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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with CloudCords

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

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

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO in a test environment.

  • CloudCords supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with CloudCords 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 CloudCords.

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

    Screenshot for Edit Basic SAML Configuration.

  5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, enter the values for the following fields:

    a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.cloudcords.com

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.cloudcords.com/Saml/ProcessResponseFromIdentityProvider

  6. 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 URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.cloudcords.com

    Note

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

  7. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Federation Metadata XML and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    Screenshot for The Certificate download link.

  8. On the Set up CloudCords section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Screenshot for 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 CloudCords.

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

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

Create CloudCords test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in CloudCords. Work with CloudCords support team to add the users in the CloudCords platform. Users must be created and activated before you use single sign-on.

Test SSO

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

SP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, this will redirect to CloudCords Identity Authentication Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to CloudCords Identity Authentication Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the CloudCords Identity Authentication 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 CloudCords Identity Authentication 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 CloudCords Identity Authentication 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 the CloudCords Identity Authentication you can enforce session controls, which protects exfiltration and infiltration of your organization’s sensitive data in real time. Session controls extends from Conditional Access. Learn how to enforce session control with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.