Lesson 01Beginner5 min read
The tenant: what you're actually buying
Tenant, directory, subscriptions — what each is, how they relate, and where things go wrong.
When you "buy Microsoft 365" you actually create a tenant. The tenant is a dedicated instance of Entra ID (the directory) plus a set of subscriptions (the licenses) plus the data and configuration you put into it.
Three things, one bill
- Tenant: the container. Has a unique ID and one or more domain names.
- Directory (Entra ID): users, groups, devices, applications.
- Subscriptions: what your users are licensed for (Exchange, Teams, Intune, etc.).
Where things go wrong
New admins create a second tenant for "testing" and then can't merge them. Tenants don't merge. Plan one tenant, use Conditional Access and admin units to carve up access inside it.