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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with Freshworks

  • Article

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

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

Note

This integration is also available to use from Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud environment. You can find this application in the Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud Application Gallery and configure it in the same way as you do from public cloud.

Scenario description

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

  • Freshworks supports SP and IDP initiated SSO

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Freshworks 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 Freshworks.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Freshworks, 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 Freshworks SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Freshworks test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Freshworks 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 > Freshworks > 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, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, enter the values for the following fields:

    a. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.freshworks.com/sp/SAML/<MODULE_ID>/metadata

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.freshworks.com/sp/SAML/CUSTOM_URL

  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>.freshworks.com/login

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL. Contact Freshworks 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 Certificate (Base64) and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  8. To modify the Signing options as per your requirement, click Edit button to open SAML Signing Certificate dialog.

     image

    Screenshot that shows the "S A M L Signing Certificate" dialog with the "Edit" button selected.

    a. Select Sign SAML response as Signing Option.

    b. Click Save.

  9. On the Set up Freshworks section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on 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 Freshworks.

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

  1. Open a new web browser window and sign into your Freshworks company site as an administrator and perform the following steps:

  2. From the left side of menu, click on Security icon then check the Single sign-on option and select SAML SSO under Authentication Methods.

    Screenshot that shows the "Security - Authentication Methods" section with "Single sign-on" option turned on and "S A M L S S O" selected.

  3. On the Single sign-on section, perform the following steps:

    Freshworks configuration

    a. Click Copy to copy the Service Provider(SP) Entity ID for your instance and paste it in Identifier (Entity ID) text box in Basic SAML Configuration section.

    b. In the Entity ID provided by the IdP text box, Paste the Microsoft Entra Identifier value, which you copied previously.

    c. In the SAML SSO URL text box, Paste the Login URL value, which you copied previously.

    d. Open the Base64 encoded certificate in notepad, copy its content and paste it into the Security certificate text box.

    e. Click Save.

Create Freshworks test user

In this section, you create a user called B.Simon in Freshworks. Work with Freshworks Client support team to add the users in the Freshworks 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 Freshworks Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to Freshworks 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 Freshworks 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 Freshworks 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 Freshworks 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 Freshworks 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.