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This page is for older ‘pull based’ user synchronization, which reads AzureAD information via GraphAPI.

We have newer and better ‘push based’ SCIM user synchronization, which should be used if you are implementing new user data synchronization.

See: SCIM provisioning from Azure AD

General

Expand
titleWhat different sync options there are?

Thre Three are three different syncs:

  • User Sync (BenePortal)

  • Directory sync of existing users

  • Directory sync of directory entries

User Sync is used for managing users in BenePortal.

Directory sync of existing users is used for keeping directory information of users up to date. User is someone having Benemen services.

Directory sync of directory entries is used for creating, updating and removing directory entries in Benemen directory. A directory entry is just an object in the Benemen directory and does not have any Benemen services.

Expand
titleHow AzureAD syncs work?

SyncModule reads AzureAD data via Azure GraphAPI over HTTPS connection. User data in Benemen systems is updated based on data in AzureAD.

All syncs are configured to happen as a scheduled job. The default interval is 24h.

Expand
titleWhich attribute names are used when reading from AzureAD

As SyncModule use GraphAPI to read AzureAD data, mappings must be done using property names of user resource type of GraphAPI. See GraphAPI documentation for the full list https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/user?view=graph-rest-1.0#properties

Note, that the naming of some attributes/properties differ between On-Prem AD and AzureAD and also between AzureAD and GraphAPI. Some common examples below:

On-Prem AD Attribute (LDAP)

AzureAD Attribute

GraphAPI property

telephoneNumber

TelephoneNumber

businessPhones

mobile

Mobile

mobilePhone

sn

Surname

surname

physicalDeliveryOfficeName

PhysicalDeliveryOfficeName

officeLocation

Expand
titleWhat is needed to configure AzureAD syncs?

For all Syncs:

  • App registration must be added to customers AzureAD tenant.

For User sync following must be defined:

  • AzureAD group of which members will be synced

  • Attribute mappings

  • Removal policy

  • Email address for syn sync reports

Directory sync of existing users:

  • Attribute mappings

Directory sync of directory - entries:

  • AzureAD group of which members will be synced as directory-entires

  • Attribute mappings

...

Expand
titleHow users to be synced is defined in UserSync?

Users to be synced in BenePortal is defined by being a member of a specified group in AzureAD. All users belonging in the group or any of its nested subgroups will be included in the sync.

Expand
titleWhich aBenePortal BenePortal fields can be mapped

Following BenePortal fields are mandatory

  • UserEmail

  • FirstName

  • LastName

  • ContractName

  • BillingContractName

  • CostCenter

Following BenePortal fields are optional

  • AltEmail (Alternative email to send password recovery emails etc.)

  • UserCountry

  • UserRegion (TZ-format (Europe/Helsinki etc.))

  • UserLanguage (RFC 1766 format (fi-FI, en-GB etc.))        

  • ExtAuthUserName

  • ExtAuthDomain

Expand
titleCan there be constant values or should all fields be mapped to AzureAD attributes?

BenePortal fields can have a constant value, an attribute mapping or both.

If constant value is set and but no attribute mapping, the constant value will always be used for all users.

If there are both constant value and mapping, . value for fields is first tried to get from the mapped attribute. If it’s attiribute is not set for a user, the constant value will be used.

Expand
titleCan there be multiple sync configurations?

If its needed there is need to have different configurations for different groups of users, multiple sync jobs can be configured.

For example, If there are users in two counties, and some values values should be set to BenePortal which are not found from AzureAD-attributes, we can set up two different sync-jobs with a different configuration.

There must be then own separate AzureAD group for each User Sync user sync job, and users to be synced must be a member of only one of these groups!

Expand
titleThere are already existing users configured, how UserSync module user sync deals with them?

WhenSyncModule runs the User sync , it gets all users from three sources:

  • Local database

, BenePortal and users from AzureAD.

  • (Sync-job specific)

  • BenePortal

  • AzureAD

If there are users that are found from both from BenePortal and AzureAD (username in BenePortal match UPN in Azure), they are added to the local database and updated to BenePortal if needed. User is now included in the sync, and future changes will be handled similarly as for users created by SyncModule.

If there are users in BenePortal which are not found from AzureAD (username in BenePortal does not match any user received from AzureAD), they are left as is.

Expand
titleHow user removal is done?

User removal happens, if a user is removed from the AzureAD group defined to be synced to BenePortal or the user is deleted from AzureAD.

There are two options for user removals:

  • Inform only (default)

  • Automatic termination

By default removed user is users are only added to the user sync report and actual removal must be done manually. There is an option for automatic removals, in this case, . Report I sent to as email to defined email-addresses.

If automatic termination is used, user and users services are terminated immediately. This option should be used only if there is no number porting needs or other similar cases requiring more controlled termination.

Expand
titleHow username changes are handled?

In Benemen systems email is used as a username, and changing it requires manual work by Benemen support.

Sync module keeps a local database of synced user objects, having AzureAD objectId as a primary key. If the user's Email/UPN is changed in Azure, this is reported in sync-report for manual change.

Expand
titleIs it possible to bring the certain user role information via AzureAD-integration?

No. Only user Basic information can be synced from. Managing user roles and phone roles must be done in Benemen Portal.

Directory sync of existing users

...