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Configure Google for SSO in your Code42 environment

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Overview

This tutorial explains how to configure your Code42 cloud environment to use single sign-on (SSO) with Google. This article applies to environments in the Code42 cloud only. 

This article assumes you are already familiar with SSO and the SAML standard. For more information about how Code42 implements SSO, see our Introduction to single sign-on.

Compatible Code42 components

The following Code42 components are compatible with SSO:

  • Code42 agents for Windows, Mac, and Linux
  • Code42 console

Considerations

External authentication systems
Our Technical Support Engineers can help with authentication issues caused by interaction with Code42 products. However, troubleshooting authentication issues outside your Code42 environment is beyond the scope of our Technical Support Engineers. For assistance with external authentication systems, contact your authentication vendor.
  • To use this functionality, you must be assigned the Identity Management Administrator role. 
  • Code42 usernames must match SSO usernames. How you accomplish this depends on how you deploy Code42 agents.
  • Code42 supports service provider-initiated SSO but does not support identity provider-initiated SSO. Therefore, users cannot sign in to your Code42 environment from the identity provider's website or application, but instead must log in using a browser bookmark. 
  • SSO provides user authentication but does not provide user management. Set up SCIM provisioning or use the Code42 console to manage users. 
  • Code42 does not support Single Logout (SLO). Users must sign out of the identity provider to end their single sign-on session.
  • The Code42 console expects SAML assertions to be signed. To configure Code42 to support advanced SAML request configurations, see Set SAML attributes for SSO. 

Before you begin

Verify network connectivity

Configure your private network, Internet, and VPN settings to allow client devices to communicate with your identity provider on ports 80 and 443. Test client connectivity to the identity provider before you proceed.

Determine whether you need to configure multiple Code42 tenants

Before you begin configuring SSO for Code42, consider whether your company has more than one Code42 tenant that you need to connect to your SSO identity provider. Large companies and organizations often have separate, dedicated Code42 cloud instances (or "tenants") in use by different groups or departments. 

If you have more than one Code42 tenant to connect to your SSO identity provider, you need to obtain an entity ID URL for each Code42 tenant. An entity ID is a unique string that identifies a specific tenant to your SSO identity provider. The tenant-specific entity ID URL is composed of the Code42 domain followed by the tenant ID, and can be found in the Code42 service provider metadata URL file in each tenant. For example:

"entityId": "https://example.com/42424daa-424c-4e42-42c4-c424242420d4"

Step 1: Determine the URLs for your Code42 environment

When you configure an identity provider to connect to Code42, typically you must provide the Code42 server login URL, entity ID, and Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) URL. To obtain these values: 

  1. Sign in to the Code42 console.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Integrations > Identity Management.
  3. Locate the Code42 service provider metadata URL:
    • When setting up an authentication provider for the first time, the URL appears on the main screen:
      Code42 service provider metadata URL on main screen
    • If you previously set up an authentication provider, the URL appears in the authentication provider details:
      Code42 service provider metadata URL on details screen.png
       
  4. The first portion of the URL is your Code42 server URL, for example, https://example.com. Record this URL for use later.
    To determine the login URL, add /login to the end. For example, https://example.com/login.
  5. Copy the Code42 service provider metadata URL and paste it in the address bar of a new browser window. 
    Your Code42 environment's metadata details appear. 
  6. Find the entityID. Record this URL for use later.
    obtain_entity_id_with_tenant_id_final.png
  7. Find the AssertionConsumerService and its Location URL value, for example, Location="https://example.com/api/SsoAuthLoginResponse". Record this URL for use later.
    ACS URL

Step 2: Add the SAML app in Google

Perform the following steps to set up a custom SAML app in Google to connect to Code42. For general information about setting up a custom SAML app, see Google's documentation.

  1. Sign in to the Google Admin console.
  2. Select Apps > Web and mobile apps.
  3. Select Add app > Add custom SAML app.
  4. Enter an App name and click Continue.
  5. Click Download Metadata, save the file for use in Step 3 below, and click Continue.
  6. On the Service provider details page, complete the fields with values you obtained in Step 1. For example::
    • ACS URL: https://example.com/api/SsoAuthLoginResponse 
    • Entity ID: https://example.com/tenantid 
    • Start URL: https://example.com/login 
  7. Leave Signed response unchecked and click Continue.
  8. On the Attributes page, click Add mapping and add the following mappings:
    • Primary email > uid
    • First name > givenName
    • Last name > sn
  9. Click Finish.
    Details of the SAML are displayed.
  10. Click User access and turn on the service for a test group.
    Test with a group first before turning on the service for all users. For more information, see Google's documentation.

