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Set up SSO with Okta

Lisa Wong
Updated

Set up SSO with Okta

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

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 Okta 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 Okta.
  2. Select Applications > Applications.
  3. Click Create App Integration.
  4. Select SAML 2.0, then click Next.
  5. Enter a name for the application (for example, Alida), which will be the label on the SSO tile, then click Next.
  6. Under Single sign-on URL and Audience URI (SP Entity ID), enter any initial value (for example, http://tbd.com and tbd), then click Next.
  7. Select This is an internal app that we have created, then click Finish.

Start your Okta 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. Select Applications > Applications.
  2. Open your application (for example, Alida).
  3. From the Sign On tab, click View SAML setup instructions.
  4. Copy the Identity Provider Issuer and store it for later use.
  5. Copy the X.509 Certificate and store it for later use.

    Click the screenshot below to view a larger version.

Install Okta SSO on a community

Enter the Okta 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, bob.smith@example.com).

    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 Okta.
  5. Under Identity Provider Issuer, enter the Identity Provider Issuer you copied earlier.
  6. Under X.509 Certificate, enter the X.509 certificate you copied earlier.
  7. Under Unique ID claim, enter userId.
    You can enter email if you want to use email as the Unique ID claim.
  8. Under Email claim, enter email.
  9. Click Save.
  10. Copy the Single Sign-On URL and store it for later use.
  11. 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 bob.smith@example.com, 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 Okta application configuration

  1. Log in to Okta.
  2. Select Applications > Applications.
  3. Open your application (for example, Alida).
  4. From the General tab, click SAML Settings > Edit.
  5. Click Next.
  6. Under Single sign-on URL, enter the Single Sign-On URL you copied earlier.
  7. Under Audience URI (SP Entity ID), enter the Audience Entity ID you copied earlier.
  8. Click Next and then click Finish.
  9. In the Sign On tab, navigate to the Attribute statements section.
  10. Click Add Expression, enter the Name and Expression for the attribute statements and click Save.
    You need to add attribute statements for user ID and email.
    Name Expression
    email user.profile.email
    userId user.id


  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. Open your Okta SSO application (for example, Alida).
    2. From the Sign On tab, click View SAML setup instructions.
    3. Copy the X.509 Certificate.
    4. In Alida, select Product Settings > SSO.
    5. Click Edit.
    6. Paste the certificate value in X.509 Certificate text box.
    7. Click Save.

Add a user to the Okta application

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

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Find and click the user you want to add (for example, bob.smith@example.com).
    • Add a new user.
      1. Select Directory > People.
      2. Click Add person.
      3. Enter:
        • First name: Any string.
        • Last name: Any string.
        • Primary email: A brand new email with the domain you added earlier.
        • Username: Any string, but copying Primary email is recommended for uniqueness.
      4. Click Save.
      5. Refresh the page.
      6. Click the user you added.
  2. Click Assign Applications.
  3. Click Assign next to your application.
  4. Click Save and Go Back, then Done.

Verify SSO login

  1. Ask the user added (for example, bob.smith@example.com) to log in to Okta using their credentials.
  2. The user clicks Okta apps > My end user dashboard.
  3. The user clicks the application's tile (for example, Alida).
    The community opens or they are able to switch to it.
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