Azure AD PowerShell Generator (Microsoft Graph)

What Is Azure AD PowerShell

Azure Active Directory (now Microsoft Entra ID) PowerShell modules enable administrators to manage identity, access, and directory services programmatically. Instead of clicking through the Azure portal for each user, group, or policy change, PowerShell commands allow bulk operations, automation, and scripted management of cloud identities at enterprise scale.

Two primary modules exist: the older MSOnline (MSOL) module and the newer Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. Microsoft is deprecating MSOL in favor of the Graph SDK, making it essential for administrators to understand both modules during the transition period.

Module Comparison

Common Use Cases

• Bulk user management: Create, modify, disable, or delete hundreds of user accounts using CSV imports and PowerShell loops
• License assignment automation: Assign and remove Microsoft 365 licenses based on group membership, department, or custom attributes
• Security policy enforcement: Configure Conditional Access policies, MFA settings, and password policies programmatically
• Audit and compliance reporting: Extract sign-in logs, MFA registration status, guest user inventories, and privilege reports for auditors
• Onboarding/offboarding automation: Script the complete onboarding (create account, assign licenses, add to groups, send welcome email) and offboarding (disable, remove licenses, transfer mailbox) workflows

Best Practices

1. Migrate to Microsoft Graph PowerShell — MSOL and AzureAD modules are deprecated. Start migrating scripts to use the Microsoft.Graph SDK now to avoid breaking changes.
2. Use certificate-based authentication for automation — Service principals with certificates are more secure than stored credentials for unattended scripts. Never hardcode passwords in scripts.
3. Apply least-privilege permissions — When connecting to Microsoft Graph, request only the scopes your script needs. Avoid using broad permissions like Directory.ReadWrite.All when Directory.Read.All suffices.
4. Test in a non-production tenant — Use an Azure AD development tenant for testing scripts before running them against production. Bulk operations cannot easily be undone.
5. Log all administrative actions — Pipe script output to log files and enable Azure AD audit logs. Administrative changes should be traceable for compliance and incident investigation.