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Tutorial: Azure AD SSO integration with Datasite

  • Article
  • 5 minutes to read

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate Datasite with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). When you integrate Datasite with Azure AD, you can:

  • Control in Azure AD who has access to Datasite.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Datasite with their Azure AD accounts.
  • Manage your accounts 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.
  • Datasite single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • Datasite supports SP initiated SSO.

Note

Identifier of this application is a fixed string value so only one instance can be configured in one tenant.

To configure the integration of Datasite into Azure AD, you need to add Datasite 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 Datasite in the search box.
  6. Select Datasite 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 Datasite

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with Datasite 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 Datasite.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with Datasite, 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 Datasite SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Datasite test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Datasite 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 Datasite application integration page, find the Manage section and select single sign-on.

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

  3. 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

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

    a. In the Reply URL text box, type the URL: https://auth.datasite.com/sp/ACS.saml2

    b. In the Sign-on URL text box, type the URL: https://auth.datasite.com/sp/ACS.saml2

  5. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Certificate (Base64) and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

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

    Copy configuration URLs

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 Datasite.

  1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
  2. In the applications list, select Datasite.
  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're expecting any role value in the SAML assertion, in the Select Role dialog, select the appropriate role for the user from the list and then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
  7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Datasite SSO

To configure single sign-on on Datasite side, you need to send the downloaded Certificate (Base64) and appropriate copied URLs from Azure portal to Datasite support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Datasite test user

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

Test SSO

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

  • Click on Test this application in Azure portal. This will redirect to Datasite Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

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

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

Next steps

Once you configure Datasite 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.