Tutorial: Azure Active Directory single sign-on (SSO) integration with Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) using the Microsoft Graph API based integration pattern. When you integrate Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD with Azure AD in this way, you can:

• Control who has access to InCommon or other multilateral federation service providers from Azure AD.
• Enable your users to SSO to InCommon or other multilateral federation service providers with their Azure AD accounts.
• Enable your users to access Central Authentication Service (CAS) applications with their Azure AD accounts.
• Manage your application access in one central location - the Azure portal.

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

• An Azure AD subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
• Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription. If you are not already a subscriber, please visit the Cirrus Identity Azure AD Bridge Registration Page.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Azure AD SSO in a test environment.

• Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

Before adding the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD from the gallery

When subscribing to the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD, you will be asked for your Azure AD TenantID. To view this:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal using a Microsoft account with access to administer Azure Active Directory.
2. On the left navigation pane, select the Azure Active Directory service.
3. Navigate to Overview and view the Tenant ID.
4. Copy the value and send it to the Cirrus Identity contract representative you are working with.

To use the Microsoft Graph API integration, you must grant the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD access to use the API in your tenant. To do this:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal as a Global Administrator for your Microsoft Azure Tenant.
2. Edit the URL https://login.microsoftonline.com/$TENANT_ID/adminconsent?client_id=ea71bc49-6159-422d-84d5-6c29d7287974&state=12345&redirect_uri=https://admin.cirrusidentity.com/azure-registration replacing $TENANT_ID with the value for your Azure AD Tenant.
3. Paste the URL into the browser where you are signed in as a Global Administrator.
4. You will be asked to consent to grant access.
5. When successful, there should be a new application called Cirrus Bridge API.
6. Advise the Cirrus Identity contract representative you are working with that you have successfully granted API access to the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD.

Once Cirrus Identity has the Tenant ID, and access has been granted, we will provision Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD infrastructure and provide you with the following information unique to your subscription:

• Identifier URI/ Entity ID
• Redirect URI / Reply URL
• Single-logout URL
• SP Encryption Cert (if using encrypted assertions or logout)
• A URL for testing
• Additional instructions depending on the options included with your subscription

Note

If you are unable to grant API access to the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD, the Bridge can be integrated using a traditional SAML2 integration. Advise the Cirrus Identity contract representative you are working with that you are not able to use MS Graph API integration.

Add Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD from the gallery

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

1. Sign in to the Azure portal using either a work or school account, or a personal Microsoft account.
2. On the left navigation pane, select the Azure Active Directory service.
3. Navigate to Enterprise Applications and then select All Applications.
4. To add new application, select New application.
5. In the Add from the gallery section, type Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD in the search box.
6. Select Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD 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 Azure AD SSO for Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between an Azure AD user and the related user in Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD, perform the following steps:

1. Configure Azure AD SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
   1. Create an Azure AD test user - to test Azure AD single sign-on with B.Simon.
   2. Assign the Azure AD test user - to enable B.Simon to use Azure AD single sign-on.
2. Configure Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
   1. Setup Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD testing - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD that is linked to the Azure AD representation of user.
3. Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Azure AD SSO

Follow these steps to enable Azure AD SSO in the Azure portal.

1. In the Azure portal, on the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD application integration page, find the Manage section and select Properties.

2. On the Properties page, toggle Assignment Required based on your access requirements. If set to Yes, you will need to assign the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD application to an access control group on the Users and Groups page.

3. While still on the Properties page, toggle Visible to users to No. The initial integration will always represent the default integration used for multiple service providers. In this case, there will not be any one service provider to direct end users to. To make specific applications visible to end users, you will have to use linking single sign-on to give end user access in My Apps to specific service providers. See here for more details.

4. In the Azure portal, on the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD application integration page, find the Manage section and select single sign-on.

5. On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.

6. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, click the pencil icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

   

7. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, perform the following steps:

   a. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<DOMAIN>/bridge

   b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<NAME>.proxy.cirrusidentity.com/module.php/saml/sp/saml2-acs.php/<NAME>_proxy

8. Click Set additional URLs and perform the following step if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

   In the Sign on URL text box, type a value using the following pattern: <CUSTOMER_LOGIN_URL>

   Note

   These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier,Reply URL and Sign on URL. If you have not yet subscribed to the Cirrus Bridge, please visit the registration page. If you are an existing Cirrus Bridge customer, contact Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section in the Azure portal.

9. Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD application expects the SAML assertions in a specific format, which requires you to add custom attribute mappings to your SAML token attributes configuration. The following screenshot shows the list of default attributes.

   

10. Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD pre-populates Attributes & Claims which are typical for use with the InCommon trust federation. You can review and modify them to meet your requirements. Consult the eduPerson schema specification for more details.

    Name	Source Attribute
    urn:oid:2.5.4.42	user.givenname
    urn:oid:2.5.4.4	user.surname
    urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3	user.mail
    urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.5923.1.1.1.6	user.userprincipalname
    cirrus.nameIdFormat	"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:transient"

    Note

    These defaults assume the Azure AD UPN is suitable to use as an eduPersonPrincipalName.

11. 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.

    

Create an Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll create a test user in the Azure portal called B.Simon.

1. From the left pane in the Azure portal, select Azure Active Directory, select Users, and then select All users.
2. Select New user at the top of the screen.
3. In the User properties, follow these steps:
   1. In the Name field, enter B.Simon.
   2. In the User 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. Click Create.

Assign the Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll enable B.Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD.

1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
2. In the applications list, select Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD.
3. In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.
4. Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
5. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
6. 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.
7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD SSO

More documentation on configuring the Cirrus Bridge is available from Cirrus Identity. To also configure the Cirrus Bridge to support access for CAS services, CAS support is also available for the Cirrus Bridge.

Setup Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD testing

In this section, you verify a user called Britta Simon can be used for testing. The Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD support team will provide a testing URL to verify Britta Simon is ready to use with the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD platform. The test user Britta Simon will need to also be added to any applications using the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD as a method to authenticate (for example, applications in multilateral federation metadata).

Test SSO

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

SP initiated:

• Click on Test this application in Azure portal. This will redirect to Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

• Go to Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

• Click on Test this application in Azure portal and you should be automatically signed in to the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD for which you set up the SSO.

You can also use Microsoft My Apps to test the application in any mode. When you click the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD tile in the My Apps, if configured in SP mode you would be redirected to the application sign on page for initiating the login flow and if configured in IDP mode, you should be automatically signed in to the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD 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 Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD 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.

You can also create multiple App configurations for the Cirrus Identity Bridge for Azure AD, when using MS Graph API integration. These allow you to implement different claims, access controls, or Azure AD Conditional Access policies for groups of multilateral federation. See here for further details. Many of these same access controls can also be applied to CAS applications.