Authentication using Azure Active Directory
With an identity federation, you can use Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
Authentication setup includes the following steps:
Getting started
To follow the steps described in this section, you will need an Azure account with an active subscription.
Creating and setting up a SAML application in Azure AD
Create a SAML application and download a certificate
A SAML application in Azure AD acts as an identity provider (IdP). Create a SAML application and download a certificate:
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Go to the Azure AD portal
. -
In Azure Services, select Azure Active Directory.
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On the left-hand panel, select Enterprise Applications.
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Click New application.
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On the Browse Azure AD Gallery page, click Create your own application.
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In the window that opens:
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Name the application.
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Select Integrate any other application you don't find in the gallery (Non-gallery).
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Click Create.
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On the Browse page that opens, use the left-hand panel to select Single sign-on.
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Select the SAML single sign-on method.
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Use the SAML-based sign-on page, Section 3. SAML Signature Certificate to download the certificate (base64). The IdP uses it to sign the user authenticated message.
Do not close the page, as you will need the IdP server data when creating and setting up a federation.
Add users
Add users to the IdP server:
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Go to the Enterprise Applications
page. -
Select the SAML application created.
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On the left-hand panel, select Users and groups.
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Click Add user or group.
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In the Users field, click None Selected.
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In the window that opens, check users and click Select.
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Click Assign.
Creating and setting up a federation in Cloud Organization
Create a federation
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Go to Cloud Organization
. -
In the left-hand panel, select Federations
. -
Click Create federation.
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Give your federation a name. It must be unique within the folder.
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You can also add a description, if required.
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In the Cookie lifetime field, specify the period of time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate.
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In the IdP Issuer field, insert the link from the Azure AD ID field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://sts.windows.net/<SAML application ID>/
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In the Link to the IdP login page field, copy the link from the Login URL field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/<SAML application ID>/saml2
You can only use HTTP and HTTPS in a link.
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Enable Automatically create users to add authenticated users to your organization automatically. If this option is disabled, you will need to manually add your federated users.
A federated user is created automatically only when they log in to a cloud for the first time. If you deleted a user from a federation, you can only add them back manually.
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Click Create federation.
If you don't have the Nebius AI command line interface yet, install and initialize it.
The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name
or --folder-id
parameter.
-
See the description of the create federation command:
ncp organization-manager federation saml create --help
-
Create a federation:
ncp organization-manager federation saml create --name my-federation \ --organization-id <organization ID> \ --auto-create-account-on-login \ --cookie-max-age 12h \ --issuer "https://sts.windows.net/<SAML application ID>/" \ --sso-binding POST \ --sso-url "https://login.microsoftonline.com/<SAML application ID>/saml2" \ --force-authn
Where:
-
name
: Federation name. It must be unique within the folder. -
organization-id
: Your organization ID. -
auto-create-account-on-login
: Flag to enable the automatic creation of new cloud users following authentication on the IdP server.
This option makes it easier to create users; however, users created this way will not be able to do anything with cloud resources.If this option is disabled, users who are not added to the organization cannot log in to the management console, even if they authenticate with your IdP server. In this case, you can manage a list of users allowed to use Nebius AI resources.
-
cookie-max-age
: Time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate. -
issuer
: IdP server ID to be used for authentication.Use the link from the Azure AD ID field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://sts.windows.net/<SAML application ID>/
-
sso-url
: URL of the page that the browser redirects the user to for authentication.Use the link from the Login URL field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/<SAML application ID>/saml2
You can only use HTTP and HTTPS in a link.
-
sso-binding
: Specify the Single Sign-on binding type. Most Identity Providers support thePOST
binding type. -
force-authn
: Flag that requires user re-authentication once a session expires in Nebius AI.
-
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Create a file with the request body, e.g.,
body.json
:{ "name": "my-federation", "organizationId": "<organization ID>", "autoCreateAccountOnLogin": true, "cookieMaxAge":"43200s", "issuer": "https://sts.windows.net/<SAML application ID>/", "ssoUrl": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/<SAML application ID>/saml2", "ssoBinding": "POST", "securitySettings": { "forceAuthn": true } }
Where:
-
name
: Federation name. It must be unique within the folder. -
organizationId
: Organization ID. -
autoCreateAccountOnLogin
: Flag to activate the automatic creation of new cloud users after authenticating on the IdP server.
This option makes it easier to create users; however, users created this way will not be able to do anything with cloud resources.If this option is disabled, users who are not added to the organization cannot log in to the management console, even if they authenticate with your IdP server. In this case, you can manage a list of users allowed to use Nebius AI resources.
-
cookieMaxAge
: Time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate. -
issuer
: IdP server ID to be used for authentication.Use the link from the Azure AD ID field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://sts.windows.net/<SAML application ID>/
-
ssoUrl
: URL of the page the browser redirects the user to for authentication.Use the link from the Login URL field on the Azure AD SAML-based sign-on page. The link should have the following format:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/<SAML application ID>/saml2
You can only use HTTP and HTTPS in a link.
-
ssoBinding
: Specify the Single Sign-on binding type. Most Identity Providers support thePOST
binding type. -
forceAuthn
: Parameter that requires user re-authentication once a session expires in Nebius AI.
-
Add certificates
While authenticating, the Cloud Organization service should be able to verify the IdP server certificate. To enable this, add the downloaded certificate to the federation:
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In the left-hand panel, select Federations
. -
Click the name of the federation to add a certificate to.
