Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Opal

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

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

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
  • Opal single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.
  • Along with Cloud Application Administrator, Application Administrator can also add or manage applications in Microsoft Entra ID. For more information, see Azure built-in roles.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO in a test environment.

  • Opal supports 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 Opal into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Opal 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 Opal in the search box.
  4. Select Opal 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 Opal

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Opal 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 Opal.

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

    Screenshot shows to edit Basic S A M L Configuration.

  5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier text box, type the value: Opal

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<subdomain>.ouropal.com/auth/saml/callback

    Note

    The Reply URL value is not real. Update the value with the actual Reply URL. Contact Opal Client support team to get the value. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

  6. Opal application expects the SAML assertions in a specific format, which requires you to add custom attribute mappings to your SAML token attributes configuration. The following screenshot shows the list of default attributes.

    Screenshot shows the image of Opal application.

  7. In addition to above, Opal application expects few more attributes to be passed back in SAML response which are shown below. These attributes are also pre populated but you can review them as per your requirement.

    Name Source Attribute
    firstname user.givenname
    lastname user.surname
  8. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Federation Metadata XML and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    Screenshot shows the Certificate download link.

  9. On the Set up Opal section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Screenshot shows to copy configuration appropriate U R L.

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 Opal.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Opal.
  3. In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.
  4. Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
  5. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
  6. If you're expecting any role value in the SAML assertion, in the Select Role dialog, select the appropriate role for the user from the list and then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
  7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Opal SSO

To configure single sign-on on Opal side, you need to send the downloaded Federation Metadata XML and appropriate copied URLs from the application configuration to Opal support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Opal test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in Opal. Work with Opal support team to add the users in the Opal 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, and you should be automatically signed in to the Opal for which you set up the SSO.

  • You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the Opal tile in the My Apps, you should be automatically signed in to the Opal for which you set up the SSO. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Opal 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 Cloud App Security.