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Tutorial: Azure AD SSO integration with GitHub Enterprise Server

  • Article
  • 7 minutes to read

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

  • Control in Azure AD who has access to GitHub Enterprise Server.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to GitHub Enterprise Server 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.
  • GitHub Enterprise Server, ready for initialization.
  • Along with Cloud Application Administrator, Application Administrator can also add or manage applications in Azure AD. For more information, see Azure built-in roles.

Scenario description

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

  • GitHub Enterprise Server supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.
  • GitHub Enterprise Server supports Just In Time user provisioning.
  • GitHub Enterprise Server supports Automated user provisioning.

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

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with GitHub Enterprise Server 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 GitHub Enterprise Server.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with GitHub Enterprise Server, 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 GitHub Enterprise Server SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create GitHub Enterprise Server test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in GitHub Enterprise Server 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 GitHub Enterprise Server 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.

    Screenshot shows to edit Basic S A M L Configuration.

  4. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<YOUR-GITHUB-AE-HOSTNAME>

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<YOUR-GITHUB-AE-HOSTNAME>/saml/consume

  5. 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://<YOUR-GITHUB-AE-HOSTNAME>/sso

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL. Contact GitHub Enterprise Server 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.

  6. GitHub Enterprise Server 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.

    Screenshot shows the image of Enterprise Server application.

  7. Edit User Attributes & Claims.

  8. Click Add new claim and enter the name as administrator in the textbox (the administrator value is case-sensitive).

  9. Expand Claim conditions and select Members from User type.

  10. Click on Select groups and search for the Group you want to include this claim, where its members should be administrators for GHAE.

  11. Select Attribute for Source and enter true (without quotes) for the Value.

  12. Click Save.

    Screenshot shows to manage claim for attributes.

    Note

    To know the instructions on how to add a claim, please follow the link.

  13. 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.

    Screenshot shows the Certificate download link.

  14. On the Set up GitHub Enterprise Server section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Screenshot shows to copy appropriate configuration U R L.

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 GitHub Enterprise Server.

  1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
  2. In the applications list, select GitHub Enterprise Server.
  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 GitHub Enterprise Server SSO

To configure SSO on GitHub Enterprise Server side, you need to follow the instructions mentioned here.

Create GitHub Enterprise Server test user

In this section, a user called B.Simon is created in GitHub Enterprise Server. GitHub Enterprise Server supports just-in-time user provisioning, which is enabled by default. There is no action item for you in this section. If a user doesn't already exist in GitHub Enterprise Server, a new one is created after authentication.

GitHub Enterprise Server also supports automatic user provisioning, you can find more details here on how to configure automatic user provisioning.

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 GitHub Enterprise Server Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to GitHub Enterprise Server 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 GitHub Enterprise Server 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 GitHub Enterprise Server 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 GitHub Enterprise Server for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps