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Tutorial: Azure AD SSO integration with JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft

  • Article
  • 11 minutes to read

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). When you integrate JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft with Azure AD, you can:

  • Control in Azure AD who has access to JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft with their Azure AD accounts.
  • Manage your accounts in one central location - the Azure portal.

Description

Use your Microsoft Azure Active Directory account with Atlassian JIRA server to enable single sign-on. This way all your organization users can use the Azure AD credentials to sign in into the JIRA application. This plugin uses SAML 2.0 for federation.

Prerequisites

To configure Azure AD integration with JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft, you need the following items:

  • An Azure AD subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
  • JIRA Core and Software 6.4 to 9.4.0 or JIRA Service Desk 3.0 to 4.22.1 should be installed and configured on Windows 64-bit version.
  • JIRA server is HTTPS enabled.
  • Note the supported versions for JIRA Plugin are mentioned in below section.
  • JIRA server is reachable on the Internet particularly to the Azure AD login page for authentication and should able to receive the token from Azure AD.
  • Admin credentials are set up in JIRA.
  • WebSudo is disabled in JIRA.
  • Test user created in the JIRA server application.

Note

To test the steps in this tutorial, we do not recommend using a production environment of JIRA. Test the integration first in development or staging environment of the application and then use the production environment.

To get started, you need the following items:

  • Do not use your production environment, unless it is necessary.
  • JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Note

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

Supported versions of JIRA

Note

Please note that our JIRA Plugin also works on Ubuntu Version 16.04 and Linux.

Scenario description

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

  • JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft supports SP initiated SSO.

To configure the integration of JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft into Azure AD, you need to add JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft in the search box.
  6. Select JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft, 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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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 how to edit Basic SAML Configuration.

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

    a. In the Identifier box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<domain:port>/

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<domain:port>/plugins/servlet/saml/auth

    a. In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<domain:port>/plugins/servlet/saml/auth

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL, and Sign-on URL. Port is optional in case it’s a named URL. These values are received during the configuration of Jira plugin, which is explained later in the tutorial.

  5. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, In the SAML Signing Certificate section, click copy button to copy App Federation Metadata Url and save it on your computer.

    Screenshot shows the Certificate download link.

  6. The Name ID attribute in Azure AD can be mapped to any desired user attribute by editing the Attributes & Claims section.

    Screenshot showing how to edit Attributes and Claims.

    a. After clicking on Edit, any desired user attribute can be mapped by clicking on Unique User Identifier (Name ID).

    Screenshot showing the NameID in Attributes and Claims.

    b. On the next screen, the desired attribute name like user.userprincipalname can be selected as an option from the Source Attribute dropdown menu.

    Screenshot showing how to select Attributes and Claims.

    c. The selection can then be saved by clicking on the Save button at the top.

    Screenshot showing how to save Attributes and Claims.

    d. Now, the user.userprincipalname attribute source in Azure AD is mapped to the Name ID attribute name in Azure AD which will be compared with the username attribute in Atlassian by the SSO plugin.

    Screenshot showing how to review Attributes and Claims.

    Note

    The SSO service provided by Microsoft Azure supports SAML authentication which is able to perform user identification using different attributes such as givenname (first name), surname (last name), email (email address), and user principal name (username). We recommend not to use email as an authentication attribute as email addresses are not always verified by Azure AD. The plugin compares the values of Atlassian username attribute with the NameID attribute in Azure AD in order to determine the valid user authentication.

  7. If your Azure tenant has guest users then follow the below configuration steps:

    a. Click on pencil icon to go to the Attributes & Claims section.

    Screenshot showing how to edit Attributes and Claims.

    b. Click on NameID on Attributes & Claims section.

    Screenshot showing the NameID in Attributes and Claims.

    c. Setup the claim conditions based on the User Type.

    Screenshot for claim conditions.

    Note

    Give the NameID value as user.userprinciplename for Members and user.mail for External Guests.

    d. Save the changes and verify the SSO for external guest users.

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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft.

  1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
  2. In the applications list, select JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft.
  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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft SSO

  1. In a different web browser window, sign in to your JIRA instance as an administrator.

  2. Hover on cog and click the Add-ons.

    Screenshot shows Add-ons selected from the Settings menu.

