AZ-204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Exam

Configure Authentication and Authorization with Microsoft Graph

When you build solutions that call Microsoft Graph, you start by registering an app in Azure AD. This registration gives your app an application (client) ID and allows it to use OAuth 2.0 flows. There are two main modes: interactive, where an administrator signs in and approves each call, and automated, where the app uses the client credentials grant to run without user input. Automated mode uses a service account so your code can manage Azure AD resources like users and groups on its own.

To give your app the right level of access, you add application permissions under API permissions in the Azure portal. After you select Microsoft Graph and choose Application permissions, you pick only the rights your app needs. Common permissions include:

• User.ReadWrite.All to create, read, update, and delete all users
• Group.ReadWrite.All to manage groups and memberships
• AuditLog.Read.All to view audit and activity logs
• Policy.ReadWrite.TrustFramework for deploying custom policies

Once you choose permissions, click Grant admin consent to approve them for your tenant.

Your app also needs a client secret or certificate to prove its identity when it requests tokens. You create a secret under Certificates & secrets and then securely store its value. It’s best to use Azure Key Vault or managed identities to keep secrets safe and rotated. If you also need to update user passwords, assign the User Administrator role in Azure AD to your app.

Follow these best practices to keep your Graph integration secure:

• Use OAuth 2.0 flows like the client credentials grant for server or daemon apps
• Leverage the Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) instead of hand-coding authentication logic
• Request the least privilege permissions and rotate secrets regularly
• Let your backend APIs validate tokens rather than parsing them in client code

Finally, make sure your solution offers a smooth end-user experience and is well tested. Try silent token acquisition before prompting users to sign in, and use incremental consent when you need new scopes. Implement a clean single sign-out so users aren’t accidentally left signed in. Test your flows under different Conditional Access policies and account types to see how your app handles errors and consent screens.

Conclusion

In this section, you learned how to register a Microsoft Graph app in Azure AD and choose between interactive or automated modes. You saw how to grant application permissions, create and secure a client secret, and assign roles for specific tasks. You also covered key best practices like using MSAL, limiting permissions, and rotating secrets. Finally, you explored how to improve the user experience with silent token acquisition, incremental consent, and solid testing under various scenarios. Together, these steps ensure your solutions can call Microsoft Graph securely and reliably.