Deploying ADFS and Azure for Seamless Identity Management

ADFS, or Active Directory Federation Services, is a single sign-on solution that allows users to access multiple applications and resources with a single set of credentials.

It's a crucial component in modern identity management, and when combined with Azure, it becomes a powerful tool for seamless identity management.

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) can be integrated with ADFS to provide a more robust identity management solution.

This integration allows for the synchronization of user identities between ADFS and Azure AD, enabling users to access cloud-based applications and resources without the need for additional credentials.

To design and configure your AD FS infrastructure in Azure, you should deploy AD FS on separate servers to avoid affecting the performance of your domain controllers.

You'll also need to deploy web application proxy (WAP) servers so that users can reach the AD FS when they aren't on the company network. This is a crucial step to ensure seamless access to your organization's web applications.

For high availability, we recommend using an internal load balancer for AD FS servers and Azure Load Balancer for web application proxy servers. This setup ensures that at least one server is available during planned or unplanned maintenance events.

To provide redundancy, group two or more virtual machines (VMs) in an availability set for similar workloads. This configuration ensures that during a maintenance event, at least one VM is available.

Here are some key design principles to keep in mind:

When designing your AD FS infrastructure in Azure, it's essential to follow some basic principles to ensure high availability and performance.

Deploy AD FS on separate servers to avoid affecting the performance of your domain controllers.

To provide redundancy to your AD FS deployment, group two or more virtual machines (VMs) in an availability set for similar workloads. This configuration ensures that during either a planned or unplanned maintenance event, at least one VM is available.

You should also deploy web application proxy servers in a separate DMZ network, such as an isolated subnet, and only allow required communication between the two subnets.

Here are some key design principles to keep in mind:

When extending your deployment to a new geographical region, it's crucial to consider the following points:

To configure web application proxy servers to reach AD FS servers, you need to create a record in the hosts file for the ILB. The distinguished name should be the federation service name, such as fs.contoso.com.

The IP entry should be the ILB's IP address, which is 10.3.0.8 in this example. This is crucial for web application proxy servers to enroll successfully.

If you're using the Windows Internal Database for your AD FS database, you'll need to set the value to temporarily point to your primary AD FS server.

The Azure AD migration process is a crucial step in transitioning users and applications to Azure AD. This process involves transitioning users and applications to Azure AD.

To ensure a smooth migration, it's essential to use tools like Azure AD Connect Health for AD FS. This helps monitor the health of your AD FS environment during the migration process.

Decommissioning the AD FS environment upon completion is also a critical step in the migration process. This ensures a consistent single sign-on experience for users.

To update the ILB DNS server, create an A record for the federation service with the IP address pointing to the ILB's IP address. For example, if the ILB IP address is 10.3.0.8 and the federation service is fs.contoso.com, create an A record for fs.contoso.com pointing to 10.3.0.8.

If you're using the Windows Internal Database for your AD FS database, temporarily set this value to point to your primary AD FS server. This is necessary to prevent the web application proxy from failing enrollment.

In addition to the A record, create a corresponding AAAA record if your deployment is using IPv6. This will ensure that both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic can reach the ILB.

To ensure that web application proxy servers can reach the AD FS servers behind the ILB, create a record in the hosts file for the ILB. The distinguished name should be the federation service name, such as fs.contoso.com, and the IP entry should be the ILB's IP address.

If you're using the Windows Internal Database for your AD FS database, temporarily set this value to point to your primary AD FS server. This is necessary to prevent the web application proxy from failing enrollment.

The template for deploying Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) in Azure is a powerful tool that allows you to customize the deployment process to suit your needs.

You can use an existing virtual network or create a new one while deploying the template. The parameters you can use to customize the deployment are listed in the table below.

The template also allows you to specify the internal IP addresses for the Domain Controllers, AD FS servers, and WAP servers. You can statically assign IP addresses to these servers, which must be valid IP addresses within the internal subnet.

You can also specify the VM name prefix, size, and administrator credentials for the Domain Controllers, AD FS servers, and WAP servers. This allows you to customize the deployment process to suit your specific needs.

The migration process is a crucial step in deploying Azure AD. It involves transitioning users and applications to Azure AD, ensuring a consistent single sign-on experience.

To start, you'll need to prioritize applications based on factors like compatibility with Azure AD and the complexity of claim rules. This will help you simplify the process of app migration.

Azure AD Connect Health for AD FS is a useful tool for monitoring the health of your AD FS environment during migration. This can help you identify potential issues before they become major problems.

