
## Why Azure AD SSO is Important for Modern Enterprises? {#why-is-azure-ad-important}

The workforce of modern enterprises often faces the challenge of managing multiple applications and systems, each requiring separate login credentials. This exposes their employees to more frustration, less productivity, and higher security risks. To address these challenges, [Single Sign-On (SSO)](https://www.miniorange.com/products/single-sign-on-sso) using existing Azure AD emerges as a critical solution for modern-day organizations.

### What is Azure AD Single Sign On (SSO)? {#what-is-azure-ad-sso}

Azure AD is a popular directory used by most enterprises to store their data, applications, user information, etc. **Azure AD Single Sign-On (SSO)** is a cloud-based authentication service provided by Microsoft, which allows users to securely access multiple applications and resources within the Active Directory using a single set of login credentials. 

With Azure AD SSO, your employees authenticate themselves once and gain seamless access to various applications they require, without the need to provide credentials again for each individual application. This saves time and increases productivity. With fewer passwords to manage, this mode of authentication increases safety and significantly lowers password theft threats.

Azure AD SSO leverages industry-standard protocols such as Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) or OpenID Connect to establish trust between the identity provider (Azure AD) and the applications. When a user attempts to access an application, Azure handles the authentication process behind the scenes in the backend, validating the user's identity and providing the necessary access tokens to the application.

### 3 Reasons Why Enterprises Should Implement Azure AD SSO {#3-reasons-to-implement-azure-ad-sso}

**1.Simply the User Experience:** The seamless login process provided by Azure AD SSO eliminates the need for users to remember and enter multiple login credentials, saving time and increasing productivity.

**2.Enable Centralized Identity Management:** When Azure AD SSO is implemented, Azure AD serves as a centralized identity management hub, streamlining the user provisioning, de-provisioning, and access control, improving operational efficiency.

**3.Say Bye to Password Management:** Password-related problems are eliminated when users can log in to multiple apps with a single set of credentials via Single Sign-On. Hence, there is no need to manage multiple passwords for different apps.

### How to Enable SSO For Apps Not Supporting SAML Protocol? {#sso-for-apps-that-dont-support-saml}  
With [Azure AD SSO integration](https://www.miniorange.com/iam/login-with-external-idp/configure-azure-ad-sso#step2), SSO can be enabled for applications that support SAML & Open ID protocols, but many organizations use applications that do not support any SSO Protocol or use something else for delegated authentication. For such unique use cases, miniOrange’s Proprietary Azure AD SSO solution is the perfect solution. 

### Easy SSO Deployment with miniOrange {#easy-sso-deployment-with-miniorange}

[miniOrange solution](https://www.miniorange.com/products/identity-broker-service) works like a third-party provider, where it keeps the Azure AD as IDP and enables SSO for all applications. In case the app does not support SAML, but supports other standard protocols, then to enable SSO, miniOrange can act as a middleman to facilitate communication between Azure AD and your application by converting SAML responses to app-specific protocol responses that the app can easily understand. If the application doesn't support any known protocols, then **miniOrange provides custom solutions** (like Connectors, etc.) to enable SSO. miniOrange also provides APIs that developers can easily integrate with the respective applications for authentication or authorization.

### User & Group Sync between Azure AD and any Databases/IDPs {#user-and-group-sync}

With [miniOrange User & Group Sync](https://www.miniorange.com/azure-ad-provisioning) admins can effectively synchronize user and group data stored in Azure AD with any external directories, IDPs, and applications. This eliminates the need for manual user and group creation and enables the syncing of custom attributes across different places. The sync can be scheduled or executed manually, significantly reducing administrative time and minimizing errors. Its seamless integration is invaluable for efficient user management. miniOrange can create, read, and update user accounts for new or existing users, remove accounts for deactivated users, and synchronize attributes across **multiple databases, IDPs, directories, and the applications** that the user needs access to.

### 5 Reasons Why Organizations Should Implement Azure AD SSO Via miniOrange  {#5-reasons-to-choose-miniorange-azure-ad-sso}   

