Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with RStudio Server Pro

In this article, you learn how to integrate RStudio Server Pro (RSP) with Microsoft Entra ID. When you integrate RSP with Microsoft Entra ID, you can:

• Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to RSP.
• Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to RSP with their Microsoft Entra accounts.
• Manage your accounts in one central location.

Prerequisites

The scenario outlined in this article assumes that you already have the following prerequisites:

• A Microsoft Entra user account with an active subscription. If you don't already have one, you can Create an account for free.
• One of the following roles:
  • Application Administrator
  • Cloud Application Administrator
  • Application Owner.

• RSP (version >= 1.4) installation.

Scenario description

In this article, you configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO in a test environment.

• RSP supports SP and IDP initiated SSO

Adding RStudio Server Pro from the gallery

To configure the integration of RSP into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > New application.
3. In the Add from the gallery section, type RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication in the search box.
4. Select RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.

Alternatively, you can also use the Enterprise App Configuration Wizard. In this wizard, you can add an application to your tenant, add users/groups to the app, assign roles, and walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for RStudio Server Pro

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with RSP using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between a Microsoft Entra user and the related user in RSP.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication, perform the following steps:

1. Configure Microsoft Entra SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
   1. Create a Microsoft Entra test user - to test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with B.Simon.
   2. Assign the Microsoft Entra test user - to enable B.Simon to use Microsoft Entra single sign-on.
2. Configure RStudio Server Pro SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
   1. Create RStudio Server Pro test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in RStudio Server Pro that's linked to the Microsoft Entra representation of user.
3. Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Microsoft Entra SSO

Follow these steps to enable Microsoft Entra SSO.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.

2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication > Single sign-on.

3. On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.

4. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, select the edit/pen icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

   

5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, enter the values for the following fields:

   a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<RSP-SERVER>/<PATH>/saml/metadata

   b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<RSP-SERVER>/<PATH>/saml/acs

6. Select Set additional URLs and perform the following step if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

   In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<RSP-SERVER>/<PATH>/

   ملاحظة

   These values aren't real. Update these values with the actual URI of your RSP installation. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

7. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, In the SAML Signing Certificate section, select copy button to copy App Federation Metadata Url and save it on your computer.

   

Create and assign Microsoft Entra test user

Follow the guidelines in the create and assign a user account quickstart to create a test user account called B.Simon.

Configure RStudio Server Pro SSO

1. Update the RSP configuration file /etc/rstudio/rserver.conf with the following:

   auth-saml=1
   auth-saml-metadata-url=<federation-metadata-URI>
   auth-saml-sp-name-id-format=emailaddress
   auth-saml-sp-attribute-username=NameID
   auth-saml-sp-base-uri=<RSP-Server-URI>
   

2. Restart RSP by running the following:

   sudo rstudio-server restart
   

Create RStudio Server Pro test user

All users that are to use RSP have to be provisioned on the server. You can create the user with the useradd or adduser command.

Test SSO

In this section, you test your Microsoft Entra single sign-on configuration with following options.

SP initiated:

• Select Test this application, this option redirects to RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

• Go to RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

• Select Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication for which you set up the SSO

You can also use Microsoft Access Panel to test the application in any mode. When you select the RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication tile in the Access Panel, if configured in SP mode you would be redirected to the application sign on page for initiating the login flow and if configured in IDP mode, you should be automatically signed in to the RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the Access Panel, see Introduction to the Access Panel.

Related content

Once you configure RStudio Server Pro SAML Authentication you can enforce session control, which protects exfiltration and infiltration of your organization’s sensitive data in real time. Session control extends from Conditional Access. Learn how to enforce session control with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.