Decommissioning the AD FS environment is a key part of the migration process. This will help you ensure a seamless transition to Azure AD and avoid any potential security risks.

Deploying your Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) in a new geographical region can be a complex task, but it's a crucial step in expanding your organization's reach.

You can deploy AD FS in the new geographical region by following the steps and guidelines in AD FS deployment in Azure.

It's essential to replicate the same topology in the new region to ensure seamless integration and functionality.

Follow the steps and guidelines in AD FS deployment in Azure to deploy the same topology in the new geographical region.

AD FS uses HTTPS, so make sure that the NSG rules for the subnet containing the web tier VMs permit HTTPS requests. These requests can originate from the on-premises network, the subnets containing the web tier, business tier, data tier, private DMZ, public DMZ, and the subnet containing the AD FS servers.

Preventing direct exposure of the AD FS servers to the Internet is crucial, as domain-joined computers with full authorization to grant security tokens can be compromised, allowing malicious users to issue full access tokens to all web applications and federation servers.

AD FS servers should be placed in separate subnets with their own firewalls, and WAP servers should be in their own subnets as well. This setup allows for better control and segregation of traffic.

Azure AD's entitlement management feature automates the process of resource assignment and access reviews, streamlining identity governance. This feature is a crucial aspect of identity governance and entitlement management.

All firewalls should allow traffic on port 443 (HTTPS), and NSG rules can be used to define firewall rules. This ensures that necessary traffic can pass through while keeping the network secure.

Direct sign in access to the AD FS and WAP servers should be restricted to DevOps staff only, and WAP servers should not be joined to the domain. This helps prevent unauthorized access to sensitive systems.

Performance and reliability are crucial aspects of any AD FS deployment, especially when hosted in Azure. For smaller deployments with fewer than 1000 users, installing AD FS on each Active Directory DS server in the cloud is a viable option, as long as there are at least two servers to maintain availability.

To increase availability, create an AD FS farm with at least two servers, and use different storage accounts for each AD FS VM in the farm. This approach helps prevent a failure in a single storage account from making the entire farm inaccessible.

For larger deployments, consider the following guidelines for sizing AD FS farms: if you have between 1000 and 15,000 users, create two dedicated AD FS servers and two dedicated WAP servers. If you have between 15,000 and 60,000 users, create between three and five dedicated AD FS servers and at least two dedicated WAP servers.

To ensure reliability, create separate Azure availability sets for the AD FS and WAP VMs, with at least two VMs in each set and at least two update domains and two fault domains. Use an Azure load balancer to provide external access to the WAP VMs and distribute the load across the AD FS servers in the farm.

Here's a summary of the recommended AD FS farm configurations based on user count:

Performance efficiency is crucial for your workload to scale to meet user demands in an efficient manner. This means ensuring that your system can handle a large number of users without slowing down.

To size your AD FS farms, consider the number of users you have. If you have fewer than 1000 users, installing AD FS on each Active Directory DS server in the cloud is a good starting point. This way, you can maintain availability with at least two Active Directory DS servers and a single WAP server.

If you have between 1000 and 15,000 users, creating two dedicated AD FS servers and two dedicated WAP servers is a good approach. This will help your system scale to meet the demands of your users.

For larger organizations with between 15,000 and 60,000 users, you'll need to create between three and five dedicated AD FS servers and at least two dedicated WAP servers. This will ensure that your system can handle the increased load.

Here's a summary of the recommended server configurations based on the number of users:

Having a reliable application is crucial for making commitments to your customers. You can create an AD FS farm with at least two servers to increase availability of the service.

Using different storage accounts for each AD FS VM in the farm helps ensure that a failure in a single storage account doesn't make the entire farm inaccessible. This is a good practice to follow.

Create separate Azure availability sets for the AD FS and WAP VMs. Each availability set must have at least two update domains and two fault domains.

To provide external access to the WAP VMs, use an Azure load balancer. This will also help distribute the load across the AD FS servers in the farm.

Only pass traffic appearing on port 443 (HTTPS) to the AD FS/WAP servers. This is an important security measure to take.

Give the load balancer a static IP address. This will make it easier to manage and access the load balancer.

Create a health probe using HTTP against /adfs/probe. This will help ensure that the AD FS servers are functioning properly.

Here are the key steps to create a reliable AD FS farm:

You can use either SQL Server or the Windows Internal Database to hold AD FS configuration information. The Windows Internal Database provides basic redundancy.