Guest Access & B2B Collaboration

Azure isn’t just for your company’s internal users. You can invite external partners, contractors, or vendors to access your resources. This is called Azure AD B2B (Business-to-Business) collaboration.

How Guest Access Works

1. You invite an external user (any email address).
2. The guest gets an email link to join your directory.
3. The guest authenticates with their own identity provider (could be Outlook, Gmail, or another company’s Entra ID).
4. They appear in your tenant as a Guest user, and you assign RBAC roles or group memberships as needed.

Key Points

• Guests are marked as userType = Guest in Entra ID.
• They only get access to what you explicitly grant.
• You can control guest access using Conditional Access policies (e.g., block from unknown locations).
• Guests can be part of groups and assigned RBAC roles, just like internal users.

Confusion Buster 🚨

Guest ≠ Member
– Guest = External identity (managed outside your org).
– Member = Internal identity (managed inside your Entra ID tenant).
Exam trick: Even if a guest is in your Entra directory, they don’t automatically get the same privileges as members.

Simple Example

Your company hires a freelance developer for 2 months. Instead of giving them a full employee account, you invite them as a guest user. They log in using their Gmail but can only access the specific Resource Group where you assign permissions.

Exam Tip

If a scenario mentions external partners or contractors, the correct solution usually involves B2B Guest Access. Don’t confuse it with creating new internal accounts.

What to Expect in the Exam

• Direct Q: “Which feature allows external vendors to collaborate using their own identity?” → Azure AD B2B Guest Access.
• Scenario: “A contractor needs access to a single resource group using their Gmail.” → Add them as a Guest and assign RBAC at the RG scope.
• Trick Q: “Guest access automatically gives the same rights as employees.” (False).