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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Cerner Central

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

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

Prerequisites

To configure Microsoft Entra integration with Cerner Central, you need the following items:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a Microsoft Entra environment, you can get a free account.
  • Cerner Central single sign-on enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

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

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

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Cerner Central, 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 Cerner Central SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Cerner Central test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Cerner Central 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 > Cerner Central > 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 text box, type a URL using one of the following patterns:

    Identifier
    https://<instancename>.cernercentral.com/session-api/protocol/saml2/metadata
    https://<instancename>.sandboxcernercentral.com/session-api/protocol/saml2/metadata

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using one of the following patterns:

    Reply URL
    https://<instancename>.cernercentral.com/session-api/protocol/saml2/sso
    https://<instancename>.sandboxcernercentral.com/session-api/protocol/saml2/sso

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier and Reply URL. Contact Cerner Central 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 copy button to copy App Federation Metadata Url and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

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 Cerner Central.

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

To configure single sign-on on Cerner Central side, you need to send the App Federation Metadata Url to Cerner Central support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Cerner Central test user

Cerner Central application allows authentication from any federated identity provider. If a user is able to sign in to the application home page, they are federated and have no need for any manual provisioning. You can find more details here on how to configure automatic user provisioning.

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 Cerner Central for which you set up the SSO.

  • You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the Cerner Central tile in the My Apps, you should be automatically signed in to the Cerner Central for which you set up the SSO. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Cerner Central 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.