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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra integration with Central Desktop

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to Central Desktop.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Central Desktop 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.
  • Central Desktop single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • Central Desktop supports SP initiated SSO.

To configure the integration of Central Desktop into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Central Desktop 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 Central Desktop in the search box.
  4. Select Central Desktop 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 Central Desktop

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Central Desktop 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 Central Desktop.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Central Desktop, 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 Central Desktop SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Central Desktop test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Central Desktop 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 > Central Desktop > 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, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier box, type a URL using one of the following patterns:

    Identifier
    https://<companyname>.centraldesktop.com/saml2-metadata.php
    https://<companyname>.imeetcentral.com/saml2-metadata.php

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<companyname>.centraldesktop.com/saml2-assertion.php

    c. In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<companyname>.centraldesktop.com

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier,Reply URL and Sign on URL. Contact Central Desktop Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

  6. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Download to download the Certificate (Raw) from the given options as per your requirement and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  7. On the Set up Central Desktop 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 Central Desktop.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Central Desktop.
  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 Central Desktop SSO

  1. Sign in to your Central Desktop tenant.

  2. Go to Settings. Select Advanced, and then select Single Sign On.

    Setup - Advanced.

  3. On the Single Sign On Settings page, perform the following steps:

    Single sign-on settings.

    a. Select Enable SAML v2 Single Sign On.

    b. In the SSO URL box, paste the Microsoft Entra Identifier value that you copied.

    c. In the SSO Login URL box, paste the Login URL value that you copied.

    d. In the SSO Logout URL box, paste the Logout URL value that you copied.

  4. In the Message Signature Verification Method section, perform the following steps:

    Message signature verification method

    a. Select Certificate.

    b. In the SSO Certificate list, select RSH SHA256.

    c. Open your downloaded certificate in Notepad. Then copy the content of certificate and paste it into the SSO Certificate field.

    d. Select Display a link to your SAMLv2 login page.

    e. Select Update.

Create Central Desktop test user

For Microsoft Entra users to be able to sign in, they must be provisioned in the Central Desktop application. This section describes how to create Microsoft Entra user accounts in Central Desktop.

Note

To provision Microsoft Entra user accounts, you can use any other Central Desktop user account creation tools or APIs that are provided by Central Desktop.

To provision user accounts to Central Desktop:

  1. Sign in to your Central Desktop tenant.

  2. Select People and then select Add Internal Members.

    People.

  3. In the Email Address of New Members box, type a Microsoft Entra account that you want to provision, and then select Next.

    Email addresses of new members.

  4. Select Add Internal member(s).

    Add internal member.

    Note

    The users that you add receive an email that includes a confirmation link for activating their accounts.

Test SSO

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

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

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

  • You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the Central Desktop tile in the My Apps, this will redirect to Central Desktop Sign-on URL. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Central Desktop 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.