Microsoft Graph explorer's quick tour

1. Microsoft Graph explorer's quick tour

Let’s begin by opening Microsoft Graph Explorer. You can do that by simply visiting: https://aka.ms/ge in your browser. Once it opens, you’ll see this interface, this is where we’ll spend the next couple of minutes getting familiar with how it works. So, what exactly is Graph Explorer? It’s a developer tool that lets you explore and test Microsoft Graph APIs interactively. Think of it as a playground where you try out queries, view responses, and learn how Microsoft Graph works, all from our browser. Let’s walk through the interface now. At the top-left, there’s this dropdown with GET selected, this is where you choose the HTTP method. It can be GET, POST, PATCH, or others depending on whether you are fetching, creating, or updating data. Next to it, we have the version dropdown. It is usually set to v1.0, which is the stable, production version of the API. You can switch to beta if you're experimenting with new or preview features. Then there’s the API URL box, this is where you enter the endpoint you want to query. And next to it, we have the Run Query button click it to execute the request and see the response. On the left-hand side, you’ll find a list of Sample Queries. These are predefined examples, clicking on one of them automatically fills in the method, URL, and request body if needed. It saves time and helps you learn common operations without starting from scratch. Now here’s something cool, even if we don’t sign in, we can explore a sample tenant and see mock data. But if you sign in, you’ll get access to your own Microsoft 365 data, like your profile, messages, calendar events, and more all based on your permissions. Let’s try one. We’ll click on the “my profile” sample query. Click Run Query, and just below, we get the response preview. It shows details like name, user ID, and email from the signed-in profile. And that’s your quick tour of Microsoft Graph Explorer, a great way to explore, experiment, and build with Microsoft Graph.

2. Let's practice!

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This exercise is part of the course

Implement Azure Security for Developers

IntermediateSkill Level

5.0+

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In this chapter, you’ll first get hands-on with Microsoft Entra ID to manage users, groups, and roles in a secure, centralized way. Then, you’ll build a solid foundation in identity management, exploring how authentication, authorization, and service principals work together to control access. Finally, you’ll learn to use Shared Access Signatures to grant limited, time-bound access to storage without exposing sensitive credentials.

Exercise 1: Getting started with Azure security Exercise 2: Microsoft Entra ID overview Exercise 3: Selecting the right security tool Exercise 4: Authentication and authorization in Entra ID Exercise 5: Creating users in Entra ID Exercise 6: Secure access Exercise 7: Authentication vs. authorization Exercise 8: Microsoft identity platform Exercise 9: Application object vs service principal Exercise 10: App-only access scenarios Exercise 11: Shared Access Signatures (SAS)Exercise 12: Choosing the right SAS Exercise 13: Creating a SAS token Exercise 14: Secure vs. insecure SAS practices

In this chapter, you'll build a strong foundation in securing app settings and sensitive data using Azure App Configuration and Key Vault. You’ll explore how to manage configurations, enable feature flags, and safeguard settings using encryption, private endpoints, and managed identities. Moving into Key Vault, you’ll learn how it stores secrets, keys, and certificates, and how to apply authentication and authorization best practices. Finally, you'll examine advanced protections like Soft Delete and Purge Protection to ensure your critical data remains safe and recoverable.

Exercise 1: Azure App configuration Exercise 2: Deploying App Configuration Exercise 3: Storing settings in App Configuration Exercise 4: Classify feature management components Exercise 5: Getting started with Key vault Exercise 6: Classifying keys, secrets, and certificates Exercise 7: Retrieve Key Vault secrets in Logic App Exercise 8: Managing secrets in Key Vault Exercise 9: Advanced Key vault settings Exercise 10: Choosing the right authorization model Exercise 11: Soft delete & purge protection

In this part of the course, you’ll begin with Azure Managed Identities, seeing how they let applications access resources securely without managing credentials. You’ll then move into Microsoft Graph, where you’ll explore its unified API and practice queries in Graph Explorer. Finally, you’ll advance to techniques like pagination and batching to handle data more efficiently and build scalable integrations.

Exercise 1: Secure access with managed identities Exercise 2: Managed identities: system vs user assigned Exercise 3: Assigning UAMI for multiple resources Exercise 4: Introduction to Microsoft Graph Exercise 5: Classifying HTTP methods Exercise 6: Exploring data with Graph explorer Exercise 7: Microsoft Graph explorer's quick tour

Current Exercise

Exercise 8: Advanced usage of Microsoft Graph Exercise 9: Client-side pagination with $top Exercise 10: Match responses to requests