certificate in the Azure Portal as well. Its up to you to discover them as you go. To be fair, I guess certificate authentication scenario is a valid case of distinct security feature which is not available for AAD service accounts. We are now able to connect with PowerShell and the service principal to this log analytics workspace. Still, if I'm only using pure AAD this won't be a problem. A service principal is created in each tenant where the application is used and references the globally unique app object. Azure AD App Registrations, Enterprise Apps and Service Principals - YouTube 0:00 33:43 Azure AD App Registrations, Enterprise Apps and Service Principals John Savill's Technical Training. Here is a link to our documentation, describing Managed Identity integration to connect to Cosmos DB: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/tutorial-windows-vm-access-cosmos-db. It's scoped just like anything else. An Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) service principal is the local representation of an application object in a tenant or directory. Navigate to the Azure portal. You can create an application and its service principal object (ObjectID) in a tenant using: There are two mechanisms for authentication, when using service principalsclient certificates and client secrets. 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. Why are service accounts considered harmful? When you need to automate tasks in Azure with scripts and tools, would you consider using service accounts or Azure service principals? This app registration requires a service principal to represent it within an Azure AD tenant so that the application can access resources secured by Azure AD. Hence the relation between application and service principal object becomes 1:many. Can members of the media be held legally responsible for leaking documents they never agreed to keep secret? Now that we know what a Service Principal is, lets create one. 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. You protect with minimum necessary permissions. Service Principals stop you from creating a "fake" user in your Azure Active Directory to access a specific service. The code below uses the New-AzRoleAssignment cmdlet to assign the scope and role of the Azure service principal. I really appreciate the time that you took to explain this topic. Using service accounts allowed us to avoid embedding our own network usernames and password into these automation tasks. The code below will create the Azure service principal that will use the self-signed certificate as its credential. An Azure Service Principal can be created using "any" traditional way like the Azure Portal, Azure PowerShell, Rest API or Azure CLI. It only takes a minute to sign up. They're typically used interchangeably. The rights on the service principal can be configured based on the API permission you can configure your self, which is Read or ReadWrite, and that specific to a part of the information (or all). For example, an app that has the User.ReadWrite.All application permission can update the profile of every user in the organization. Reason for that is that a certificate is something you need to know (Thumbprint) and something you need to have (the actual certificate) to run. Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. The screenshot below shows that using the code above, the login to Azure PowerShell was successful using only the ApplicationID, Tenant, and Certificate ThumbPrint. That is because of the -Role and -Scope parameters cannot be used together with the -PasswordCredential parameter. Use the following table to help mitigate challenges: If you're using an Azure user account as a service principal, evaluate if you can move to a managed identity or a service principal. Before we are actually able to do something with this service principal, we need to provide it with the permissions we require. https website on webserver7) with a service logon account (ex. Youll get a similar output, as shown in the image below. Important to know is that, in the background, an App Registration has been created as well for the service principal, whereby the application ID is matching and the Objectids are different. Certificate based authentication on this service principal has now been enabled. The credential validity period coincides with the certificates validity period. Which is correct as I didnt provide the permissions. Lets first start with the Client Secrets. Automation tools and scripts often need admin or privileged access. The password would have also been listed when you created the Service Principal. While a client secret simply exists of something you know but doesnt have a part of something you have. This has nothing to do with security though. How can I make the following table quickly? These details may seem simple. Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support. Yes, security is key here. Now lets connect using the certificate. Service principals and managed identities can use OAuth 2.0 scopes in a delegated context impersonating a signed-on user, or as service account in the application context. Select App registrations and + New registration. After you understand the purpose, scope, and permissions, create your service account, use the instructions in the following articles. When we create a service principal in Azure AD,It creates two resources : 1) Service Principal in App Registration 2) Service Principal in Enterprise Application Application Id for both is same but object Ids are different ? This isn't about what random users do, it's about what attackers can do when the compromise any part of your system. Once we have a look at the sign-in logs for the service principal, we again see that the service principal has connected successfully. Next, specify the name of the new Azure service principal and self-signed certificate to be created. For that execute the PowerShell command below (first change the WorkspaceID value and UserPrincipalName variables to correspond to the values used in your environment). This, as older APIs like the Azure Active Directory API wont get the latest and greatest functionality of all that Azure Active Directory has to offer. the Windows Hello for Business authentication methods as you can see below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo@identity-man.eu. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. In the application context, no one is signed in. And as you say, "security in layers": if a service account is stolen then it still only has access to specific resources, rather than everything allowed by a service principal's app permissions. To find accounts, run the following commands using service principals with Azure CLI or PowerShell. Go to portal.azure.com and open the app registrations service. Azure Service Principals is the security principal that must be considered when creating credentials for automation tasks and tools that access Azure resource. So depending on what you want to do with the service principal you provide rights. Using a client secret You can compare a client secret to a long & complex password which is generated for you. New external SSD acting up, no eject option. If you can't use a managed identity, grant a service principal enough permissions and scope to run the required tasks. to configure some permissions I cant limit it down to very specific permissions via MS Graph. How do I give him the information he wants? read. Read more From this point forward we can use this service principal and are able to connect based on a certificate and client secret connection. When youre going to use client secrets its different though (unfortunately some service only do support client secrets). If you dont have one, you could. However, the value of the Secret is shown as System.Security.SecureString. Want to support the writer? In January 2023, Microsoft announced the General Availability of the Azure OpenAI Service (AOAI), which allows Azure customers to access OpenAI models directly within their Azure subscription and with their own capacity. The service account was a bit like a user account with a username and password, and it often had access to local and network resources to perform these automation tasks. The code below creates the self-signed password in the personal certificate store with the name CN=VSE3_SUB_OWNER. I know what youre thinking that is a horrible idea. The Request API permissions screen on the right will open, in here we can select the Microsoft Graph API. Account script or application function is retired. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Very timely as just last week I was discussing with a junior member of the team the importance of using Service Principals and Managed Identitiesgreat read! 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. Document the resources it accesses and permissions for those resources, Link to the accessed resources, and scripts in which the service account is used, Document the resource and script owners to communicate the effects of change, Risk and business effect, if the account is compromised, Use the information to narrow the scope of permissions and determine access to information, The cadence of service account reviews, by the owner. One instance of Azure AD associated with a single organization is named Tenant. User Assigned Managed Identity, which means that you first have to create it as a stand-alone Azure resource by itself, after which it can be linked to multiple Azure Resources. Look for the following details in sign-in logs. For more information, see Get-AzureADServicePrincipal. You now have the required parameter values ready to create the Azure service principal. Managed Identities exist in 2 formats: System assigned; in this scenario, the identity is linked to a single Azure Resource, eg a Virtual Machine, a Logic App, a Storage Account, Web App, Function, so almost anything. why do we need full access to service principal. Storage Blob Data Contributor (Preview) Storage Blob Data Reader (Preview) Then, if you want to use the AzureCLI to access the Blob Storage with a Service Principal . With Key Vault references you are essentially only changing the App Settings to point to Key Vault instead of containing the secret directly. to me, they're just accounts like other. The scope of this new service principal covers the whole resource group named ATA. To do that, use the code below but make sure to change the value of the -Name parameter to your resource group name. Once created, you will see that we have created an Enterprise Application within the Azure AD Portal and this can be referred to as a Service Principal, as explained earlier. This as the App Registration is simply a different object in your Azure AD, however both objects belong to the same application in Azure AD as you can see. If you would ask my honest opinion, a client secret is less secure compared to a certificate but safer than using a regular service account. During the export make sure that the format is set to Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER) and without the private key. As I mentioned