Are you looking for a way to streamline license management for your organization’s Azure Active Directory (AAD) users? Azure AD Group-Based Licensing is the solution you need. This powerful feature allows you to assign licenses to groups of users based on their membership, making it easier to manage and track licenses across your organization. In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through the process of configuring Azure AD Group-Based Licensing, so you can efficiently manage licenses and ensure compliance within your organization.

Prerequisites

Before you begin the configuration process, ensure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. Azure AD Subscription: You need an active Azure AD subscription with the necessary administrative privileges to configure Group-Based Licensing.
2. Azure AD Groups: Create the Azure AD groups that will be used for license assignment. These groups should represent the different license requirements within your organization.

Example: You might have groups like “Sales Team,” “Marketing Team,” or “Finance Team” to assign specific licenses to different departments.

Step 1: Access Azure Active Directory Portal

1. Sign into the Azure Portal: Open your web browser and navigate to the Azure portal. Sign in using your Azure AD administrator account.

Note: If you don’t have an Azure AD administrator account, you will need to obtain appropriate permissions from your organization’s Azure AD administrator.

Step 2: Navigate to Licenses

1. Azure Active Directory: In the Azure portal, search for “Azure Active Directory” using the search bar at the top. Select “Azure Active Directory” from the search results.

Step 3: Select License Plan

1. Licenses Page: In the Azure Active Directory portal, click on “Licenses” in the left-hand menu.
2. Choose License Plan: On the “Licenses” page, click on “All products” to view the available license plans. Select the license plan that you want to assign based on Azure AD group membership.

Example: You might choose “Office 365 E3” or “Enterprise Mobility + Security E5” depending on your organization’s requirements.

Step 4: Enable Group-Based Licensing

1. Group-Based Licensing: On the license plan’s overview page, click on “Group-based licensing” in the left-hand menu.
2. Enable Group-Based Licensing: Click on the “Enable group-based licensing” button to activate group-based licensing for the selected license plan.

Step 5: Create License Assignment

1. Group-Based Licensing Page: On the “Group-based licensing” page, click on the “Assign” button to start creating a license assignment.
2. Select Azure AD Group: In the “Assign license” pane, click on the “Add group” button to select the Azure AD group to which you want to assign the license.
3. Choose Azure AD Group: Choose the desired Azure AD group from the list. You can search for the group by name or browse through the available groups.

Example: You can select the “Sales Team” group if you want to assign specific licenses to your sales department.

4. Confirm Group Selection: Once you’ve selected the group, click on the “Select” button to confirm the group selection.
5. Configure License Options: In the “Assign license” pane, configure the license options according to your requirements. You can choose the license type, license options, and quantity for the selected group.
6. Assign the License: After configuring the license options, click on the “Assign” button to assign the license to the selected group.

Example: You can assign an “Office 365 E3” license with specific add-ons like SharePoint and Exchange to the “Sales Team” group.

7. Monitor Assignment Progress: Azure AD will validate the assignment and apply the licenses to the members of the selected group. You can monitor the assignment progress on the “Assignments” tab.
8. Repeat the Process: Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each license plan and Azure AD group combination you want to configure.

Conclusion

By following this step-by-step guide, you can easily configure Azure AD Group-Based Licensing and assign licenses based on group membership in Azure Active Directory. This enables you to simplify license management, ensure compliance, and efficiently allocate licenses to different groups within your organization. With Azure AD Group-Based Licensing, you have the flexibility to adapt license assignments as your organization’s needs evolve.

Note: For more detailed instructions and additional information, you can refer to the official Azure AD Group-Based Licensing documentation.