SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using Azure AD (Microsoft Entra ID)

miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) using SAML 2.0 protocol. Our user-friendly plugin simplifies the process of setting up Single Sign-on (SSO) with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) in Joomla, ensuring a secure login experience. This enables users to access various Joomla sites effortlessly using their Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) IDP credentials.

Our plugin is designed to be compatible with Joomla 3, 4 as well as 5 and works seamlessly with all SAML 2.0 compliant Identity Providers. For a detailed overview of the comprehensive features offered by the Joomla SAML SP plugin, please visit our page here. Below, we provide a step-by-step guide on configuring SAML SSO login between your Joomla site and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) serving as the Identity Provider (IDP) and Joomla as the Service Provider (SP).

What is SSO ?

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• Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication method that enables users to access multiple applications with one-click login and one set of credentials. Users can automatically access all resources of the Joomla site once they are login using SSO.
• The implementation of SSO involves configuring one system to trust another for user authentication, removing the need for users to log in separately to each system. The system that authenticates users is called an Identity Provider. The system that trusts the Identity Provider for authentication is called the Service Provider.
• When a user initiates a login attempt, the Service Provider sends a SAML request to the Identity Provider. Upon successful IDP authentication, a SAML response containing user information is transmitted back to the Service Provider. Subsequently, the Service Provider verifies SAML response based on the Identity Provider configuration, and grants the user access to your Joomla website.

Pre-requisites: Download And Installation

Steps to Integrate Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) Single Sign-On (SSO) with Joomla SAML SP

1. Setup Joomla SAML SP plugin

• Download the zip file for the miniOrange SAML SP plugin for Joomla.
• Log in to your Joomla site's Administrator console.
• In the left-hand toggle menu, go to System and then click on Extensions under the Install section.
• Click on the "Or Browse for file" button to browse and locate the plugin file that you downloaded earlier, then proceed to install it.

• The plugin installation has been successfully completed. Next, click on "Get Started!" to proceed.

• Go to the Service Provider Metadata tab and scroll down to copy the SP-EntityID and the ACS URL.

2. Setup Azure AD as Identity Provider

• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) Setup through App register
• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) Setup through Enterprise Application

• Log in to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) Portal. Click on More services.

• Search and select Microsoft Entra ID.

• Click on App Registrations, then click on New Registration.

• Assign a Name and choose the account type of your Application. In the Redirect URI field, provide the ACS URL provided in the Service Provider metadata tab of the plugin and then click on the Register button.

• Now, navigate to Expose an API from the left menu panel and click the Add/Set button to replace the APPLICATION ID URI with the SP Entity ID value from the Service Provider Metadata tab of the plugin.

NOTE: Please make sure that the SP Entity ID value in the Service Provider Metadata tab does not end with a slash ('/'). If it does, please remove the trailing slash from the SP EntityID/Issuer field in the Service Provider Metadata tab of the plugin. Enter the updated value on the Azure end and Save the changes. If you continue to face difficulties while setting up the application ID URL, please click here for instructions on resolving the issue.


• Go back to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) ⇒ App Registrations window and click on Endpoints link.

• This will open a window with multiple URLs. You can copy the Federation Metadata document URL from this window and utilize it for configuration in the Joomla SAML SP plugin.

• You have successfully configured Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) as your IDP Provider.

• Log in to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD).
• Select Enterprise Applications.

• Click on New Application.

• Click on Create your own Application and enter the App name then click on Create button.

• Click on the Set up Single sign on.

• Select the SAML tab.

• Now, click on edit button and enter the SP Entity ID for Identifier and the ACS URL for Reply URL from Service Provider Metadata tab of the plugin.

• By default, the following Attributes will be sent in the SAML response. You can view or edit the claims sent in the SAML response to the application under the User Attributes & Claims Step.

• Copy App Federation Metadata Url. This will be used while configuring the Joomla SAML plugin.

• Assign users and groups to your SAML application
• As a security control, Azure AD will not issue a token allowing a user to sign in to the application unless Azure AD has granted access to the user. Users may be granted access directly, or through group membership.
• Click on Users and groups from the applications left-hand navigation menu. The next screen presents the options for assigning the users/groups to the application.

• After clicking on Add user/group, Select Users and groups in the Add Assignment screen.
• The next screen shows the option to select users or invite external users. You can also assign groups to the application here. Select the appropriate user or group and click on Select button.

3. Configure Microsoft Entra ID with Joomla

In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab. There are two ways to configure the plugin:

By Metadata URL:

• In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab, then click on Upload IDP metadata.
• Enter Metadata URL (Copied from Microsoft Entra ID) and click on Fetch .

 Manual Configuration:

• Copy SAML Entity ID, SAML Single-Sign-On Endpoint URL and X.509 certificate from Federation Metadata document and paste it in IdP Entity ID or Issuer, Single Sign-on URL, X.509 Certificate value fields respectively in the plugin.

• Click on Save button and then Test Configuration button.

• Congratulations! We have successfully configured Joomla SAML Service Provider with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) as Identity Provider.

4. How does SAML SSO login work?

• Copy the SSO URL from the Service Provider Setup tab.

• Open a new browser/private window and enter the copied SSO URL.
• You will be redirected to the Azure login page. Enter the Azure credentials. After successful authentication, the user will be redirected back to the Joomla site.

5. Attribute Mapping - Licensed feature.

• Attributes are user details that are stored in your Identity Provider. To learn more about Attribute Mapping, click here.
• Attribute Mapping helps you to get user attributes from your Identity Provider (IDP) and map them to Joomla user attributes like firstname, lastname, address, phone etc.
• Go to Attribute Mapping tab and fill in all the fields.

Username: Name of the username attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default)

Email: Name of the email attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default)

Name: Name of the name attribute from IdP

• You can check the Test Configuration Results under Service Provider Setup tab to get a better idea of which values to map here.

Step 6. Group Mapping - Licensed feature.

• Group/Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your Identity Provider (IdP). To learn more about Group Mapping, click here.
• While performing SSO, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.

Step 7. Redirection & SSO Links.

• Go to the Login Settings tab. You can add a SSO URL to Perform SAML SSO in your Joomla site by following the steps mentioned.

• There are multiple features availabe in this tab like Auto redirect the user to Identity Provider and Enable Backend Login for Super Users. To use these features, click on the respective checkboxes.

Congratulations, you have successfully configured the miniOrange SAML SP plugin with your Azure AD/Microsoft Entra ID as IDP.

Navigate to the Upgrade Plans tab to explore our comprehensive range of features and different licensing options. Alternatively, you can click here to view the features and licensing plans.

If you encounter any problems or have questions, feel free to contact us. You can send your query via the Support button within the plugin or email us at joomlasupport@xecurify.com.

Additional Resources.

• What is Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Azure AD Single Sign-On
• Configure Azure AD as Identity Provider(IdP)
• What is AZURE AD
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• How to configure SSO with Azure AD Identity Provider
• How to configure SSO with ADFS
• How to configure SSO with Salesforce
• How to configure SSO with Okta
• How to configure SSO with Google Apps

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