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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Communifire

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In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate Communifire with Microsoft Entra ID. When you integrate Communifire with Microsoft Entra ID, you can:

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

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
  • Communifire single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Note

This integration is also available to use from Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud environment. You can find this application in the Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud Application Gallery and configure it in the same way as you do from public cloud.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra single sign-on in a test environment.

  • Communifire supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

  • Communifire supports Just In Time user provisioning.

To configure the integration of Communifire into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Communifire 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 Communifire in the search box.
  4. Select Communifire 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, as well as walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for Communifire

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Communifire 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 Communifire.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Communifire, 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 Communifire SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Communifire test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Communifire that is 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 > Communifire > 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, click the pencil icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

    Edit Basic SAML Configuration

  5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, If you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<subdomain>.communifire.com

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<subdomain>.communifire.com/SAML/AssertionConsumerService.aspx

  6. Click 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://<subdomain>.communifire.com/login

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign-on URL. Contact Communifire Client support team to get these values. 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, click Download to download the Federation Metadata XML from the given options as per your requirement and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  8. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Edit button to open SAML Signing Certificate dialog and perform the following step.

    Edit SAML Signing Certificate

    a. Select Sign SAML response and assertion from the Signing Option.

    b. Click Save.

  9. On the Set up Communifire section, copy the appropriate URL(s) as per your requirement.

    Copy configuration URLs

Create a Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you'll create a test user called B.Simon.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a User Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Users > All users.
  3. Select New user > Create new user, at the top of the screen.
  4. In the User properties, follow these steps:
    1. In the Display name field, enter B.Simon.
    2. In the User principal name field, enter the username@companydomain.extension. For example, B.Simon@contoso.com.
    3. Select the Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.
    4. Select Review + create.
  5. Select Create.

Assign the Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you'll enable B.Simon to use single sign-on by granting access to Communifire.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Communifire.
  3. In the app's overview page, select Users and groups.
  4. Select Add user/group, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
    1. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
    2. If you are expecting a role to be assigned to the users, you can select it from the Select a role dropdown. If no role has been set up for this app, you see "Default Access" role selected.
    3. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Communifire SSO

To configure single sign-on on Communifire side, you need to send the downloaded Federation Metadata XML and appropriate copied URLs from the application configuration to Communifire support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Communifire test user

The objective of this section is to create a user called Britta Simon in Communifire. Communifire supports just-in-time provisioning, which is by default enabled. A new user is created after saving the profile details during an attempt to access Communifire if it doesn't exist yet.

Note

If you need to create a user manually, Contact Communifire support team.

Test SSO

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

SP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, this will redirect to Communifire Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to Communifire Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the Communifire for which you set up the SSO.

You can also use Microsoft My Apps to test the application in any mode. When you click the Communifire tile in the My Apps, 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 Communifire for which you set up the SSO. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Communifire 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.