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Microsoft Entra SSO integration with NetSfere

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to NetSfere.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to NetSfere with their Microsoft Entra accounts.
  • Manage your accounts in one central location.

Prerequisites

To integrate Microsoft Entra ID with NetSfere, you need:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
  • NetSfere single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • NetSfere supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

To configure the integration of NetSfere into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add NetSfere 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 NetSfere in the search box.
  4. Select NetSfere 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, and walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for NetSfere

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with NetSfere 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 NetSfere.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with NetSfere, 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 NetSfere SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create NetSfere test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in NetSfere 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 in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.

  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > NetSfere > 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.

    Screenshot shows how to edit Basic SAML Configuration.

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

    a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using one of the following patterns:

    Identifier
    spn:<NetSfere_ID>
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsfere.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/metadata.php/default-sp
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferetest.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/metadata.php/default-sp
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferedev.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/metadata.php/default-sp

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using one of the following patterns:

    Reply URL
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsfere.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/saml2-acs.php/default-sp
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferetest.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/saml2-acs.php/default-sp
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferedev.com/saml/module.php/saml/sp/saml2-acs.php/default-sp

  6. 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 one of the following patterns:

    Sign on URL
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsfere.com
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferetest.com
    https://<SUBDOMAIN>.netsferedev.com

    Note

    These value are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL. Contact NetSfere support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

  7. NetSfere 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 attributes configuration.

  8. In addition to above, NetSfere 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
    role user.assignedroles

    Note

    Please click here to know how to configure Role in Microsoft Entra ID.

  9. 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.

Create a Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you'll create a test user in the Microsoft Entra admin center 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 Microsoft Entra single sign-on by granting access to NetSfere.

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

  1. Log in to NetSfere company site as an administrator.

  2. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Identity Providers.

    Screenshot shows settings of the configuration.

  3. In the Add Identity Provider metadata URL textbox, paste the App Federation Metadata Url, which you have copied from the Microsoft Admin Center.

  4. Click Add Identity Provider.

Create NetSfere test user

  1. In a different web browser window, sign into NetSfere website as an administrator.

  2. Navigate to Users & Groups > Active Users and click Add Users.

    Screenshot shows how to create users in application.

  3. In the Invite User section, perform the following steps:

    Screenshot shows how to create new users in the page.

    1. In the Name textbox, enter a valid name of the user.

    2. In the Email textbox, enter a valid email address of the user.

    3. Select the Role for the user according to your organization requirement.

    4. Click Invite.

Test SSO

In this section, you test your Microsoft Entra single sign-on configuration with following options.

SP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application in Microsoft Entra admin center. This will redirect to NetSfere Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to NetSfere Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application in Microsoft Entra admin center and you should be automatically signed in to the NetSfere 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 NetSfere 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 NetSfere 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 NetSfere 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.