Tutorial: Azure Active Directory single sign-on (SSO) integration with Pulse Secure PCS
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate Pulse Secure PCS with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). When you integrate Pulse Secure PCS with Azure AD, you can:
- Control in Azure AD who has access to Pulse Secure PCS.
- Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Pulse Secure PCS with their Azure AD accounts.
- Manage your accounts in one central location - the Azure portal.
Prerequisites
To get started, you need the following items:
- An Azure AD 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 Azure AD SSO in a test environment.
- Pulse Secure PCS supports SP initiated SSO
Adding Pulse Secure PCS from the gallery
To configure the integration of Pulse Secure PCS into Azure AD, you need to add Pulse Secure PCS from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.
- Sign in to the Azure portal using either a work or school account, or a personal Microsoft account.
- On the left navigation pane, select the Azure Active Directory service.
- Navigate to Enterprise Applications and then select All Applications.
- To add new application, select New application.
- In the Add from the gallery section, type Pulse Secure PCS in the search box.
- Select Pulse Secure PCS from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.
Configure and test Azure AD SSO for Pulse Secure PCS
Configure and test Azure AD SSO with Pulse Secure PCS using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between an Azure AD user and the related user in Pulse Secure PCS.
To configure and test Azure AD SSO with Pulse Secure PCS, perform the following steps:
- Configure Azure AD SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
- Create an Azure AD test user - to test Azure AD single sign-on with B.Simon.
- Assign the Azure AD test user - to enable B.Simon to use Azure AD single sign-on.
- Configure Pulse Secure PCS SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
- Create Pulse Secure PCS test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Pulse Secure PCS that is linked to the Azure AD representation of user.
- Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.
Configure Azure AD SSO
Follow these steps to enable Azure AD SSO in the Azure portal.
In the Azure portal, on the Pulse Secure PCS application integration page, find the Manage section and select single sign-on.
On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.
On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, click the edit/pen icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

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.cgib. 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=sp1c. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern:
https://[FQDN of PCS]/dana-na/auth/saml-consumer.cgiNote
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 in the Azure portal.
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.

On the Set up Pulse Secure PCS section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

Create an Azure AD test user
In this section, you'll create a test user in the Azure portal called B.Simon.
- From the left pane in the Azure portal, select Azure Active Directory, select Users, and then select All users.
- Select New user at the top of the screen.
- In the User properties, follow these steps:
- In the Name field, enter
B.Simon. - In the User name field, enter the username@companydomain.extension. For example,
B.Simon@contoso.com. - Select the Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.
- Click Create.
- In the Name field, enter
Assign the Azure AD test user
In this section, you'll enable B.Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to Pulse Secure PCS.
- In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
- In the applications list, select Pulse Secure PCS.
- In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.
- Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
- In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
- 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.
- 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 Azure AD as SAML Metadata Provider
- Configuring SAML Auth Server
- Assigning to respective Realms and Roles
Configuring Azure AD as SAML Metadata Provider
Perform the following steps in the following page:

- Log into the Pulse Connect Secure admin console
- Navigate to System -> Configuration -> SAML
- Click on New Metadata Provider
- Provide the valid Name in the Name textbox
- Upload the downloaded metadata XML file from Azure portal into the Azure AD metadata file.
- Select Accept Unsigned Metadata
- Select Roles as Identity Provider
- Click on Save changes.
Steps to create a SAML Auth Server:
Navigate to Authentication -> Auth Servers
Select New: SAML Server and click New Server

Perform the following steps in the settings page:

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 in the Azure portal.
d. Select Azure AD Entity Id value from the Identity Provider Entity Id drop down list.
e. Select Azure AD 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 Azure AD single sign-on configuration with following options.
Click on Test this application in Azure portal. This will redirect to Pulse Secure PCS Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.
Go to Pulse Secure PCS Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.
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.
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