Azure Compute

EMM Enable Flow

Copilot-guided step-by-step workflow for enabling Essential Machine Management on a subscription. Copilot orchestrates each step, triggering the necessary CLI commands or API calls on behalf of the user.

Quick Reference

Workflow Steps

Step 1: Select Target Subscription

Ask the user which subscription to enable EMM for. Use MCP tools to list subscriptions if needed.

Store the selected subscriptionId and tenant for all subsequent steps.

Step 2: Validate User Role Assignments

Check that the current user has the 3 required roles on the target subscription. This requires two API calls: one to get the user's role assignments, and one to get all role definitions. Then compare the user's assigned permissions against the required roles.

Step 2a: Get current user's object ID

az rest --method GET --url "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me" --query id -o tsv

Step 2b: Get user's role assignments on the subscription

GET https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments?api-version=2022-04-01&$filter=assignedTo('{objectId}')

💡 Tip: The assignedTo filter is self-scoped — it allows the user to query their own role assignments without needing Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/read. However, a 403 will still occur if the user has no role on the subscription at all.

Step 2c: Get all role definitions on the subscription

GET https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions?api-version=2022-04-01

Step 2d: Join and check permissions

For each role assignment, match properties.roleDefinitionId to the role definitions to resolve the role name and its properties.permissions[]. Then check whether the user's combined permissions cover all three required roles:

💡 Tip: If the user has Owner at subscription scope, they satisfy all required permissions. Check for these first as a fast path.

Check result?
├─ All 3 roles covered → Proceed to Step 3
├─ Owner found → All roles satisfied, proceed to Step 3
└─ Missing roles → Inform user which roles are missing and how to assign them, then re-check

Step 3: Select or Create a User-Assigned Managed Identity (UAMI)

Ask the user to provide an existing UAMI or create a new one. The UAMI must have Contributor on the target subscription.

Verify the UAMI's role using the same API pattern as Step 2, but filter by the UAMI's principal ID (object ID) instead of the user's:

GET https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments?api-version=2022-04-01&$filter=assignedTo('{uamiPrincipalId}')

Check that at least one assignment resolves to the Contributor role definition.

💡 Tip: If the UAMI lacks the Contributor role, guide the user to assign it before proceeding.

Store the full UAMI resource ID: /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/<rg>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<name>

Step 4: Select or Create Monitoring Workspaces

Ask the user for a Log Analytics workspace and an Azure Monitor workspace. Offer to create new ones if needed.

⚠️ Warning: If workspaces are in a different subscription than the target:

• Register Microsoft.ManagedOps RP in the workspace subscription

• User needs EMM Administrator role on the workspace resource group

• UAMI needs Contributor on the workspace resource group

Store both workspace resource IDs.

Step 5: Configure Security Options

Ask the user about optional security add-ons.

Store user selections as enabled or disabled.

Step 6: Register Resource Providers

Register required RPs on the target subscription before deployment.

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.ManagedOps --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.OperationsManagement --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.PolicyInsights --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Insights --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Monitor --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.ManagedIdentity --subscription <subscriptionId>
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Security --subscription <subscriptionId>

💡 Tip: RP registration is idempotent — safe to run even if already registered.

Step 7: Deploy EMM via ARM API

Submit the PUT request to enable EMM on the subscription.

PUT /subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.ManagedOps/managedOps/default?api-version=2025-07-28-preview

Request body:

{
  "properties": {
    "desiredConfiguration": {
      "defenderCspm": "<enabled|disabled>",
      "defenderForServers": "<enabled|disabled>",
      "changeTrackingAndInventory": {
        "logAnalyticsWorkspaceId": "<log-analytics-workspace-resource-id>"
      },
      "userAssignedManagedIdentityId": "<uami-resource-id>",
      "azureMonitorInsights": {
        "azureMonitorWorkspaceId": "<azure-monitor-workspace-resource-id>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Populate the request body with the values collected in previous steps.

Step 8: Verify Enrollment

After deployment completes, confirm the subscription is enrolled.

GET /subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.ManagedOps/managedOps/default?api-version=2025-07-28-preview

Deployment status?
├─ Succeeded → Report success to user. All existing VMs will be enrolled via policy remediation.
├─ In progress → Wait and re-check after a short interval.
└─ Failed → Read error details and route to Error Handling in the parent workflow.

Disable EMM (Offboard)

To disable EMM for a subscription:

DELETE /subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.ManagedOps/managedOps/default?api-version=2025-07-28-preview

⚠️ Warning: Disabling reverts pricing to standard per-service rates, which may increase costs. Existing VM configurations are not removed.

Error Handling