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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Zendesk

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

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

Scenario description

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

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Zendesk 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 Zendesk.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Zendesk, 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 Zendesk SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Zendesk test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Zendesk 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 > Zendesk > 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 to Edit Basic SAML Configuration.

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

    a. In the Sign on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: <subdomain>.zendesk.com

    b. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: <subdomain>.zendesk.com

    c. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<subdomain>.zendesk.com/access/saml

    Note

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

  6. Zendesk application expects the SAML assertions in a specific format. There are no mandatory SAML attributes but optionally you can manage from the User Attributes section on application integration page. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, click Edit button to open User Attributes dialog.

    Screenshot shows User Attributes with the Edit icon selected.

    Note

    You use extension attributes to add attributes that are not in Microsoft Entra ID by default. Click User attributes that can be set in SAML to get the complete list of SAML attributes that Zendesk accepts.

  7. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Edit button to open SAML Signing Certificate dialog.

    Screenshot shows to edit SAML Signing Certificate.

  8. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, copy the Thumbprint Value and save it on your computer.

    Screenshot shows to copy Thumbprint value.

  9. On the Set up Zendesk section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Screenshot shows to 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 Zendesk.

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

You can set up one SAML configuration for team members and a second SAML configuration for end users.

  1. In a different web browser window, sign in to your up Zendesk company site as an administrator

  2. In the Zendesk Admin Center, go to Account -> Security -> Single sign-on, then click Create SSO configuration and select SAML.

    Screenshot shows the Zendesk Admin Center with Security settings selected.

  3. Perform the following steps in the Single sign-on page.

    Screenshot shows Single sign-on.

    a. In Configuration name, enter a name for your configuration. Up to two SAML and two JWT configurations are possible.

    b. In SAML SSO URL textbox, paste the value of Login URL.

    c. In Certificate fingerprint textbox, paste the Thumbprint value of certificate.

    d. In Remote logout URL textbox, paste the value of Logout URL.

    e. Click Save.

After creating your SAML configuration, you must activate it by assigning it to end users or team members.

  1. In the Zendesk Admin Center, go to Account -> Security and select either Team member authentication or End user authentication.

  2. If you're assigning the configuration to team members, select External authentication to show the authentication options. These options are already displayed for end users.

  3. Click the Single sign-on (SSO) option in the External authentication section, then select the name of the SSO configuration you want to use.

  4. Select the primary SSO method for this group of users if you have more than one authentication method assigned to the group. This option sets the default method used when users go to a page that requires authentication.

  5. Click Save.

Create Zendesk test user

The objective of this section is to create a user called Britta Simon in Zendesk. Zendesk supports automatic user provisioning, which is by default enabled. You can find more details here on how to configure automatic user provisioning.

Test SSO

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

  • Click on Test this application, this will redirect to Zendesk Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

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

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

Next steps

Once you configure Zendesk 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.