The organising structures.
WHAT A TENANT IS
An organisation's dedicated instance of Microsoft cloud services, with its own directory.
WHAT IT CONTAINS
Users and groups Licences Configuration and policy Data for the services in use
WHAT IDENTIFIES IT
A default domain name, plus any custom domains you verify.
WHAT A SUBSCRIPTION IS
A billing arrangement for services, associated with a tenant.
WHAT THE DISTINCTION MEANS
A tenant may have several subscriptions; a subscription belongs to one tenant.
WHY THAT MATTERS
Moving resources between tenants is difficult; between subscriptions in one tenant is easier.
WHAT TO DECIDE EARLY
How many tenants you need.
WHAT THE USUAL ANSWER IS
One.
WHY
Several tenants complicate identity, collaboration and administration substantially.
WHEN SEVERAL ARE JUSTIFIED
Genuinely separate organisations Strict regulatory separation
WHAT TO VERIFY EARLY
Your custom domain, before creating many users.
WHY
Changing primary addresses later affects every user.
WHAT TO RECORD
Tenant identifiers and administrative contacts.
