Tutorial: Microsoft Entra integration with Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal

In this tutorial, you learn how to integrate Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal with Microsoft Entra ID. Integrating Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal with Microsoft Entra ID provides you with the following benefits:

• You can control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal.
• You can enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal (Single Sign-On) with their Microsoft Entra accounts.
• You can manage your accounts in one central location.

Prerequisites

To integrate Microsoft Entra ID with Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal, you need the following items:

• A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have Microsoft Entra ID, you can get a one-month trial.
• A Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal single sign-on (SSO)-enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

• Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal supports IDP initiated SSO
• Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal supports Just In Time user provisioning

Adding Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal from the gallery

To configure the integration of Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal 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 Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal in the search box.
4. Select Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal 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

In this section, you configure and test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal based on a test user called B.Simon. For single sign-on to work, a link relationship between a Microsoft Entra user and the related user in Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal needs to be established.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal, perform the following steps:

1. Configure Microsoft Entra SSO - Enable the user to use this feature.
   • Create a Microsoft Entra test user - Test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with the user B.Simon.
   • Assign the Microsoft Entra test user - Set up B.Simon to use Microsoft Entra single sign-on.
2. Configure Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal SSO - Configure the single sign-on settings in the application.
   • Create a Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal that is linked to the Microsoft Entra representation of user.
3. Test SSO - Verify that 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 > Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal > 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.

   

5. In the Basic SAML Configuration pane, perform the following steps:

   1. For Identifier, enter a URL that has the pattern https://<customer_firewall_host_name>/SAML20/SP.

   2. For Reply URL, enter a URL that has the pattern https://<customer_firewall_host_name>/SAML20/SP/ACS.

      Note

      Update the placeholder values in this step with the actual identifier and reply URLs. To get the actual values, contact Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal Client support team.

6. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, next to Federation Metadata XML, select Download. Save the downloaded file on your computer.

   

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 Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal.
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 Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal SSO

Next, set up single-sign on in Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal:

1. In a different browser window, sign in to the Palo Alto Networks website as an administrator.

2. Select the Device tab.

   

3. In the menu, select SAML Identity Provider, and then select Import.

   

4. In the SAML Identity Provider Server Profile Import dialog box, complete the following steps:

   

   1. For Profile Name, enter a name, like AzureAD-CaptivePortal.

   2. Next to Identity Provider Metadata, select Browse. Select the metadata.xml file that you downloaded.

   3. Select OK.

Create a Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal test user

Next, create a user named Britta Simon in Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal. Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal supports just-in-time user provisioning, which is enabled by default. You don't need to complete any tasks in this section. If a user doesn't already exist in Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal, a new one is created after authentication.

Note

If you want to create a user manually, contact the Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal Client support team.

Test SSO

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

• Click on Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal for which you set up the SSO

• You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal tile in the My Apps, you should be automatically signed in to the Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Palo Alto Networks Captive Portal 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.