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Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with Bersin

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  • 5 minutes to read

In this tutorial, you learn how to integrate Bersin with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Integrating Bersin with Azure AD provides you with the following benefits:

  • You can control in Azure AD who has access to Bersin.
  • You can enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Bersin (Single Sign-On) with their Azure AD accounts.
  • You can manage your accounts in one central location - the Azure portal.

If you want to know more details about SaaS app integration with Azure AD, see What is application access and single sign-on with Azure Active Directory. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

To configure Azure AD integration with Bersin, you need the following items:

  • An Azure AD subscription. If you don't have an Azure AD environment, you can get one-month trial here
  • Bersin single sign-on enabled subscription

Scenario description

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

  • Bersin supports SP and IDP initiated SSO

To configure the integration of Bersin into Azure AD, you need to add Bersin from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

To add Bersin from the gallery

  1. In the Azure portal, on the left navigation panel, click Azure Active Directory icon.

    The Azure Active Directory button

  2. Navigate to Enterprise Applications and then select the All Applications option.

    The Enterprise applications blade

  3. To add new application, click New application button on the top of dialog.

    The New application button

  4. In the search box, type Bersin, select Bersin from result panel then click Add button to add the application.

    Bersin in the results list

Configure and test Azure AD single sign-on

In this section, you configure and test Azure AD single sign-on with Bersin based on a test user called Britta Simon For single sign-on to work, a link relationship between an Azure AD user and the related user in Bersin needs to be established.

To configure and test Azure AD single sign-on with Bersin, you need to complete the following building blocks:

  1. Configure Azure AD Single Sign-On - to enable your users to use this feature.
  2. Configure Bersin Single Sign-On - to configure the Single Sign-On settings on application side.
  3. Create an Azure AD test user - to test Azure AD single sign-on with Britta Simon.
  4. Assign the Azure AD test user - to enable Britta Simon to use Azure AD single sign-on.
  5. Create Bersin test user - to have a counterpart of Britta Simon in Bersin that is linked to the Azure AD representation of user.
  6. Test single sign-on - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Azure AD single sign-on

In this section, you enable Azure AD single sign-on in the Azure portal.

To configure Azure AD single sign-on with Bersin, do the following steps:

  1. In the Azure portal, on the Bersin application integration page, select Single sign-on.

    Configure single sign-on link

  2. On the Select a Single sign-on method dialog, select SAML/WS-Fed mode to enable single sign-on.

    Single sign-on select mode

  3. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, click Edit icon to open Basic SAML Configuration dialog.

    Edit Basic SAML Configuration

  4. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, If you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, do the following step:

    Screenshot shows the Basic SAML Configuration, where you can enter Identifier, Reply U R L, and select Save.

    a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://www.bersin.com/shibboleth

    b. Click Set additional URLs.

    c. In the Relay State text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://www.bersin.com/secure/

  5. Click Set additional URLs and do the following steps if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

    Screenshot shows Set additional U R Ls where you can enter a Sign on U R L.

    In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://www.bersin.com/Login.aspx

  6. 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

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

    Copy configuration URLs

    a. Login URL

    b. Azure Ad Identifier

    c. Logout URL

Configure Bersin Single Sign-On

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

Create an Azure AD test user

The objective of this section is to create a test user in the Azure portal called Britta Simon.

  1. In the Azure portal, in the left pane, select Azure Active Directory, select Users, and then select All users.

    The "Users and groups" and "All users" links

  2. Select New user at the top of the screen.

    New user Button

  3. In the User properties, do the following steps.

    The User dialog box

    a. In the Name field, enter BrittaSimon.

    b. In the User name field, type brittasimon@yourcompanydomain.extension
    For example, BrittaSimon@contoso.com

    c. Select Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.

    d. Click Create.

Assign the Azure AD test user

In this section, you enable Britta Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to Bersin.

  1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, select All applications, then select Bersin.

    Enterprise applications blade

  2. In the applications list, select Bersin.

    The Bersin link in the Applications list

  3. In the menu on the left, select Users and groups.

    The "Users and groups" link

  4. Click the Add user button, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.

    The Add Assignment pane

  5. In the Users and groups dialog select Britta Simon in the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.

  6. If you're expecting any role value in the SAML assertion, then in the Select Role dialog, select the appropriate role for the user from the list. Click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.

  7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Create Bersin test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in Bersin. Work with the Bersin support team to add the users in the Bersin platform or the domain that must be added to an allow list for the Bersin platform. If the domain is added by the team, users will get automatically provisioned to the Bersin platform. Users must be created and activated before you use single sign-on.

Test single sign-on

In this section, you test your Azure AD single sign-on configuration using the Access Panel.

When you click the Bersin tile in the Access Panel, you should be automatically signed in to the Bersin for which you set up SSO. For more information about the Access Panel, see Introduction to the Access Panel.

Additional Resources