Set up SSO with Azure

This topic walks you through how to set up Single Sign-On (SSO) between the Alida platform and Azure.

Note:

In some cases, only users that are members of verified domains can be added to your community. This occurs if the community-level SSO-only mode is enabled. In this case, a flag is displayed at the top of the SSO Settings page.

In some cases, users may be prevented from signing in with their email and password. This occurs if the domain-level SSO-only mode is enabled for selected domains. In this case, a flag is displayed at the top of the SSO Settings page. You can view the affected users by selecting Product Settings > Manage Users in the navigation bar. The SSO column displays a flag for users that are restricted to SSO login only.

If the SSO column is not included in the Manage Users table, no users are affected.

Create an Azure application

In this part of the workflow, you are creating the application tile that SSO users will click to access the Alida platform.

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
2. Under Azure services, click Enterprise applications.
3. Click New application.
   
4. Click Create your own application.
5. Enter a name for the application, which will be the label on the SSO tile (for example, Alida).
6. Select the option Integrate any other application you don't find in the gallery (Non-gallery).
7. Click Create.

Start your Azure application configuration

After you create the application tile, you need to copy specific configuration values. You'll enter these values into Alida's SSO Setup page later.

1. Click Manage > Single sign-on.
2. Select SAML as the single sign-on method (if not previously selected).
3. Copy the Microsoft Entra Identifier and store the value for later use.
4. Click Certificate (Base64) > Download, open the .cer file in Notepad, and store the X.509 certificate for later use.

   Click the screenshot below to view a larger version.

   

Install Azure SSO on an Alida community

Enter the Azure configuration values into Alida's SSO Setup page.

Important: If you are migrating from the old SSO integration, do not generate your SSO configuration setting on the Alida SSO setup page until you are ready to proceed.

Users will be unable to authenticate from the time you generate these settings until you complete the SSO configuration in your Identity Provider.

Contact Technical Support to schedule your migration. You must have a member of the Alida Cloud Team available on a call to assist before the migration can proceed.

1. Sign in to the Alida platform and switch to the desired community.
2. Ensure that there's a user who matches the email of a potential SSO user (for example, [e-mail]).

   This user must be part of the domain you added. This user must also be a user in the Alida community.

   For more information about adding new users to a community, see Add a user.

3. Open Product Settings > SSO > Setup.
4. In the Identity Provider drop-down list, select Azure.
5. Under Microsoft Entra Identifier, enter the Microsoft Entra Identifier you stored earlier.
6. Under X.509 Certificate, enter the X.509 certificate you stored earlier.
7. Under Email claim, enter http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/email
8. Click Save.
   
9. Copy the Single Sign-On URL and store it for later use.
10. Copy the Audience Entity ID and store it for later use.

    Click the screenshot below to view a larger version.

    

Add and verify a domain

Add the registered domain that your company owns and that you use for employees' email addresses.

1. Open Product Settings > SSO.
2. Click the Domains tab.
3. In the Add new domain field, type the domain value, select the Type (CNAME or TXT), and click Add Domain.

   For example, if a potential SSO user's email is [e-mail], you'd type example.com as the domain.

   The new entry is added to the domains list as an Unverified domain.

4. Click the down-arrow to the left of the domain entry to display the DNS Record.
   
5. Keep the browser tab that has the Alida Domains page open. Open a new browser tab to access your DNS site.
6. Add the values from the Domains page to your DNS configuration.

   For both CNAME and TXT DNS records, the three required values are listed separated by spaces:

   • Add the first value as the owner or source name.
   • Add the second value as the DNS record type. It will either be CNAME or TXT.
   • Add the third value as the target or destination name.

   Example

   This example shows the two supported DNS record formats configured in AWS Route 53. The first is a TXT record, and the second is a CNAME record.

   • The first value in the DNS record is added as the Record Name field.
   • The second value in the DNS record is added as the Type field.
   • The third value in the DNS record is added as the Value/Route traffic to field.

   

7. On the Alida Domains page, select Verify from the domain's action menu.

   The domain's status changes to Verified.

8. Click Apply.
   The domain status changes from Verified to Active.

   

Complete your Azure application configuration

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
2. Under Azure services, click Enterprise applications and open your application (for example, Alida).
3. Click Manage > Single sign-on.
4. Click Basic SAML Configuration > Edit.
5. Under Identifier (Entity ID), enter the Audience Entity ID you stored earlier.
6. Under Reply URL (Assertion Consumer Service URL), enter the Single Sign-On URL you stored earlier.
   
7. Click Save.
8. Click Attributes & Claims > Edit.
9. Delete all existing Additional claims.
10. Click Add new claim and create a new claim:
    

    • Name: email
    • Namespace: http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims
    • Source: Attribute
    • Source attribute: user.mail

    Important: Ensure that the new claim is added as http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/email and not http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/email/email. In some situations, the second /email path may be added erroneously. The email claim entry must match the following screenshot.
11. To ensure that the Alida app has the certificate containing all the necessary configured values, you should update the certificate entry in the SSO settings page:
    1. In the Azure Portal select Manage > Single sign-on.
    2. In the SAML Certificates section, click the Download link beside the Certificate (Base64) field, and then open the .cer file in Notepad.
    3. In Alida, select Product Settings > SSO.
    4. Click Edit.
    5. Copy and paste the contents of the .cer file from Notepad and paste them in the X.509 Certificate text box.
    6. Click Save.

Assign a user to the Azure application

In order for SSO to work, the same user must exist in Azure (with the Alida application associated to that user) and in the Alida platform.

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
2. Under Azure services, click Enterprise applications and open your application (for example, Alida).
3. Click Manage > Users and groups.
4. Click Add user/group.
5. Click Users and groups > None Selected.
6. Select the user you added in the panel (for example, [e-mail]) and click Select.

   Click the screenshot below to view a larger version.

   
7. Click Select a role > None Selected.
8. Click User, then click Select.
9. Click Assign.

Verify SSO login

1. Ask the user you added (for example, [e-mail]) to log in to MyApps using their credentials.
2. The user clicks the application's tile (for example, Alida).
   
   The community opens or they are able to switch to it.

Related information

• Quick start: SSO setup
• Configure SSO-only mode