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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Zoho One

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

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

Prerequisites

To configure Microsoft Entra integration with Zoho One, you need the following items:

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

Scenario description

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

  • Zoho One supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

Note

Identifier of this application is a fixed string value so only one instance can be configured in one tenant.

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Zoho One 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 Zoho One.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Zoho One, 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 Zoho One SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Zoho One test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Zoho One 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 > Zoho One > 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, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier text box, type the value: one.zoho.com

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://accounts.zoho.com/samlresponse/<saml-identifier>

    Note

    The preceding Reply URL value is not real. You will get the <saml-identifier> value from #step4 of Configure Zoho One Single Sign-On section, which is explained later in the tutorial.

    c. Click Set additional URLs.

    d. In the Relay State text box, type the URL: https://one.zoho.com

  6. If you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode, perform the following step:

    In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://accounts.zoho.com/samlauthrequest/<domain_name>?serviceurl=https://one.zoho.com

    Note

    The preceding Sign-on URL value is not real. You will update the value with the actual Sign-On URL from the Configure Zoho One Single Sign-On section, which is explained later in the tutorial.

  7. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Download to download the Certificate (Base64) from the given options as per your requirement and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  8. On the Set up Zoho One section, copy the appropriate URL(s) as per your requirement.

    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 Zoho One.

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

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

  2. On the Organization tab, Click Setup under SAML Authentication.

    Zoho One org

  3. On the Pop-up page perform the following steps:

    Zoho One sig

    a. In the Sign-in URL textbox, paste the value of Login URL.

    b. In the Sign-out URL textbox, paste the value of Logout URL.

    c. Click Browse to upload the Certificate (Base64) which you have downloaded previously.

    d. Click Save.

  4. After saving the SAML Authentication setup, copy the SAML-Identifier value and append it with the Reply URL in place of <saml-identifier>, like https://accounts.zoho.com/samlresponse/one.zoho.com and paste the generated value in the Reply URL textbox under Basic SAML Configuration section.

    Zoho One saml

  5. Go to the Domains tab and then click Add Domain.

    Zoho One domain

  6. On the Add Domain page, perform the following steps:

    Zoho One add domain

    a. In the Domain Name textbox, type domain like contoso.com.

    b. Click Add.

    Note

    After adding the domain follow these steps to verify your domain. Once the domain is verified, use your domain name in Sign-on URL in Basic SAML Configuration section in Azure portal.

Create Zoho One test user

To enable Microsoft Entra users to sign in to Zoho One, they must be provisioned into Zoho One. In Zoho One, provisioning is a manual task.

To provision a user account, perform the following steps:

  1. Sign in to Zoho One as a Security Administrator.

  2. On the Users tab, Click on user logo.

    Zoho One user

  3. On the Add User page, perform the following steps:

    Zoho One add user

    a. In Name text box, enter the name of user like Britta simon.

    b. In Email Address text box, enter the email of user like brittasimon@contoso.com.

    Note

    Select your verified domain from the domain list.

    c. Click Add.

Test SSO

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

SP initiated:

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

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

IDP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the Zoho One for which you set up the SSO.

You can also use Microsoft My Apps to test the application in any mode. When you click the Zoho One tile in the My Apps, if configured in SP mode you would be redirected to the application sign on page for initiating the login flow and if configured in IDP mode, you should be automatically signed in to the Zoho One for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Zoho One 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.