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Microsoft Azure AD Setup

This guide explains how to configure single sign-on (SSO) support for NetBox Enterprise using Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) as an authentication backend.

Azure AD Configuration

  1. Create a test user (optional) Create a new user in AD to be used for testing. You can skip this step if you already have a suitable account created.

  2. Create an app registration Under the Azure Active Directory dashboard, navigate to Add > App registration.

    Add an app registration

    Enter a name for the registration (e.g. "NetBox Enterprise") and ensure that the "single tenant" option is selected.

    Under "Redirect URI", select "Web" for the platform and enter the path to your NetBox Enterprise installation, ending with /oauth/complete/azuread-oauth2/.

    Eg. https://{your-domain}.com/oauth/complete/azuread-oauth2/

    Add an app registration

    Once finished, make note of the application (client) ID; this will be used when configuring NetBox Enterprise instance.

    Completed app registration

    Multitenant authentication

    NetBox also supports multitenant authentication via Azure AD, however it requires a different backend and an additional configuration parameter. Please see the python-social-auth documentation for details concerning multitenant authentication.

  3. Create a secret

    When viewing the newly-created app registration, click the "Add a certificate or secret" link under "Client credentials". Under the "Client secrets" tab, click the "New client secret" button.

    Add a client secret

    You can optionally specify a description and select a lifetime for the secret.

    Client secret parameters

    Once finished, make note of the secret value (not the secret ID); this will be used when configuring your NetBox Enterprise instance.

    Client secret parameters

NetBox Enterprise Configuration

After completing the app registration, navigate to the Config tab in the NetBox Enterprise admin console, scroll down to Advanced Settings and tick the Show Advanced Settings check box.

advanced settings

Then, in the the NetBox Python Configuration Overrides field paste the following value from the previous steps:

REMOTE_AUTH_BACKEND = 'social_core.backends.azuread.AzureADOAuth2' 
SOCIAL_AUTH_AZUREAD_OAUTH2_KEY = 'APPLICATION_ID' 
SOCIAL_AUTH_AZUREAD_OAUTH2_SECRET = 'SECRET_VALUE'

Once added, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save config. Follow the prompt to Go to updated version and click the Deploy button to deploy the updated version of your app with the configuration changes.

Testing

Open your NetBox Instance once it is back up in the Ready state. Log out of NetBox instance if already authenticated, and click the "Log In" button at top right. You should see the normal login form as well as an option to authenticate using Azure AD. Click that link.

NetBox Azure AD login form

You should be redirected to Microsoft's authentication portal. Enter the username/email and password of your account to continue. You may also be prompted to grant this application access to your account.

NetBox Azure AD login form

If successful, you will be redirected back to the NetBox Enterprise UI, and will be logged in as the AD user. You can verify this by navigating to your profile (using the button at top right).

This user account has been replicated locally to NetBox Enterprose, and can now be assigned groups and permissions within the NetBox Enterprise admin UI.

Troubleshooting

Redirect URI does not Match

Azure requires that the authenticating client request a redirect URI that matches what you've configured for the app in step two. This URI must begin with https://

Not Logged in After Authenticating

If you are redirected to the NetBox Enterprise UI after authenticating successfully, but are not logged in, double-check the configured backend and app registration. The instructions in this guide pertain only to the azuread.AzureADOAuth2 backend using a single-tenant app registration.