[Azure Evaluation] Allow selection of credentials for Model config

[FlorianPydde]

Currently when creating the config for a model evaluation like below, only api_token is available as parameters. Like for all the other services related to azure openai, it would be great to add the token/credential parameter as parameter. Otherwise, there are some issues due to managed identities settings.

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
token_provider = get_bearer_token_provider(
    credential, "https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default"
)
 model_config = AzureOpenAIModelConfiguration(
        azure_endpoint="<endpoint>",
        azure_deployment="<deployment>",
        api_version="<api_version>",
        token_provider=token_provider 
    )

[github-actions]

Thanks for the feedback! We are routing this to the appropriate team for follow-up. cc @luigiw @needuv @singankit.

[github-actions]

Hi @FlorianPydde, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the Azure SDK team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

• The current design for AzureOpenAIModelConfiguration accepts a token_provider constructed from a token credential (e.g. DefaultAzureCredential), similar to how other services use credential types such as in ChatCompletionsClient (see Azure AI Inference README).
• Note that when an api_key is not provided in model_config, the promptflow runtime will automatically use DefaultAzureCredential for Entra ID authentication (see azure-ai-evaluation CHANGELOG 1.0.0b2).
• The existing approach—using get_bearer_token_provider with a credential instance—is the recommended pattern to support managed identities and token-based authentication.
• Feedback regarding the addition of an explicit credential parameter is appreciated. This would bring the configuration closer to how other Azure OpenAI services (like those using AzureKeyCredential) are set up.
• For further details on supported credential types, please review the guidance on using DefaultAzureCredential in the Azure Identity documentation.

The Azure SDK team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!

[kashifkhan]

Thank you for the feedback @FlorianPydde . Ill route this over to the right team who can help you further

[singankit]

Thanks @FlorianPydde marking as feature-request. We have been looking into it, will share an update as soon as we complete the design part of this request.

[mmatyus123]

Have there been any updates on this item? My team is on a path to deprecate managing keys for authentication per Microsoft Security guidelines and we would like to continue using these libraries, albeit with managed identity auth.