Tutorial: Azure AD SSO integration with SkyDesk Email

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate SkyDesk Email with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). When you integrate SkyDesk Email with Azure AD, you can:

  • Control in Azure AD who has access to SkyDesk Email.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to SkyDesk Email 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.
  • SkyDesk Email single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • SkyDesk Email supports SP 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 SkyDesk Email into Azure AD, you need to add SkyDesk Email from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal using either a work or school account, or a personal Microsoft account.
  2. On the left navigation pane, select the Azure Active Directory service.
  3. Navigate to Enterprise Applications and then select All Applications.
  4. To add new application, select New application.
  5. In the Add from the gallery section, type SkyDesk Email in the search box.
  6. Select SkyDesk Email 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 SkyDesk Email

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with SkyDesk Email 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 SkyDesk Email.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with SkyDesk Email, perform the following steps:

  1. Configure Azure AD SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
    1. Create an Azure AD test user - to test Azure AD single sign-on with B.Simon.
    2. Assign the Azure AD test user - to enable B.Simon to use Azure AD single sign-on.
  2. Configure SkyDesk Email SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create SkyDesk Email test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in SkyDesk Email that is linked to the Azure AD representation of user.
  3. Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Azure AD SSO

Follow these steps to enable Azure AD SSO in the Azure portal.

  1. In the Azure portal, on the SkyDesk Email application integration page, find the Manage section and select single sign-on.

  2. On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.

  3. 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

  4. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, perform the following step:

    In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://mail.skydesk.jp/portal/<companyname>

    Note

    The value is not real. Update the value with the actual Sign-On URL. Contact SkyDesk Email Client support team to get the value. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section in the Azure portal.

  5. 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

  6. On the Set up SkyDesk Email section, copy the appropriate URL(s) as per your requirement.

    Copy configuration URLs

Create an Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll create a test user in the Azure portal called B.Simon.

  1. From the left pane in the Azure portal, select Azure Active Directory, select Users, and then select All users.
  2. Select New user at the top of the screen.
  3. In the User properties, follow these steps:
    1. In the Name field, enter B.Simon.
    2. In the User 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. Click Create.

Assign the Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll enable B.Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to SkyDesk Email.

  1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.
  2. In the applications list, select SkyDesk Email.
  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 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.
  7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure SkyDesk Email SSO

  1. In a different web browser, sign-on to your SkyDesk Email account as administrator.

  2. In the menu on the top, click Setup, and select Org.

    Screenshot shows Org selected from the Setup menu.

  3. Click on Domains from the left panel.

    Screenshot shows Domains selected from Control Panel.

  4. Click on Add Domain.

    Screenshot shows Add Domain selected.

  5. Enter your Domain name, and then verify the Domain.

    Screenshot shows the Add Domain tab where you can enter your domain.

  6. Click on SAML Authentication from the left panel.

    Screenshot shows SAML Authentication selected from Control Panel.

  7. On the SAML Authentication dialog page, perform the following steps:

    Screenshot shows the SAML Authentication Details dialog box where you can enter the values described.

    Note

    To use SAML based authentication, you should either have verified domain or portal URL setup. You can set the portal URL with the unique name.

    Screenshot shows the Portal U R L where you enter the name.

    a. In the Login URL textbox, paste the value of Login URL, which you have copied from Azure portal.

    b. In the Logout URL textbox, paste the value of Logout URL, which you have copied from Azure portal.

    c. Change Password URL is optional so leave it blank.

    d. Click on Get Key From File to select your downloaded certificate from Azure portal, and then click Open to upload the certificate.

    e. As Algorithm, select RSA.

    f. Click Ok to save the changes.

Create SkyDesk Email test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in SkyDesk Email.

Click on User Access from the left panel in SkyDesk Email and then enter your username.

Screenshot shows User Access selected from Control Panel.

Note

If you need to create bulk users, you need to contact the SkyDesk Email Client support team.

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 SkyDesk Email Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

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

  • You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the SkyDesk Email tile in the My Apps, this will redirect to SkyDesk Email Sign-on URL. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure SkyDesk Email 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.