LDAPS Integration
- Luc Richard
The integration services described herein require additional one-time and/or annual fees. For more information, please contact us.
When the learning environment is integrated to your Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Azure AD) via LDAPS, it can:
Auto-discover users in your Entra ID server and create their account in the learning environment (e.g. download their information).
Update the users' information in the learning environment (i) once a day (for all users) and (ii) every time the user logs in the learning environment (for that specific user account).
Authenticate the users directly against Entra ID each and every time they try to log in the learning environment.
Rename users in the learning environment if they are renamed in Entra ID.
User Information
In order for LDAPS authentication to work, the learning environment needs to store some user information in its database. At a minimum, it needs the following information:
Username
First name
Last name
Email address
If this information is stored in your Entra ID, then the learning environment can auto-discover users in your Entra ID server and create / update their account in the learning environment's database. Otherwise, if those 4 fields are not available, the learning environment can import user profile information from your HRIS (Human Resources Information System) or even a CSV file. The source of the information is not important, but it is important that the information be available. The learning environment will not create user accounts if any of the above 4 fields are missing.
The rest of the information (i.e. job title, department, telephone) is optional and does not need to be imported in the learning environment. If you decide not to import additional information however, please note that this information will not be available in the various reports available in the learning environment.
Assumptions
There are a couple of rules that need to be respected in order for the integration to work:
You must accept SSL requests (LDAPS) from the learning environment on a secure port (usually port 636). This means that your firewall will need to allow requests from the learning environment over a secure port (usually port 636).
You will need to create a non-privileged AD user account that will be used to bind the learning environment to AD. Make sure this account and its password do NOT expire. Should it expire, the synchronization and authentication of your users will no longer work.
Important Notes
The learning environment doesn't download nor store the user's password. It sends a request to your Entra ID server each and every time a user tries to log in.
It is possible to allow authentication via Microsoft Entra ID and alternative login methods concurrently.
When using SAML 2.0, the learning environment can only connect to one (1) Microsoft Entra ID server. If your organization needs to connect to multiple Entra ID servers, please contact us and inquire about our multi-tenancy solution.