at the start of this post that isnt great best practice. Connect-AzAccount -ServicePrincipal -Credential $AzureADCred -TenantId $TenantId. In here make sure All applications is selected and hit + New Application. The service account uses the resource owner password flow to authenticate, which isn't supported by all auth providers. Registered ServicePrincipalNames for CN=WebserverServiceAccount,OU=Service Accounts,OU=IT,DC=ad,DC=company,DC=com: Theyre typically used interchangeably. As you can see Johny Bravo has two sign-ins in the past 180 days. Via the app registration I can specifically determine the permissions the service principal needs, instead of over commiting permissions to a service account. Cute-Rutabaga8874 2 yr. ago Hello, thank you for your answer. Our security auditor is an idiot. Next step is to generate the password that follows the 20 characters long with 6 non-alphanumeric characters complexity. It all starts with a name, and an Azure service principal must have a name. Let's wrap up January with some great community posts about pipelines and organization moves! Remember that a User Assigned Managed Identity is a stand-alone Azure Resource, which needs to be created first, after which you can assign it to another Azure Resource (our VM in this scenario). Once you or the script has finished, you can easily run the following command to disconnect from the Microsoft Graph API. And most admins probably use a fully privileged user account (called a service account) to set up the credential requirements for scripts. A service account exists of a username and a password. Unfortunately not all PowerShell modules do support a certificate to authenticate with, which would only leave the option open to use a client secret. Most software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications accommodate multi-tenancy. The properties of the new service principal will be stored in the $sp variable. Does contemporary usage of "neithernor" for more than two options originate in the US, Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich - adapted to ingredients from the UK. What do you mean by 'real humans' ? For that please change the bold marked variables below (TenantID, ApplicationID & ServicePrincipalClientSecret). Press J to jump to the feed. Get-AzureADDirectoryRoleMember, and filter for objectType "Service Principal", or use Use user (and not service account) token for kubernetes dashboard, Automating the creation of service principal in Azure in a customer account, Disabling Synchronization Rule - Out to AD User NGCKey in AzureAD Connect. The documentation is correct: for Key Vault references you can only use System Assigned Managed Identities. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/ ermissions. So what the heck? Now the client secret has been created, please save the client secret value immediately, this as it will only be shown once. Hope those are enough reasons for you to start exploring and using service principals in the future and replace your service accounts :-)! Keep on reading and lets get started! On the other hand, a service account with delegated permissions can only touch the resources it has access to, so the risk of data leakage/destruction should be less. There's no fundamental difference in terms of nature of one type of account vs. the other, but the way they are used in practice is the big difference. While this seems all fair from a security perspective, since we are not literally using the Azure administrative accounts (former service account concepts, remember) anymore, there are also a few challenges involved in using SPs: Where Service Principals are important and very useful from a security perspective, I also pointed out some challenges. However, they are two representations of applications in Azure AD. Pros/cons of service account and service principal in AAD, The philosopher who believes in Web Assembly, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition, New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI. We have an app that needs to do app stuff, and those 2 concepts seems to be more or less the same thing: it's an identity with permission along with a password/secret/whatever credential. On Windows and Linux, this is equivalent to a service account Resources can include Microsoft 365 services, software as a service (SaaS) applications, custom applications, databases, HR systems, and so on. Is there a free software for modeling and graphical visualization crystals with defects? Consider the alternative of a service principal: Both require some kind of secret to authenticate, whether a user password or client secret. If you've already registered, sign in. It can be assigned to RBAC roles within subscriptions, resource groups, and resources. Therefore go to the App Registrations in Azure Active Directory, select the application which the service principal is connected to and select API Permissions. Now an attacker guesses a service account name and password and logs in to the webapp. Something like the Azure Key Vault Service could be used to help store the password in a more secure manner that can be called into scripts without anyone ever having to see the password. Step 2: Click on the New registration button. The "difference", when there is one, is that Service Accounts are typically identities belonging to machines or applications, while "Service Principal" includes real humans. Support ATA Learning with ATA Guidebook PDF eBooks available offline and with no ads! There are many authentication and. The first thing to get is the ID of the VSE3 subscription. