Configuring SAML

How to configure SAML to leverage Active Directory based login

With the rise in number of cloud based applications in enterprises, IT administrators find it difficult to authenticate their technicians with different set of credentials for each application. Most organizations use Active Directory to store and manage their employees' identity information centrally. Remote Access Plus integrates with Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS) by leveraging Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to authenticate technicians.

What is SAML?

SAML is an XML-based, open-standard data format for exchanging authentication data between an identity provider and a service provider. Here, Remote Access Plus is the service provider which hosts the service and ADFS is the identity provider that facilitates the authentication process. SAML does not require any password exchange between the identity provider and service provider, instead a digitally signed XML document will be interchanged to authenticate technicians.

Benefits of SAML :

• Seamless login to your Remote Access Plus account using your domain credentials. 
• Authentication is carried out at the organization's identity provider.
• Reduced administrative efforts for maintaining account information.

How to configure SAML settings for Remote Access Plus?

Configuring SAML with Remote Access Plus is a one-time process. 

Follow this guide to setup SAML with Zoho Accounts

You can also find documents pertaining to popular SAML integrations below

• SAML integration with Google
• SAML integration with OneLogin
• SAML integration with Azure
• SAML integration with ADFS
• SAML integration with Okta

How does SAML based login work?

Once you have configured SAML settings with Zoho accounts, follow these steps:

• Type in your email ID and a random password at the Remote Access Plus login page.
• You will be redirected to the ADFS URL for authentication.
• If you have already logged into the Active Directory domain, you will be validated automatically without any prompt. Otherwise, you will have to type in your domain credentials for validation.
• The ADFS builds an authentication response in the form of an XML-document, and sends this information to Zoho accounts.
• Zoho accounts retrieves the authentication response and validates it with a key, which was uploaded during SAML configuration.
• Your identity will be established and hence provided with access to your Remote Access Plus account.