Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) is a suite of powerful features designed to help accelerate cybersecurity efforts. It has long been a cornerstone of identity and access management for many organisations, as it seamlessly integrates with on-premises systems like Active Directory, SAP, Oracle, and other LDAP and SQL platforms.
Now this helps ensure consistent user identities are maintained across multiple environments. Microsoft is, however, slowly shifting focus to cloud-first solutions such as Entra ID,and therefore, mainstream support has come to a close, and the extended support will end in just a few years (2029). Let us proceed.
What is Microsoft Identity Manager?
Microsoft Identity Manager is a comprehensive identity management platform that helps businesses manage user identities, credentials, and access permissions in a unified manner. It provides a comprehensive view of user identities and access rights, streamlining provisioning and de-provisioning processes. This ensures that users are always granted the appropriate level of access to resources.
Note the following:
- It automates identity management system. It defines workflows that automatically provision user accounts, assign appropriate roles and permissions as per predefined policies, and revoke access when users resign or change roles.
- Microsoft Identity Manager supports hybrid environments, as many small and medium businesses actively operate a mix of on-premises and cloud-based systems. It seamlessly integrates with Azure Active Directory, facilitating better management of user identities both on-premises and cloud environments from a single console.
- MIM security features include protection of sensitive data. It supports multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, and privileged identity management, ensuring only authorised users have access to critical resources.
- MIM reporting and auditing also include detailed audit logs and reporting capabilities to track user activities and comply with regulatory requirements.
Microsoft Identity Manager simplifies identity management processes, improves security posture, enabling businesses to adapt to evolving needs. MIM also poses some serious challenges, such as complexity in implementation, cost factors, integration issues, and most importantly, the demands of additional resources.
Let us discuss this in detail:
Challenges of Microsoft Identity Manager:
Complexities:
Microsoft Identity Manager demands a complex setup and configuration. This requires additional training or external support, or both, with a certain level of expertise and technical knowledge for maximum functionality. This can be challenging for growing businesses with limited IT resources or those lacking expertise in identity management.
Cost factor:
Implementing and maintaining Microsoft Identity Manager can be herculean, particularly for smaller organisations operating within constrained budgets. The initial investment required for licensing, infrastructure setup, and training resources can be expensive, posing a financial burden for organisations with limited financial resources.
Ongoing maintenance costs, including software updates, support services, and staff training, can further contribute to the overall investment of using Microsoft Identity Manager. The cost factor itself can deter smaller organisations from fully leveraging its capabilities for identity management purposes.
Integration Challenges:
The process of integrating MIM with diverse IT environments is riddled with compatibility issues, which can hinder the seamless operation of identity management processes. Organisations may face complexities in ensuring that MIM aligns effectively with their current infrastructure, potentially requiring additional time and resources to overcome integration hurdles and maintain a cohesive identity management system.
Resource-Intensive:
Microsoft Identity Manager is resource-intensive, and it requires dedicated resources such as hardware, software, and human resources. Implementing MIM can drain IT budgets and staffing capabilities, as organisations need to allocate sufficient resources to support the platform effectively.
Specialised hardware, licensing costs, and skilled personnel to manage and maintain MIM can pose challenges for organisations with limited IT resources. All of this can potentially hinder the adoption and smooth operation of Microsoft Identity Manager.
What Happens Next?
As discussed at the very start, Microsoft Identity Manager enters its final chapter, and stakeholders must prepare for the future. Whether it is a complete cloud transition, a hybrid approach or you prefer to seek consultation planning for the same is the logical step to ensure a smooth transition and sustained security. For businesses ready to adopt a comprehensive cloud strategy, Microsoft Entra ID Governance offers a viable alternative, featuring identity lifecycle management, access lifecycle management, and privileged access lifecycle management.
Both MIM and Entra ID Governance provide identity management, some features in MIM are not directly found in Entra ID Governance. Here is a comparison of the major features:
| Feature | MIM | Entra ID Governance |
| Custom workflow extensions | Highly customis able workflows using .NET extensions and PowerShell scripts | No support for custom extensions, needs predefined workflows with limited customisation |
| Support for connectors | Supports multiple connectors for on-premises systems, including SQL, Oracle and LDAP | Supports only cloud-native connectors, with limited support for legacy on-premises systems |
| Identity synchronisation | Supports complex scenarios, including multi-forest Active Directory environments | Provides less flexible synchronisation, uses Entra ID Connect to sync on-premises Active Directory with Entra ID |
| Passwords | Features self-service password reset (SSPR) for on-premises systems | Passwords only for Entra ID accounts, limited capabilities for on-premises systems |
| Custom attributes | Creation and synchronisation of custom attributes across connected systems | Limited capabilities to manage custom attributes |
| Hybrid views of identities and groups in multiple repositories | Does not support | Supports |
| Cloud dynamic groups with automatic membership updates based on defined rules | Supports on-premises dynamic groups only | Supports all dynamic groups in the cloud, with limited membership visibility. |
| Shadow membership | Users hold temporary membership in a privileged group in a separate AD forest to give them elevated permissions for a limited period. | No support for shadow membership |
| Reporting and auditing | Extensive reporting capabilities via SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) | Built-in reporting with less depth and flexibility |
| Role-based access control (RBAC) customisation | Supports custom role configurations, uses Dynamic Access Control (DAC) for attribute-based permissions (note that DAC is not consistently supported across all hybrid infrastructures) | Entitlement management and access reviews, but does not fully support MIM’s hybrid query-based RBAC model, making transitions difficult for on-premises and non-Microsoft systems. |
| Advanced group management | Features complex dynamic group management capabilities | Supports dynamic groups but offers fewer configuration options than MIM |
| Integration with legacy applications | Strong integration capabilities | Focuses on cloud only; additional efforts needed for legacy integrations |
| Scalability | Handles large volumes of identities and complex identity management tasks | Serves those with a cloud-first approach; adjustments needed for complex environments |
What Does End of Support Mean for MIM? Talk to Kloudify.
Microsoft has shifted its focus toward cloud-first solutions like Entra ID, laying out a timeline for MIM end-of-life (EOL). Microsoft ended mainstream support for MIM a few years ago, so all remaining customers are currently on extended support.
That means Microsoft offers only security updates and paid support options without feature updates, design changes or non-security fixes. Businesses will have to look ahead and transition to cloud-based solutions sooner rather than later. Would you like to take this discussion further? Talk to us.