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At the bottom of the page, click Add certificate.
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Enter certificate name and description.
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Choose how to add a certificate:
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To add a certificate as a file, click Choose a file and specify the path to it.
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To paste the contents of a copied certificate, select the Text method and paste the contents.
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Click Add.
If you don't have the Nebius AI command line interface yet, install and initialize it.
The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name
or --folder-id
parameter.
-
View a description of the add certificate command:
ncp organization-manager federation saml certificate create --help
-
Add a federation certificate by specifying the certificate file path:
ncp organization-manager federation saml certificate create \ --federation-id <federation_ID> \ --name "my-certificate" \ --certificate-file certificate.cer
Tip
To ensure the authentication is not interrupted when the certificate expires, we recommend adding multiple certificates to the federation, i.e., both the current one and those to be used afterwards. If a certificate turns out to be invalid, Nebius AI will attempt to verify the signature with another certificate.
Setting up Single Sign-On (SSO)
Specify the redirect URL
Once you have created a federation, complete the creation of the SAML application in Azure AD:
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Open the SAML-based sign-on SAML application settings page.
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In Section 1. Basic SAML configuration, specify information on Nebius AI acting as the service provider. To do this, in the ID (entity) and Response URL (assertion consumer service URL) fields, enter the URL to redirect users to after successful authentication:
https://console.nebius.ai/federations/<federation_ID>
How to get a federation ID-
Go to Cloud Organization
. -
In the left-hand panel, select Federations
. -
Copy the ID of the federation you are configuring access for.
-
-
Click Save.
Configure user attribute mapping
Following user authentication, the IdP server will send an SAML message to Nebius AI containing:
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Information about successful authentication.
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User attributes, such as the name ID, name, and email address.
You can set up a mapping between the SAML message attributes and the personal data stored on the IdP server. To do this, on the SAML-based sign-on page in Section 2. User Attributes & Claims, click Edit.
The types of personal data supported by Cloud Organization for Azure AD are listed below.
User data | Comment | Application Attributes |
---|---|---|
Unique user ID (name ID) | Required attribute. By default, Azure AD uses User Principal Name (UPN) in <login>_<domain>#EXT#@<supplier>.onmicrosoft.com format as the attribute source. When manually adding users to a federation, this name ID format is not supported. We recommend changing the attribute source in Azure AD, replacing UPN user.userprincipalname with an email address user.mail . |
Unique user ID (ID) claim |
Last name | Displayed in Nebius AI services. Value length limit: 64 characters. |
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/surname |
First name | Displayed in Nebius AI services. Value length limit: 64 characters. |
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/givenname |
Full name | Displayed in Nebius AI services. Example: John Smith .Value length limit: 64 characters. |
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name |
Used to send notifications from Nebius AI services. Example: smith@example.com .Value length limit: 256 characters. |
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress |
Warning
If the attribute value exceeds the length limit, the value part that goes beyond the limit is truncated.
Add users to your organization
If you did not enable the Automatically create users option when creating a federation, you will have to add federated users to your organization manually.
To do this, you will need user name IDs. They are returned by the IdP server along with a response confirming successful authentication.
If the Automatically create users option is enabled, a federation will only add users logging in to a cloud for the first time. You can only add a federated user again manually after deleting them from a federation.
To add users to an organization, you must be in its admins
group.
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Log in to an account
that belongs to an organization administrator or owner. -
Go to Cloud Organization
. -
In the left-hand panel, select Users
. -
In the top-right corner, click
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Select the identity federation to add users from.
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List the name IDs of users, separating them with line breaks.
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Click Add. This will give the users access to the organization.
If you don't have the Nebius AI command line interface yet, install and initialize it.
The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name
or --folder-id
parameter.
-
View a description of the add user command:
ncp organization-manager federation saml add-user-accounts --help
-
Add users by listing their name IDs separated by a comma:
ncp organization-manager federation saml add-user-accounts --id <federation_ID> \ --name-ids=alice@example.com,bob@example.com,charlie@example.com
Where:
-
id
: Federation ID. -
name-ids
: User name IDs.
-
To add identity federation users to the cloud:
-
Create a file with the request body, e.g.,
body.json
. In the request body, specify the array of name IDs of users you want to add:{ "nameIds": [ "alice@example.com", "bob@example.com", "charlie@example.com" ] }
-
Send the request by specifying the Federation ID in the parameters:
curl -X POST \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <IAM token>" \ -d '@body.json' \ https://organization-manager.api.ai.nebius.cloud/organization-manager/v1/saml/federations/<federation ID>:addUserAccounts
Authentication
When you finish setting up SSO, test that everything works properly:
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Open your browser in guest or private browsing mode.
-
Follow the URL to log in to the management console:
https://console.nebius.ai/federations/<federation_ID>
How to get a federation ID-
Go to Cloud Organization
. -
In the left-hand panel, select Federations
. -
Copy the ID of the federation you are configuring access for.
The browser forwards you to the Microsoft authentication page.
-
-
Enter your credentials and click Next.
On successful authentication, the IdP server will redirect you to the https://console.nebius.ai/federations/<federation_ID>
URL that you specified in the Azure AD settings, and then to the management console
What's next
- Add new users to groups to grant them permissions.