Accessing Zoho via Azure using SAML
By configuring SAML based SSO with Azure, you can let your users sign in to Zoho using their Azure credentials.
Required items from Azure
You will need the following items from Azure to configure SAML in Zoho. You can follow the configuration steps to get these from Azure.
- Certificate (Base 64)
- Login URL
- Logout URL
Steps to configure SAML
A. Create an app in Azure
- Sign in to your Microsoft Azure portal as an admin.
- Under Azure services, click Azure Active Directory (or) find Active Directory using the search bar at the top.
- Click Enterprise applications under Manage in the left navigation menu.
- Click All Applications, then click New application.
- Click Create your own application.
- Enter a name for your application under What's the name of your app?.
- Select Integrate any other application you don't find in the gallery, then click Create. Your app will be created and you will be redirected to the app's page.
B. Configure Zoho details in Azure
- In a new tab, sign in at accounts.zoho.com.
- Go to Organization from the left menu. If you can't find Organization, click View more.
- Under SAML Authentication, click Download Metadata. A file named zohometadata.xml will be downloaded.
- Open the metadata file using a browser or a text editor.
- From the metadata file, copy and save the Entity ID and ACS URL.
- Return to the app's page in Azure portal.
- Click Set up single sign-on under the Getting Started section.
- Select SAML.
- Go to Step 1: Basic SAML Configuration, then click Edit.
- Paste the copied Entity ID in the Identifier field.
- Paste the copied ACS URL in the Reply URL field.
- (optional) In the Sign On URL field, enter the URL in the following format:https://<accounts-url>/samlauthrequest/<orgid>?serviceurl=<service-url>
- <accounts-url> : The first part of the ACS URL after https://. For example, accounts.zoho.eu
- <orgid> : The last (numeric) part of the ACS URL
- <service-url> : The URL of the service you want your users to access. E.g., https://mail.zoho.com for Zoho Mail. (The ".com" should be whatever the domain present in your ACS URL.)
- (optional) In the Relay State field, enter the same service URL you have entered in the previous step. For example, https://mail.zoho.com.
- Click Save.
C. Configure Azure details in Zoho
- Go to Step 3: SAML Signing Certificate, and download Certificate (Base 64).
- Go to Step 4: Set up {application name}, and copy the Login URL and Logout URL.
- Return to the SAML Authentication page in accounts.zoho.com.
- Configure SAML in your Zoho account using the downloaded certificate and copied URLs from Azure.
- Paste the Login URL in the Sign-in URL field.
- Paste the Logout URL in the Sign-out URL field.
- Upload the Certificate in the X.509 Certificate field.
- Click Configure.
Assign users to the app in Azure
Your users in Azure can use this newly configured Zoho app to sign in to Zoho. However, before that, you need to assign your users to this app. You can follow the instructions in the following Azure article to assign your users to the app.
Test the SAML configuration
You can test if the configuration is working properly using the following steps as a user in Azure.
SP-initiated flow:
- Go to your Zoho sign-in page.
- Enter your email address, then click Next. You will be redirected to Azure for authentication.
- If you are not signed in to Azure already, enter your Azure credentials to sign in. You will now be redirected back to Zoho and will be signed in.
IdP-initiated flow:
- Go to myapplications.microsoft.com.
- Click on the Zoho app you have configured. You will be redirected to Zoho and will be signed in.
Enable single logout (SLO)
Azure
supports both IdP-initiated and SP-initiated single log-out. If you
enable single logout, when your users sign out from Zoho, they will be
automatically signed out from Azure and vice-versa.
Steps to enable single log-out:
- Sign in to your Microsoft Azure portal as an admin.
- Go to the configured application's page.
- Click Single sign-on in the left menu.
- Go to Step 4: Set up {app name}, then copy the Logout URL.
- Go to SAML Authentication at accounts.zoho.com, then click Edit.
- Enter the copied URL in the Sign-out URL field.
- Select Do you need a sign-out response?.
- Click Configure. You may need to re-enter the X.509 certificate before this.
- Click Download Metadata.
- Open the downloaded file using a browser or a text editor, then copy the Single Logout URL present under the tag <md: SingleLogoutService>.
- Return to the Azure portal.
- Click Edit next to Step 1: Basic Configuration.
- Enter the copied Single logout URL in the Logout URL field, then click Save.
If you encounter any errors while signing in using SAML, you can refer to our troubleshooting guide.
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