Edit

Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with iPass SmartConnect

  • Article

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to iPass SmartConnect.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to iPass SmartConnect 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.
  • iPass SmartConnect 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.

  • iPass SmartConnect supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.
  • iPass SmartConnect supports Just In Time user provisioning.
  • iPass SmartConnect supports Automated user provisioning.

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 iPass SmartConnect into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect in the search box.
  4. Select iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with iPass SmartConnect, 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 iPass SmartConnect SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create iPass SmartConnect test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in iPass SmartConnect 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 > iPass SmartConnect > 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, the user does not have to perform any step as the app is already pre-integrated with Azure.

  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: https://om-activation.ipass.com/ClientActivation/ssolanding.go

  7. Click Save.

  8. iPass SmartConnect 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.

    image

  9. In addition to above, iPass SmartConnect application expects few more attributes to be passed back in SAML response which are shown below. These attributes are also pre populated but you can review them as per your requirements.

    Name Source Attribute
    firstName user.givenname
    lastName user.surname
    email user.userprincipalname
    username user.userprincipalname

  10. 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

  11. On the Set up iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect.

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

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

Create iPass SmartConnect test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in iPass SmartConnect. Work with iPass SmartConnect support team to add the users or the domain that must be added to an allow list for the iPass SmartConnect platform. If the domain is added by the team, users will get automatically provisioned to the iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect 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 iPass SmartConnect for which you set up the SSO. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure iPass SmartConnect 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.