Getting Started: Adding Your First Tenant

Getting started: adding your first tenant

Adding your first Microsoft 365 tenant to Petra is the first step to seeing security insights and, if you choose, getting your free Autopsy report or turning on ongoing monitoring. This article walks you through what to expect and what you'll need.

Before you start

You'll need a few things ready. First, make sure you're signed in to Petra and that you're in the correct organization (if your company has more than one). You'll need Global Admin access to the Microsoft 365 tenant you want to add—Petra needs this to request the permissions required to read audit logs and security-related data. The tenant should have Unified Audit Logs enabled so Petra can analyze sign-ins, email activity, and other events. Plan for about five minutes to complete the flow.

Starting the onboarding flow

From the main dashboard or onboarding area, you'll start the process of adding a tenant. Petra will guide you through choosing whether you're adding a tenant for a one-time Autopsy or for ongoing active monitoring. You may be asked who will perform the technical steps—yourself or someone else (for example, a colleague or the end customer)—so the right person receives the right instructions.

When you're ready, you'll be sent to Microsoft to sign in and approve access. You'll sign in with a Global Admin account for the Microsoft 365 tenant you want to connect. Microsoft will show you the permissions Petra is requesting; approving them allows Petra to read the data it needs to detect incidents and build reports. This is the standard OAuth flow many apps use to connect to Microsoft 365.

After you connect

Once the connection is complete, the tenant will appear in your tenant list. If you chose Autopsy, Petra will begin gathering and analyzing historical data; you'll get a report when it's ready, often within 24 to 48 hours. If you chose active monitoring, the tenant will start being monitored continuously and you can configure notifications and start viewing the tenant dashboard, incidents, and reporting. You may see a short setup or "pizza tracker" progress on the tenant until initial backfill or setup is complete.

If you run into issues, the most common causes are insufficient permissions (you need Global Admin), audit logs not enabled in the tenant, or canceling the Microsoft sign-in before approval. Double-check those and try again, or contact support if the tenant still doesn't show up or process correctly.