{"id":46363,"date":"2023-02-03T09:49:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T14:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=46363"},"modified":"2024-11-14T17:56:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T22:56:23","slug":"understanding-aad-premium-p2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/understanding-aad-premium-p2","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Entra ID’s Premium P2 Tier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To better understand the structure of Entra ID, we are exploring each tier of their service offerings in a four-part series. This is the final part of the series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each article covers the benefits and drawbacks that come with each of Entra ID\u2019s pricing tiers. If interested, feel free to read our previous blogs on <\/em>Entra ID Free<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Entra ID Premium P1<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entra ID Premium P2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Entra ID is a cloud-based user management platform often introduced to organizations via the purchase of a Microsoft 365\u2122 license or Azure subscription. IT teams start their organizations with Entra ID Free or Microsoft 365 apps (since those are included with a subscription to either service), but that SKU has limited functionality. It\u2019s not uncommon for organizations to upgrade their Entra ID instances to P2 licenses just to get \u201cthat one thing\u201d they need or be able to deploy other Microsoft services that require the Premium SKUs. There\u2019s also guidance for organizations that use Active Directory (AD) to pay for P2 for better security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highest level of Entra\u2019s paid licenses, Entra ID Premium 2, delivers most of its value when it’s used with Active Directory<\/a>. Its premium features are most appropriate for organizations that are either heavily regulated or have extensive in-house application and data center resources that need to be monitored and secured. It has many features for compliance and security that are only suitable for large enterprises that have the capacity to deploy and support their usage. A word of caution for any IT admin that becomes heavily involved with Microsoft services: some governance features were recently moved out of P2 and into a supplemental governance SKU<\/a>. Microsoft often exercises its control after organizations have consolidated onto its platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note:<\/strong> Microsoft Learn stresses the importance of features including Identity Protection for AD, access packages, and Privileged Identity Management (PIM). The majority of this functionality has been moved to the Governance SKU, increasing subscription costs.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Entra ID lacks device management features, even P2. There are additional costs for managing external identities, and management overhead increases when single sign-on (SSO) is necessary to secure access to your network devices. Microsoft offers appear to be integrated, but in reality are a patchwork of services and consoles<\/a> that admins must make work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, we will evaluate Entra ID Premium P2\u2019s native capabilities as a standalone product, and how organizations can best utilize its services to enhance their productivity and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits of Entra ID Premium P2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Entra ID Premium P2 is most commonly used for providing insight into user activity within Azure infrastructure, Microsoft 365, and web applications. Entra ID Premium P2\u2019s feature set offers admins the opportunity to thoroughly manage their users and access control. Lower tiers of Entra have limitations such as no session and user risk factors, or Identity Protection for AD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entra ID Premium 2 offers the following features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n