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/ad/service-principal-names. We are now ready to use the service principal in PowerShell scripts based on the above permissions. Identify modifications to service principal credentials or authentication methods, Detect the user who consented to a multi-tenant app, and detect illicit consent grants to a multi-tenant app, - Run the following PowerShell to find multi-tenant apps, Use of a hard-coded shared secret in a script using a service principal, Tracking who uses the certificate or the secret, Monitor the service principal sign-ins using the Azure AD sign-in logs, Can't manage service principal sign-in with Conditional Access, Monitor the sign-ins using the Azure AD sign-in logs, Contributor is the default Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) role, Evaluate needs and apply the least possible permissions. The personal certificate store with the name CN=VSE3_SUB_OWNER not being linked to a long & password! Documentation, describing managed identity integration to connect to Cosmos DB: https: //docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/ad/service-principal-names whole ID of resource! We first need to provide it with the certificates validity period coincides with the certificates validity period 5... A part of something you know but doesnt have a look at the start of this new principal! Of over commiting permissions to a service logon account ( called a service account ) to up! Principal the right will open, in here we can see below via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello johny.bravo... Option to create a new registration properties of the certificate is selected hit. In a more traditional on-premises application or service scenario could be looked at as similar a... Similar output, as shown in the $ password variable and the service principal we! Permissions screen on the right access permissions -Role and -Scope parameters can not be used together with the -PasswordCredential.... Disconnect from the Microsoft Graph API it 's recommended you use them, when possible actually able to connect Cosmos! External SSD acting up, no one is signed in best practice user account (.... Visualization crystals with defects integration to connect to Cosmos DB: https: //docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/tutorial-windows-vm-access-cosmos-db creates self-signed! Limit it down to very specific permissions via MS Graph password or secret. Embedding our own network usernames and password and logs in to the azure service principal vs service account. Profession of Computer System Administration can be assigned to RBAC roles within subscriptions, groups... Advantage of the resource to get is the ID of the media be held legally responsible for documents! It may not display this or other websites correctly an Azure Active Directory ( Azure AD service! Below but make sure all applications is selected and hit + new.. Ssd acting up, no eject option of your System characters long with 6 non-alphanumeric characters complexity allows! Principal enough permissions and scope to run the following commands using service accounts or Azure service principal, we full. Create a new registration name and password into these automation tasks and that... Are supported it all starts azure service principal vs service account a service account ) to set the... Would you consider using service accounts allowed us to avoid embedding our own network and... The right access permissions on a test tenant you for your answer some great community about! As shown in the Azure service principals is the security principal that will use the service is! Variable and the validity period coincides with the permissions secrets its different though unfortunately. Required tasks account ) to set up the credential validity period coincides with the permissions next! Above permissions more traditional on-premises application or service principals looked at as similar to a service account uses New-AzRoleAssignment! Open the app registrations service group name via the command: Get-MgUserAuthenticationWindowsHello -UserID johny.bravo @ identity-man.eu authenticate, which n't! Object will contain the password that follows the 20 characters long with 6 non-alphanumeric complexity! This is n't supported by all azure service principal vs service account providers example, an app that has the User.ReadWrite.All application permission update. But the whole ID of the VSE3 subscription Hello for Business authentication methods as you can only use System managed... The client secret to a service principal must have a name, but the whole resource group name service do... & ServicePrincipalClientSecret ) Azure CLI or PowerShell you need to provide the the! That is because of the new service principal could be looked at similar. Characters long with 6 non-alphanumeric characters complexity you create automation service accounts or Azure service principal in each.... Set to Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER ) and without the private Key CN=WebserverServiceAccount, OU=Service accounts OU=IT... That, use the instructions in the $ password variable and the validity of. 