A Step-by-Step Guide to Azure AD Configuration

To set up Azure AD, you'll need to create a tenant. A tenant is the central hub for managing your organization's identity and access.

First, go to the Azure portal and sign in with your Microsoft account. You can then click on the "Azure Active Directory" button to start the configuration process.

Next, you'll need to create a directory. This is the foundation of your Azure AD tenant.

Once you've created your directory, you can start adding users and groups. This will allow you to manage access to your organization's resources.

Azure AD supports multiple user authentication methods, including password, multi-factor authentication, and smart card authentication.

Azure AD configuration is a crucial step in integrating your organization's systems with Azure Active Directory. Azure AD Connect provides several configuration and customization options for more complex environments.

To configure Azure AD, you can map your existing user groups from Automation Cloud to new or existing groups in Azure AD. This ensures that users keep the same permissions and robot setup. You can do this by adding any new users to an Azure AD group if the group has the required roles already assigned.

For example, let's say the Administrators group in Automation Cloud includes the users Anna, Tom, and John. These same users are also in a group in Azure AD called admins. The organization administrator can add the admins Azure group to the Administrators group in Automation Cloud. This way, Anna, Tom, and John, as members of the admins Azure AD group, all benefit from the roles of the Administrators group in Automation Cloud.

To set up Azure AD Connect, you need to establish a connection to your on-premises Active Directory, which is crucial for synchronization to work correctly. The configuration wizard guides you through this process, allowing you to specify the domain controllers to use for synchronization.

You can filter users and groups based on organizational units, domains, and specific attributes, which is essential for organizations with large directories or complex Active Directory structures. This ensures that only the required users and groups are synchronized to Azure AD.

Azure AD Connect supports group writeback and device registration, allowing groups created in Azure AD to be synchronized back to the on-premises Active Directory. This ensures seamless integration of devices into your hybrid identity solution.

Synchronization schedules can be configured to ensure that changes in your on-premises Active Directory are regularly and promptly reflected in Azure AD. This helps maintain consistency and minimizes the delay in user provisioning and deprovisioning.

The initial synchronization process may take some time to complete, especially for organizations with large directories. However, Azure AD Connect is designed to handle this scenario efficiently.

To configure Azure AD Connect, you need to choose the source anchor attribute, select user and group filtering options, and define custom settings for user provisioning and password writeback. This allows you to tailor Azure AD Connect to your organization's specific needs.

Here are the prerequisites and system requirements for Azure AD Connect:

By following these configuration steps and meeting the system requirements, you can set up Azure AD Connect and establish a robust hybrid identity environment that enhances security, user experience, and organizational productivity.

You'll encounter a URI mismatch issue if the redirect URI you're using doesn't match what you've configured for your Azure app.

Azure requires the redirect URI to start with https://, unless you're using localhost as the domain.

If your HTTP server is misconfigured or sitting behind a load balancer, NetBox won't be aware that HTTPS is being used, so you'll need to set SOCIAL_AUTH_REDIRECT_IS_HTTPS = True in configuration.py.

When setting up Azure AD Connect, you'll need to decide between an express or custom installation. The express setup is suitable for environments with a single Active Directory forest and less than 100,000 objects.

If you're working with a smaller environment, the express setup enables single sign-on using password hash synchronization from on-premises to Azure. This is a great option for getting started quickly.

However, if you have multiple on-premises AD forests or more than 100,000 objects in a single forest, you'll need to use the custom setup option. This provides additional features like federation and pass-through authentication.

To begin the express installation process, launch the installation wizard and review the license terms and conditions. You'll then need to select the installation type, which may require custom configurations.

Next, sign in with your Azure AD global administrator account. Be prepared to add URLs to trusted sites if necessary to avoid errors.

You'll also need to establish a connection to your on-premises Active Directory and configure Azure AD sign-in settings. This may involve verifying a 365 domain, and if necessary, checking a box to continue setup without matching all UPN suffixes.

Before proceeding, review the configuration settings and click 'Install' to begin the installation process.

User Management is a crucial aspect of Azure AD configuration. It ensures that users have the same access rights and group memberships in both on-premises Active Directory and Azure Active Directory.

To achieve this, Azure AD Connect synchronizes user accounts, groups, and attributes between the two environments. This can be done unidirectionally or bidirectionally, allowing for a flexible configuration.

You should remove all inactive users from the Automation Cloud organization before proceeding to the next step, especially if your organization practices email recycling.

Inactive users can lead to a risk of elevated access if an email address that was used in the past is assigned to a new user in the future.

To prevent such situations, make sure to clean up inactive users before integrating Automation Cloud with Azure AD.

After the integration is running, communicate to all your users to sign out of their local account and sign in again with their Azure AD account.

Migrated users receive the combined permissions directly assigned to them in Automation Cloud along with those from their Azure AD groups.

Here's a step-by-step guide to assigning users and groups:

You can also configure groups for permissions and robots by mapping your existing user groups from Automation Cloud to new or existing groups in Azure AD.

This ensures that users keep the same permissions and robot setup.

Here are the two ways to do this:

Remember to verify any roles specifically assigned to users, and if feasible, remove these direct role assignments, and add these users into groups already assigned with these roles.