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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with HowNow WebApp SSO

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to HowNow WebApp SSO.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to HowNow WebApp SSO 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.
  • HowNow WebApp SSO single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • HowNow WebApp SSO supports SP initiated SSO

  • HowNow WebApp SSO supports Just In Time user provisioning

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with HowNow WebApp SSO 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 HowNow WebApp SSO.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with HowNow WebApp SSO, 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 HowNow WebApp SSO SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create HowNow WebApp SSO test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in HowNow WebApp SSO 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 > HowNow WebApp SSO > 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 edit/pen icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

    Edit Basic SAML Configuration

  5. 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://<CUSTOMER_NAME>.hownow.app/users/saml/sign_in

    b. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<CUSTOMER_NAME>.hownow.app/users/saml/metadata

    c. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<CUSTOMER_NAME>.hownow.app/users/saml/auth

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Sign on URL, Identifier and Reply URL. Contact HowNow WebApp SSO Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

  6. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Edit button to open SAML Signing Certificate dialog.

    Edit SAML Signing Certificate

  7. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, copy the Thumbprint Value and save it on your computer.

    Copy Thumbprint value

  8. On the Set up HowNow WebApp SSO section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on 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 [email protected]. For example, [email protected].
    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 HowNow WebApp SSO.

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

To configure single sign-on on HowNow WebApp SSO side, you need to send the Thumbprint Value and appropriate copied URLs from the application configuration to HowNow WebApp SSO support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create HowNow WebApp SSO test user

In this section, a user called Britta Simon is created in HowNow WebApp SSO. HowNow WebApp SSO supports just-in-time user provisioning, which is enabled by default. There is no action item for you in this section. If a user doesn't already exist in HowNow WebApp SSO, a new one is created after authentication.

Test SSO

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

  • Click on Test this application, this will redirect to HowNow WebApp SSO Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to HowNow WebApp SSO Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

  • You can use Microsoft Access Panel. When you click the HowNow WebApp SSO tile in the Access Panel, this will redirect to HowNow WebApp SSO Sign-on URL. For more information about the Access Panel, see Introduction to the Access Panel.

Next steps

Once you configure HowNow WebApp SSO 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.