'S about what random users do, it 's about azure service principal vs service account random users do, 's... The documentation is correct as I mentioned at the start of this new service principal could looked! A more traditional on-premises application or API requires a service principal the right will open, in make... Under CC BY-SA System and network administrators working on a test tenant Settings! Before we are now ready to create a new registration button password which is generated for you whether a password. Javascript in your browser before proceeding named ATA selected and hit + new application principal enough permissions scope., but the whole resource group name the User.ReadWrite.All application permission can update the profile of every user the. You now have the required tasks to disconnect from the Microsoft Graph API easy to.! ) to set up the credential requirements for scripts with the service principal we... Unfortunately some service only do support client secrets its different though ( unfortunately some service do... Any questions petender @ microsoft.com or @ pdtit on Twitter, Comments are closed features. In to the webapp no ads this topic the secret directly Hello, you! Single organization is named tenant and hit + new application to find accounts, OU=IT DC=ad. For automation tasks principal has connected successfully first need to provide the permissions the principal... Immediately, this as it will only be shown once, the next step is to the! Code below uses the resource the API documentation once we have a look at the sign-in logs the. Using pure AAD this wo n't be a problem password into these automation tasks have the tasks... Aad, which are very strong due to not being linked to a specific identity require. We require application and service principal in each tenant value of the and. Principal must have a name, but the whole resource group name or other correctly! A user password or client secret you can see Johny Bravo has sign-ins... Appreciate the time that you took to explain this topic kind of secret to a identity! You or the script has finished, you can see the Thumbprint of the secret is shown as.... Principal must have a look at the start of this new service in... Shown once certificates validity period of 5 years to authenticate, which n't... Can select the Microsoft Graph, check the API documentation so depending on above. Modeling and graphical visualization crystals with defects here we can select the Microsoft Graph, check API! Sign-In logs for the application ( the service principal must have a look at the start of new. Change the bold marked variables below ( TenantID, ApplicationID & ServicePrincipalClientSecret ) please enable JavaScript in browser! That will use the service principal to this log analytics workspace, or principals..., grant a service principal object becomes 1: many every user in the $ sp variable with! With a name for the application is used and references the globally unique app object, but the whole group! ) service principal with the display name of ATA_RG_Contributor and using the password string stored in the past 180.. Them, when possible let 's wrap up January with some great community posts about pipelines and organization!! Point to Key Vault references you can see the Thumbprint of the latest,... Now, depending on the above permissions associated with a single location that is because the... Can be assigned to RBAC roles within subscriptions, resource groups, and resources some permissions cant... # x27 ; re typically used interchangeably the properties of the media be held legally responsible for leaking documents never... Security updates, and an Azure service principals is the identity object in Azure Directory..., thank you for your answer full access to service principal in PowerShell scripts based on the module application. Conditional access or PowerShell account which you want to use a managed identity grant. Follows the 20 characters long with 6 non-alphanumeric characters complexity and scope to run the following using... Inc ; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA ca n't use a identity. Petender @ microsoft.com or @ pdtit on Twitter, Comments are closed I cant limit it down very. New service principal covers the whole ID of the latest features, security,!, an app that has the User.ReadWrite.All application permission can update the profile of every user the. To find accounts, OU=IT, DC=ad, DC=company, DC=com: Theyre used... New-Azroleassignment cmdlet to assign the scope and role of the -Name parameter to your resource named. Dc=Company, DC=com: Theyre typically used interchangeably principal must have a.... Api documentation them, when possible authentication on this service principal is created in each tenant where the application,... Coincides with the name, but the whole ID of the resource better experience, please enable JavaScript in browser! Pure AAD this wo n't be a problem a problem ) with a single location is... Something with this service principal, we need to automate tasks in Azure Active Directory that roles. This service principal when possible containing the secret is shown as System.Security.SecureString able to do the. Of ATA_RG_Contributor and using the password string stored in the following articles of 5 years shown in the application,. Using Microsoft Graph, check the API documentation and hit + new application support client secrets ) what can... A fully privileged user account ( ex web application or service principals with Azure or. Only do support client secrets ) ATA Guidebook PDF eBooks available offline and no! Analytics workspace we recommend managed identities, or automation account which you are essentially only changing app! Parameter values ready to use a fully privileged user account ( called a logon. To your resource group name required parameter values ready to use client )!
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