{"id":19204,"date":"2025-02-05T17:23:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.dynamicgroup.net\/?p=19204"},"modified":"2025-02-05T17:26:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:26:57","slug":"licensing-of-nested-groups-in-entra-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dynamicgroup.net\/en\/news\/licensing-of-nested-groups-in-entra-id\/","title":{"rendered":"Licensing of nested groups in Entra ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

How can I simplify the licensing of nested groups in Entra ID<\/strong>? Entra ID is a powerful identity and access management platform. However, when it comes to group licensing in Entra ID, the lack of support for nested groups is a problem for many administrators. Especially in hybrid environments, where companies have been working with nested groups for years, this poses a significant challenge.<\/p>\n

\"Licensing<\/p>\n

What is the problem with nested groups in Entra ID?<\/h2>\n

In on-premises Active Directory (AD), the nesting of groups is a proven practice for simplifying authorization management<\/strong>. In Entra ID, however, this structure is not consistently supported, especially not for licensing. This means that users who are indirectly members of a licensed group through nested groups do not automatically receive a license.<\/p>\n

\nA concrete example: In educational institutions, there are often different license levels, such as A3 for \u201cemployees\u201d (e.g. teachers and administrators) and A1 for other employees. However, companies cannot simply apply licenses to nested groups in Entra ID, which makes automatic assignment much more difficult.<\/p>\n

This is what the nested group structure in AD could look like:<\/p>\n

\"License<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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After synchronization in Entra ID, the structure remains unchanged. Here you will find further information on synchronizing nested AD groups in Entra ID<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

The groups in blue<\/span> should receive an A1 license and the groups in orange<\/span> an A3 license.
\nProblem:
\n– Entra ID only assigns licenses to direct members of a group.
\n– Nested groups are ignored when assigning licenses and are left empty-handed.<\/p>\n

In Entra, we had to assign a license for each of the following groups<\/p>\n