1. **Multi-Platform Support:** The miniOrange solution for Azure AD SSO offers broad support for a wide range of platforms, applications, and protocols, allowing organizations to enable SSO across various systems, both cloud-based and on-premises. Also, there is a range of **pre-built integrations and connectors** for popular enterprise applications, simplifying the SSO implementation process.
2. **Ease of Use and Configuration:** For configuration processes to SSO, you can leverage miniOrange’s user-friendly interfaces to make the process streamlined. Get comprehensive administration consoles with intuitive workflows, making it easier for administrators to set up and manage SSO for the entire organization.
3. **Identity Management Features:** miniOrange offers advanced [identity management capabilities](https://www.miniorange.com/iam/workforce-identity) beyond SSO. These include features such as user provisioning and de-provisioning, [Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA),](https://www.miniorange.com/products/multi-factor-authentication-mfa) password management, directory integration, and detailed access controls. These additional features can enhance security and streamline user management processes.
4. **Flexibility and Customization:** While Azure AD offers SSO capabilities, miniOrange generally provides more flexibility and customization options by offering **extensive API support, developer tools, and customization capabilities,** allowing organizations to tailor their SSO implementation to specific business requirements and integrate with custom applications.
5. **Third-Party Integration Ecosystem:** miniOrange has well-established ecosystems with a wide range of third-party integrations. These integrations enable organizations to connect their SSO implementation with other tools and services, such as **HR systems, CRMs, collaboration platforms, and security solutions,** enhancing the overall identity and access management capabilities of the organization.


If you want to try out the miniOrange solution and see how it works for your organization, then you can opt for the **30-day full-feature free trial with POC.** To know more, click on this link: https://www.miniorange.com/iam/login-with-external-idp/configure-azure-ad-sso 



### FAQ {#faq}

**1. What is Azure AD SAML SSO?**  
SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between identity providers (such as Azure AD) and service providers (applications). Azure AD SAML SSO (Security Assertion Markup Language Single Sign-On) is a specific implementation of Azure AD SSO that utilizes the SAML protocol for secure authentication. Azure AD SAML SSO is the best option for businesses that use on-premise applications mostly and want to implement a streamlined authentication method to increase productivity among their employees & strengthen overall data security.

**2. Is Azure AD SSO different from Azure AD Seamless SSO?**

Azure AD SSO focuses on providing Single Sign-On capabilities with centralized user management and enhanced security, which is best suited for on-premise environments. Protocols like SAML and OpenID Connect are utilized to establish trust between the identity provider (Azure AD) and the applications. Whereas, Azure AD Seamless SSO takes it a step further by offering a more streamlined and transparent authentication experience, especially for organizations with a hybrid environment. Users are automatically signed in to applications when they are on their corporate network and connected to their domain-joined devices.
 














Learn how Enterpises can implement SSO with Azure AD Integration by leveraging the miniOrange solution.

Azure Active Directory SSO for Enterpises | Azure AD Integration


### What is Azure Active Directory? {#what-is-azure-active-directory}

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is Microsoft’s cloud service that provides identity and access management (IAM). It is part of the Office 365 system, it is compatible with an on-premise active directory, and is useful to provide authentication to multiple cloud-based services via various cloud protocols such as SAML, OAuth2, and WS Security. It provides the ability to manage user identities and access rights. Azure AD combines core directory services, access management, and identity protection into a single solution.

Azure AD allows your users to sign in and access the resources which are in external resources such as Office 365 and thousands of other Software as a service (SaaS) applications. It also allows your users to gain access to internal resources such as applications on your company network and intranet. Azure AD uses Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs to connect with other web-based applications. In this directory, the admin has the capability to create groups and add accounts to those groups. Group access to resources can then be assigned to them. Mobile devices and Windows desktops can connect to Azure AD using Microsoft Intune.

### How does Azure Active Directory work? {#how-does-azure-active-directory-work}

The Azure Active Directory Authentication takes place in the following steps:

- The user navigates to the application and requests access.
- An authentication request is sent to the miniOrange Broker Service.
miniOrange Broker identifies the Azure AD and sends authentication requests to Azure AD.
- Azure Active Directory authenticates the user and generates the SAML token, LDAP authentication Response is sent to the broker.
- miniOrange broker posts the SAML response to the Service provider (Application) via the user’s browser.
- The service provider (Application) verifies the SAML response and access is granted to the user.

![Azure Active Directory Authentication Flow](/blog/assets/2023/azure-active-directory-authentication-flow.webp)

### Windows Active Directory vs Azure Active Directory {#windows-active-directory-vs-azure-active-directory}

Windows Active Directory, launched by Microsoft in 2000, is the predecessor to the Azure Active Directory, which has become the standard for enterprise identity management since its launch. Unlike Azure Active Directory, the Windows Active Directory uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to connect with other web-based applications. It also does not manage mobile devices. Group Policies (GPOs) are usually used to govern desktops and servers connected to Windows Active Directory. Finally, Kerberos and NTLM protocols are used to validate user credentials.

Because of the limitations of Windows Active Directory in cloud contexts, Microsoft created Azure Active Directory. Users may use Azure AD to manage all of their cloud apps and servers, including Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Exchange Online.

