Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Real Links

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

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

Prerequisites

To configure Microsoft Entra integration with Real Links, you need the following items:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a Microsoft Entra environment, you can get a free account.
  • Real Links single sign-on enabled subscription.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra single sign-on in a test environment.

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

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Real Links, 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 Real Links SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Real Links test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Real Links 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 > Real Links > 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, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a value using the following pattern: urn:amazon:cognito:sp:<SUBDOMAIN>

    b. In the Sign on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.reallinks.io

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier and Sign on URL. Contact Real Links 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, click copy button to copy App Federation Metadata Url and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

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 Real Links.

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

To configure single sign-on on Real Links side, you need to send the App Federation Metadata Url to Real Links support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

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

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

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

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

Next steps

Once you configure Real Links 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.