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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with Pulse Secure PCS

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to Pulse Secure PCS.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Pulse Secure PCS 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.
  • Pulse Secure PCS single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • Pulse Secure PCS supports SP initiated SSO

To configure the integration of Pulse Secure PCS into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Pulse Secure PCS 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 Pulse Secure PCS in the search box.
  4. Select Pulse Secure PCS 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 Pulse Secure PCS

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Pulse Secure PCS 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 Pulse Secure PCS.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Pulse Secure PCS, 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 Pulse Secure PCS SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Pulse Secure PCS test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Pulse Secure PCS 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 > Pulse Secure PCS > 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 edit/pen icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

    Edit Basic SAML Configuration

  5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, enter the values for the following fields:

    a. In the Sign on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<FQDN of PCS>/dana-na/auth/saml-consumer.cgi

    b. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<FQDN of PCS>/dana-na/auth/saml-endpoint.cgi?p=sp1

    c. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://[FQDN of PCS]/dana-na/auth/saml-consumer.cgi

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Sign on URL,Reply URL and Identifier. Contact Pulse Secure PCS Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

  6. 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.

    The Certificate download link

  7. On the Set up Pulse Secure PCS 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 Pulse Secure PCS.

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

This section covers the SAML configurations required to configure PCS as SAML SP. The other basic configurations like creating Realms and Roles are not covered.

Pulse Connect Secure configurations include:

  • Configuring Microsoft Entra ID as SAML Metadata Provider
  • Configuring SAML Auth Server
  • Assigning to respective Realms and Roles

Configuring Microsoft Entra ID as SAML Metadata Provider

Perform the following steps in the following page:

Pulse Connect Secure configuration

  1. Log into the Pulse Connect Secure admin console
  2. Navigate to System -> Configuration -> SAML
  3. Click on New Metadata Provider
  4. Provide the valid Name in the Name textbox
  5. Upload the downloaded metadata XML file from Azure portal into the Microsoft Entra metadata file.
  6. Select Accept Unsigned Metadata
  7. Select Roles as Identity Provider
  8. Click on Save changes.

Steps to create a SAML Auth Server:

  1. Navigate to Authentication -> Auth Servers

  2. Select New: SAML Server and click New Server

    Pulse Connect Secure auth server

  3. Perform the following steps in the settings page:

    Pulse Connect Secure auth server settings

    a. Provide Server Name in the textbox.

    b. Select SAML Version 2.0 and Configuration Mode as Metadata.

    c. Copy the Connect Secure Entity Id value and paste it into the Identifier URL box in the Basic SAML Configuration dialog box.

    d. Select Microsoft Entra Entity Id value from the Identity Provider Entity Id drop down list.

    e. Select Microsoft Entra Login URL value from the Identity Provider Single Sign-On Service URL drop down list.

    f. Single Logout is an optional setting. If this option is selected, it prompts for a new authentication after logout. If this option is not selected and you have not closed the browser, you can reconnect without authentication.

    g. Select the Requested Authn Context Class as Password and the Comparison Method as exact.

    h. Set the Metadata Validity in terms of number of days.

    i. Click Save Changes

Create Pulse Secure PCS test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in Pulse Secure PCS. Work with Pulse Secure PCS support team to add the users in the Pulse Secure PCS 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.

  1. Click on Test this application, this will redirect to Pulse Secure PCS Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  2. Go to Pulse Secure PCS Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

  3. You can use Microsoft Access Panel. When you click the Pulse Secure PCS tile in the Access Panel, this will redirect to Pulse Secure PCS Sign-on URL. For more information about the Access Panel, see Introduction to the Access Panel.

Next steps

Once you configure Pulse Secure PCS 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.