The key distinction between the two platforms is that Azure AD uses Representational State Transfer (REST) API interfaces to provide web-based applications. As previously indicated, it accomplishes this through the use of unique protocols and code bases. You will instantly become an Azure AD Tenant after you register with one of Microsoft’s cloud apps. This means you can manage all users, permissions, passwords, and more from a single location.

### Benefits of azure active directory {#benefits-of-azure-active-directory}

**Simple Integration:**
Because Azure AD supports a wide range of identity providers, users may log in using their Microsoft, Google, Facebook, or GitHub accounts. Azure AD may also be integrated with a variety of apps, including Salesforce, Office 365, and others.

**Strong Azure AD Security:**
Microsoft, as you might assume, takes security very seriously. Multi-factor authentication, conditional access, and Privileged Identity Management (PIM) are just a few of the security features available in Azure AD.

**High Availability:**
Microsoft promises a 99.9% availability guarantee. Azure AD is highly available thanks to a distributed architecture that spans 28 data centers throughout the globe. All data is written to the Active Primary partition first, then duplicated to the Passive Primary, and finally read from the Secondary Replica partitions.

**Collaboration:**
By granting access to the internal project site or material, Azure AD aids collaboration outside the business, such as with partners. Azure AD B2B (business-to-business) and Azure AD B2C (business-to-consumer) are the two major external collaboration functions. You may invite business colleagues to your application or service using the B2B functionality, and they can sign in using their current Azure identity. The B2C functionality is similar, except your clients may sign in to your app or service using their preferred identity provider (Facebook, Google, GitHub, etc.). MFA and Conditional Access rules can be used to control access to resources in both circumstances.

**Single sign-on:**
This allows onboarding new workers, terminating access for outgoing employees, and implementing access to new cloud services easier and faster, allowing users to get up and running faster. Single sign-on also promotes commitment to security and identification rules.

**Multi-Factor Authentication:**
This adds an extra degree of protection to accounts by requiring another form of verification. Microsoft Authenticator app, OATH Hardware token, OATH Software token, SMS, Voice call, and other MFA verification methods are available in Azure AD.

### Limitations of Azure Active Directory Authentication {#limitations-of-azure-active-directory-authentication}

- **Limited MFA methods**: Azure Active Directory Authentication supports limited Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methods.
- **No Group policy**:  It has few policy tools like conditional access, but it is more focused on granting access.
- **No support for NTLM or Kerberos**: Azure AD Authentication supports only modern authentication protocols like OAuth, SAML & OpenID Connect.
- **Limited OAuth support**: It does not have support for all OAuth grants.
- No support to extend or customize existing protocols with custom apps.
- Limited support for Device, location, and time-based access policies.

###  Azure Active Directory Authentication Components {#azure-active-directory-authentication-components}

- **Service Provider** - Service providers are responsible for communications between the user, an identity provider that maintains a user directory. In this case, Azure Active Directory is an identity provider and the application could be a Service provider.
- **Identity Provider** - Here Azure AD is an identity provider. So  As an Identity Provider, it authenticates the user and provides an authentication token (that is, information that verifies the authenticity of the user) to the service provider.

Click [here](https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/security/business/identity-access/microsoft-entra-id) to learn more about Azure Active Directory.

### Azure Active Directory VS miniOrange IdP {#azure-active-directory-vs-miniorange-idp}

| Features                  | Azure Active Directory                                    | miniOrange IdP                                      |
|---------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Multi-Protocol support    | Supports only a few modern authentication protocols (OAuth, SAML & OpenID Connect) | Fully supports all protocols for Authentication.  |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | Supports limited Multi-Factor Authentication methods.  | Supports 15+ Multi-Factor Authentication methods.  |
| Pricing Plans             | A fixed annual subscription. (No quote-based pricing plan). | A flexible monthly & quote-based pricing plan for all size organizations. |
| Security                  | Doesn’t support.                                       | It supports fraud prevention, social login, and cloud security. |
| Adaptive Authentication   | Doesn’t support.                                       | It supports Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication.    |


### Further Reading {#further-reading}

- [Directory Services](https://www.miniorange.com/products/directory-services)
- [Single Sign-On SSO](https://blog.miniorange.com/what-is-single-sign-on-sso/)
- [Login Using Azure AD](https://www.miniorange.com/iam/login-with-external-idp/configure-azure-ad-sso)


Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is cloud service that provides IAM & helps administrators handle multiple user logins.

Azure Active Directory SSO for Enterpises | Azure AD Integration

What is Azure Active Directory? | Microsoft Azure AD