Microsoft consolidates admin experience in Azure AD admin center, will retire classic portal

The uptake says it all. Microsoft claims that since it announced general availability of the new Azure AD admin center in May (pictured at right), it has been used by 800,000+ users across 500,000 organizations.

The time is now to consolidate. As Alex Simons, director of program management for Microsoft's Identity Division described in a blog post, Microsoft has fielded feedback on the new portal for more than a year, "And we've heard you loud and clear that we have too many portals, that you want a single place where you can manage identity and access for your organization." Thus, Microsoft will retire the Azure AD admin experience in the classic Azure portal on November 30.

"By focusing on the Azure AD admin center, we can make our admin experiences more consistent, and easier to use. And we can deliver them faster," wrote Simons.

While a few tasks can still be done only in the classic Azure portal (Simons did not specify which), they will be added to the new Azure AD admin center "in the next few weeks."

AIP will roll into new portal; Access Control Service to move

Azure Information Protection (AIP) will also be retired in the Azure classic portal on November 30, but can be found now in the new Azure portal.

Also, admin experiences for Access Control Services will be available at a different URL (to be announced) after November 30.