Step 3: Add Google as an authentication provider

  1. Sign in to the Code42 console.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Integrations > Identity Management.
  3. Click Add Authentication Provider.
  4. In Display name, enter an identity provider name to display to users that sign in with SSO.
    If your Code42 environment provides more than one SSO identity provider, users see a list of providers to choose from. They must select the provider configured for their Code42 organization.
  5. In Provider's metadata, select Upload file, click Select a file, and select the metadata file you downloaded in Step 2.
  6. Click Create provider.
    Authentication provider settings appear.
    identity_management_original.png
Provider information message

Note the following message on the dialog:
This provider will not be applied to an organization until you update the organization security settings.

Do not apply this authentication provider to organizations yet. You will apply this provider to a test organization and to production organizations in later steps.
  1. If you do not use the default settings (they must match the mappings in Step 2 above), you can use Attribute mapping to customize additional mappings between Code42 platform user attributes and authentication provider SSO assertion attributes.
  2. Local Users displays the current user. If there are any other users you want to exempt from using this authentication provider to log in, enter them here. 

Step 4: Test SSO authentication

To avoid impacting your production environment, use a test organization to verify that SSO is working properly. 

  1. Create a test user in your identity provider. 
  2. Sign in to the Code42 console. 
  3. Create a test organization.
  4. Create a user in the test organization who matches the identity provider test user. 
  5. Configure the test organization to use SSO:
    1. Navigate to Administration > Integrations > Identity Management.
    2. Select the authentication provider.
    3. Click Edit Edit icon next to Organizations in use.
    4. Select the test organization. 
      Note that you can also use an organization's settings to select an authentication provider to use for SSO.
    5. Click Save.
  6. In the upper-right of the Code42 console, select Account Account icon > Sign Out. 
  7. Sign back in to the Code42 console as the test user to verify that SSO is working. 

Step 5: Apply this provider to production organizations

  1. Sign in to the Code42 console. 
  2. Navigate to Administration > Integrations > Identity Management.
  3. Select the authentication provider.
  4. Click Edit Edit icon next to Organizations in use.
  5. Select organizations to use the authtenication provider for SSO. 
    If applicable, select the Inherits settings to identify whether an organization inherits the setting from its parent organization. To enable SSO for all organizations, select the top-most organization. (Note that you can also use an organization's settings to select an authentication provider to use for SSO.)
  6. Click Save.

Step 6: Add new users who sign in with SSO

  1. Assign the custom SAML app to users or groups in the Google dashboard. See Google's documentation for more information.
  2. Ensure users are set up in Code42. You can add users manually with the Code42 console to an organization that uses SSO, or deploy Code42 agents to users in an organization that uses SSO. The users in Code42 must have first name, last name, and user name (email address) values that match the users' values in Google. 

What to expect

Reduced authentication prompts

When users sign in with SSO, they do not need to re-enter credentials for subsequent authentication attempts until the SAML authentication token expires. A SAML token applies to an application rather than a device, which means that a user might need to enter credentials again when signing into a different app. 

For example, the single sign-in process differs whether users sign in to the Code42 console or Code42 agents:

  • Code42 console: When users sign in to the Code42 console, they are redirected in the web browser to sign in to their SSO identity provider. As soon as they sign in to their identity provider, the Code42 console launches. 
  • Code42 agents (Incydr Basic, Advanced, and Gov F1 only): When users sign in to Code42 agents, following message appears: "To complete the sign in process, go to your web browser. This screen updates automatically once login is successful." A web browser window is automatically opened so they can complete the sign-in process in their SSO identity provider.  As soon as they sign in to their SSO identity provider in the provided web browser window, the Code42 agent launches.

Lost access to an identity provider

Incydr Basic, Advanced, and Gov F1 only

If a user loses access to the identity provider, Code42 agents continue to back up, uninterrupted.

Troubleshooting

Error: app_not_configured_for_user 

Incydr Basic, Advanced, and Gov F1 only

If a user attempts to sign in to Code42 and receives the Error: app_not_configured_for_user message, it may be due to one of the following problems.

  • The user is already authenticated in Google with a non-corporate account
    To resolve this issue, the user should sign in to Google using their corporate account, or log out completely from all Google accounts before signing in to their corporate account.
  • Incorrect application configuration
    To resolve this issue, verify that the service provider settings for the custom SAML app are configured correctly in the Google admin console.

For more failure types and solutions, see the Google documentation.

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