SC-900 Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra Practice Question
Your organization wants to use Microsoft Entra ID to authenticate users from a partner company that uses its own identity provider. Which federation standard should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse OpenID Connect (which is for modern app authentication) with SAML 2.0 (which is the standard for enterprise federation between separate identity providers), especially when the question mentions 'federation' and 'partner company using its own identity provider'.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
SAML 2.0
SAML 2.0 is the correct federation standard because it enables cross-organization authentication by allowing Microsoft Entra ID to trust assertions from a partner company's own identity provider. SAML 2.0 is specifically designed for enterprise federation scenarios where an external IdP authenticates users and sends a SAML assertion to Entra ID for access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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OAuth 2.0
Why it's wrong here
OAuth 2.0 is primarily an authorization framework that enables a third-party application to obtain limited access to an HTTP service on behalf of a resource owner. It focuses on delegated access to resources rather than authenticating a user directly or federating identity between distinct identity providers. While often used in conjunction with OpenID Connect for authentication, OAuth 2.0 itself does not provide identity federation capabilities for single sign-on between organizations.
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SCIM
Why it's wrong here
The System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) is an open standard designed for automating the exchange of user identity information between identity domains or cloud applications. Its primary purpose is to provision, deprovision, and update user accounts and group memberships across different systems efficiently. SCIM is not intended for authenticating users or establishing trust relationships for single sign-on between disparate identity providers, which is the core function of federation.
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OpenID Connect
Why it's wrong here
OpenID Connect (OIDC) is an authentication layer built on top of the OAuth 2.0 framework, allowing clients to verify the identity of the end-user based on the authentication performed by an Authorization Server. It provides a standardized way for applications to obtain basic profile information about the authenticated user through ID tokens. While OIDC facilitates authentication, its primary use case involves integrating applications with an identity provider, rather than enabling direct identity federation between two distinct organizational identity providers for cross-domain single sign-on.
- ✓
SAML 2.0
Why this is correct
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 is an XML-based open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between an identity provider (IdP) and a service provider (SP). It enables web-based single sign-on (SSO) across different security domains by allowing an IdP to assert a user's identity to an SP securely. This protocol is specifically designed for establishing trust and federating identities between distinct organizations or systems, making it ideal for enterprise federation scenarios.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Identity Concepts
Key term
Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service that lets employees sign in and access resources both inside and outside of your organization.
Key term
Identity provider
An identity provider (IdP) is a system that creates, stores, and manages digital identities and authenticates users for other applications and services.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SC-900 exam.