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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud

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In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud with Microsoft Entra ID. When you integrate IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud with Microsoft Entra ID, you can:

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

Scenario description

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

  • IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

To configure the integration of IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud in the search box.
  4. Select IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud, 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 > IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud > 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 have Service Provider metadata file, perform the following steps:

    a. Click Upload metadata file.

    b. Click on folder logo to select the metadata file and click Upload.

    c. Once the metadata file is successfully uploaded, the Identifier and Reply URL values get auto populated in IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud section textbox:

    Note

    If the Identifier and Reply URL values do not get auto populated, then fill in the values manually according to your requirement.

    Note

    Customers can obtain the metadata file for their Cloud subscription from the IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud Client support team.

  6. If you don't have Service Provider metadata file, 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 text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://www.automationcloud.ibm.com/isam/sps/<TENANT>/saml20

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://www.automationcloud.ibm.com/isam/sps/<TENANT>/saml20/login

  7. 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://www.automationcloud.ibm.com/isam/sps/<TENANT>/login

    Note

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

  8. 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.

    The Certificate download link

  9. On the Set up IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud.

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

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

Create IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud. Work with IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud support team to add the users in the IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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 IBM Digital Business Automation on Cloud 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.