Tutorial: Configure iPass SmartConnect for automatic user provisioning

The objective of this tutorial is to demonstrate the steps to be performed in iPass SmartConnect and Microsoft Entra ID to configure Microsoft Entra ID to automatically provision and de-provision users and/or groups to iPass SmartConnect.

Note

This tutorial describes a connector built on top of the Microsoft Entra user Provisioning Service. For important details on what this service does, how it works, and frequently asked questions, see Automate user provisioning and deprovisioning to SaaS applications with Microsoft Entra ID.

Prerequisites

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

• A Microsoft Entra tenant.
• An iPass SmartConnect tenant.
• A user account in iPass SmartConnect with Admin permissions.

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.

Assigning users to iPass SmartConnect

Microsoft Entra ID uses a concept called assignments to determine which users should receive access to selected apps. In the context of automatic user provisioning, only the users and/or groups that have been assigned to an application in Microsoft Entra ID are synchronized.

Before configuring and enabling automatic user provisioning, you should decide which users and/or groups in Microsoft Entra ID need access to iPass SmartConnect. Once decided, you can assign these users and/or groups to iPass SmartConnect by following the instructions here:

• Assign a user or group to an enterprise app

Important tips for assigning users to iPass SmartConnect

• It is recommended that a single Microsoft Entra user is assigned to iPass SmartConnect to test the automatic user provisioning configuration. Additional users and/or groups may be assigned later.

• When assigning a user to iPass SmartConnect, you must select any valid application-specific role (if available) in the assignment dialog. Users with the Default Access role are excluded from provisioning.

Set up iPass SmartConnect for provisioning

Before configuring iPass SmartConnect for automatic user provisioning with Microsoft Entra ID, you will need to retrieve configuration information from the iPass SmartConnect admin console:

1. To retrieve the bearer token that is needed to authenticate against your iPass SmartConnect SCIM endpoint, refer to the very first time that you set up iPass SmartConnect as this value is only provided then.
2. If you do not have the bearer token, reach out to iPass SmartConnect's support team to retrieve a new one.

Add iPass SmartConnect from the gallery

To configure iPass SmartConnect for automatic user provisioning with Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add iPass SmartConnect from the Microsoft Entra application gallery to your list of managed SaaS applications.

To add iPass SmartConnect from the Microsoft Entra application gallery, perform the following steps:

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 iPass SmartConnect, select iPass SmartConnect in the search box.
4. Select iPass SmartConnect from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.

Configuring automatic user provisioning to iPass SmartConnect

This section guides you through the steps to configure the Microsoft Entra provisioning service to create, update, and disable users and/or groups in iPass SmartConnect based on user and/or group assignments in Microsoft Entra ID.

Tip

You may also choose to enable SAML-based single sign-on for iPass SmartConnect, following the instructions provided in the iPass SmartConnect Single sign-on tutorial. Single sign-on can be configured independently of automatic user provisioning, though these two features complement each other.

To configure automatic user provisioning for iPass SmartConnect in Microsoft Entra ID:

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

2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications

   

3. In the applications list, select iPass SmartConnect.

   

4. Select the Provisioning tab.

   

5. Set the Provisioning Mode to Automatic.

   

6. Under the Admin Credentials section, input https://openmobile.ipass.com/moservices/scim/v1 in Tenant URL. Enter the bearer token retrieved earlier in Secret Token. Click Test Connection to ensure Microsoft Entra ID can connect to iPass SmartConnect. If the connection fails, ensure that your iPass SmartConnect account has Admin permissions and try again.

   

7. In the Notification Email field, enter the email address of a person or group who should receive the provisioning error notifications and check the checkbox - Send an email notification when a failure occurs.

   

8. Click Save.

9. Under the Mappings section, select Synchronize Microsoft Entra users to iPass SmartConnect.

10. Review the user attributes that are synchronized from Microsoft Entra ID to iPass SmartConnect in the Attribute Mapping section. The attributes selected as Matching properties are used to match the user accounts in iPass SmartConnect for update operations. Select the Save button to commit any changes.

    

11. To configure scoping filters, refer to the following instructions provided in the Scoping filter tutorial.

12. To enable the Microsoft Entra provisioning service for iPass SmartConnect, change the Provisioning Status to On in the Settings section.

    

13. Define the users and/or groups that you would like to provision to iPass SmartConnect by choosing the desired values in Scope in the Settings section.

    

14. When you are ready to provision, click Save.

    

This operation starts the initial synchronization of all users and/or groups defined in Scope in the Settings section. The initial sync takes longer to perform than subsequent syncs, which occur approximately every 40 minutes as long as the Microsoft Entra provisioning service is running. You can use the Synchronization Details section to monitor progress and follow links to provisioning activity report, which describes all actions performed by the Microsoft Entra provisioning service on iPass SmartConnect.

For more information on how to read the Microsoft Entra provisioning logs, see Reporting on automatic user account provisioning.

Connector limitations

• iPass SmartConnect only accepts usernames that have their domains registered in the iPass SmartConnect admin console.

Additional resources

• Managing user account provisioning for Enterprise Apps
• What is application access and single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID?

Next steps

• Learn how to review logs and get reports on provisioning activity