  3. Download the plugin from Microsoft Download Center. Manually upload the plugin provided by Microsoft using Upload add-on menu. The download of plugin is covered under Microsoft Service Agreement.

    Screenshot shows Manage add-ons with the Upload add-on link called out.

  4. For running the JIRA reverse proxy scenario or load balancer scenario perform the following steps:

    Note

    You should be configuring the server first with the below instructions and then install the plugin.

    a. Add below attribute in connector port in server.xml file of JIRA server application.

    scheme="https" proxyName="<subdomain.domain.com>" proxyPort="<proxy_port>" secure="true"

    Screenshot shows the server dot x m l file in an editor with the new line added.

    b. Change Base URL in System Settings according to proxy/load balancer.

    Screenshot shows the Administration Settings where you can change the Base U R L.

  5. Once the plugin is installed, it appears in User Installed add-ons section of Manage Add-on section. Click Configure to configure the new plugin.

    Screenshot shows the Azure A D SAML Single Sign-on for Jira section with Configure selected.

  6. Perform following steps on configuration page:

    Screenshot shows the Microsoft Azure Active Directory single sign-on for Jira configuration page.

    Tip

    Ensure that there is only one certificate mapped against the app so that there is no error in resolving the metadata. If there are multiple certificates, upon resolving the metadata, admin gets an error.

    a. In the Metadata URL textbox, paste App Federation Metadata Url value which you have copied from the Azure portal and click the Resolve button. It reads the IdP metadata URL and populates all the fields information.

    b. Copy the Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL values and paste them in Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL textboxes respectively in JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft Domain and URLs section on Azure portal.

    c. In Login Button Name type the name of button your organization wants the users to see on login screen.

    d. In Login Button Description type the description of button your organization wants the users to see on login screen.

    e. In SAML User ID Locations select either User ID is in the NameIdentifier element of the Subject statement or User ID is in an Attribute element. This ID has to be the JIRA user ID. If the user ID is not matched, then system will not allow users to sign in.

    Note

    Default SAML User ID location is Name Identifier. You can change this to an attribute option and enter the appropriate attribute name.

    f. If you select User ID is in an Attribute element option, then in Attribute name textbox type the name of the attribute where User ID is expected.

    g. If you are using the federated domain (like ADFS etc.) with Azure AD, then click on the Enable Home Realm Discovery option and configure the Domain Name.

    h. In Domain Name type the domain name here in case of the ADFS-based login.

    i. Check Enable Single Sign out if you wish to sign out from Azure AD when a user sign out from JIRA.

    j. Enable Force Azure Login checkbox, if you wish to sign in through Azure AD credentials only.

    Note

    To enable the default login form for admin login on login page when force azure login is enabled, add the query parameter in the browser URL. https://<domain:port>/login.jsp?force_azure_login=false

    k. Enable Use of Application Proxy checkbox, if you have configured your on-premises atlassian application in an App Proxy setup.

    l. Click Save button to save the settings.

    Note

    For more information about installation and troubleshooting, visit MS JIRA SSO Connector Admin Guide. There is also an FAQ for your assistance.

Create JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft test user

To enable Azure AD users to sign in to JIRA on-premises server, they must be provisioned into JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft. For JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft, provisioning is a manual task.

To provision a user account, perform the following steps:

  1. Sign in to your JIRA on-premises server as an administrator.

  2. Hover on cog and click the User management.

    Screenshot shows User management selected from the Settings menu.

  3. You are redirected to Administrator Access page to enter Password and click Confirm button.

    Screenshot shows Administrator Access page where you enter your credentials.

  4. Under User management tab section, click create user.

    Screenshot shows the User management tab where you can Create user.

  5. On the “Create new user” dialog page, perform the following steps:

    Screenshot shows the Create new user dialog box where you can enter the information in this step.

    a. In the Email address textbox, type the email address of user like B.simon@contoso.com.

    b. In the Full Name textbox, type full name of the user like B.Simon.

    c. In the Username textbox, type the email of user like B.simon@contoso.com.

    d. In the Password textbox, type the password of user.

    e. Click Create user.

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 JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

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

Next steps

Once you configure JIRA SAML SSO by Microsoft 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.