How to Use Azure AD for LDAP Authentication

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol used for accessing and managing directory information over an IP network. It is widely used in enterprise environments to authenticate users against a centralized directory service such as Active Directory.

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service provided by Microsoft. It provides a modern approach to managing identities in the cloud, allowing organizations to manage access to their applications and resources from a single location.

Further more, we will explore how to use Azure AD for LDAP authentication.

Step 1: Configure Azure AD

To use Azure AD for LDAP authentication, you must first enable LDAP on your Azure AD tenant. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal with your Azure AD account.
2. Navigate to the Azure AD directory that you want to configure for LDAP authentication.
3. Click on the “Azure AD Domain Services” option in the left-hand menu.
4. Select the “Configure” option from the top menu bar.
5. Enable the “LDAP over SSL/TLS” option.
6. Enable the “Secure LDAP” option.
7. Click on “Save” to save your changes.

Step 2: Configure Your LDAP Client

Once you have enabled LDAP on your Azure AD tenant, you need to configure your LDAP client to use Azure AD as the authentication source. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the LDAP client configuration file on your client machine.
2. Update the LDAP server address to the Azure AD Domain Services IP address.
3. Set the LDAP port to 636.
4. Set the LDAP protocol to “LDAPS”.
5. Update the LDAP search base to the Azure AD Domain Services domain name.
6. Set the LDAP bind DN to a valid Azure AD user account.
7. Set the LDAP bind password to the password for the Azure AD user account.
8. Save the configuration file.

Step 3: Test Your LDAP Authentication

To test your LDAP authentication, follow these steps:

Open a command prompt or terminal window.

1. Run the following command: ldapsearch -H ldaps://<Azure AD Domain Services IP address>:636 -D “<Azure AD user account>” -W -b “<Azure AD Domain Services domain name>” -s sub “(objectclass=*)“
2. Enter the password for the Azure AD user account when prompted.
3. Verify that the command returns a list of objects from the Azure AD Domain Services directory.

Conclusion

Using Azure AD for LDAP authentication provides a modern approach to managing identities in the cloud. By following the steps outlined in this blog, you can easily enable LDAP on your Azure AD tenant and configure your LDAP client to use Azure AD as the authentication source.