What is System Assigned Managed Identity in Azure?
System Managed Identity is one of the types of Azure managed identities. System-assigned managed identity can be enabled at some supported Azure Services like VM/VMSS, Logic Apps, Web Apps, Automation Account, other Azure App Services,...,etc.
You can only enable or disable a system managed identities on an Azure service instance or at the resource level.
Assign RBAC role to System assigned managed identity for grant permissions on other Azure resources.
Note: System assigned managed identity can't be shared across Azure resources.
What is System Managed Identity in Azure and What is the use of it?
System Managed Identity in Azure is a feature that allows Azure services to authenticate themselves to other Azure services without the need for explicit credentials. It eliminates the need to store credentials in code or configuration files, making it more secure and easier to manage. With System Managed Identity, Azure services can obtain an identity from Azure Active Directory, which is then used to authenticate requests made to other Azure resources.
This identity is managed by Azure and is tied to the lifecycle of the Azure resource. When a resource is created, a unique identity is created for it, and when the resource is deleted, the identity is also deleted. The System Managed Identity can be used to authenticate Azure services to other Azure resources, such as Azure Key Vault, Azure Storage, and Azure SQL Database, without the need for a separate service principal or credential management.
Overall, System Managed Identity is a useful feature in Azure that simplifies authentication and improves security by reducing the risk of credentials being exposed or compromised.
Advantages of System Managed Identity in Azure
- System Assigned Managed Identity can be used at no cost. Pricing is totally free.
- No need to manage credentials for System Assigned Managed Identity.
- System managed identity can be used to authenticate any resource that supports Azure AD authentication.
By design, when you enable a system assigned managed identity at azure resource, an identity is created in Azure Active Directory (AAD) for that created resource and if you delete this resource then Azure automatically deletes the identity from the backend.