This page provides instructions for configuring Single Sign-on (SSO) through Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML).

You can configure an Identity Provider (IdP) to enable single sign-on access to your Cisco AppDynamics environment. Cisco AppDynamics can authenticate and authorize users through the AppDynamics IdP, Cisco Customer Identity, or through an external SAML 2.0 protocol IdP. The Cisco Customer Identity will enable users to reuse an existing Cisco Identity and redirect them to the Cisco Identity Provider (IdP) when signing in.

Refer to the documentation of your identity provider for detailed configuration instructions. See Configure SAML Authentication for the Identity Provider.

This document uses the term Tenant to refer to both a Observability Platform tenant and a Controller Tenant.

Supported Identity Providers

Cisco AppDynamics certifies support for the following IdPs:

  • Okta
  • Onelogin
  • Ping Identity
  • Azure AD
  • IBM Cloud Identity
  • Active Directory Federation Service (AD FS)

Other IdPs supporting HTTP POST binding are also compatible with Cisco AppDynamics SAML authentication. If you are having issues setting up SAML with your IdP, contact Cisco AppDynamics customer support for help.

Configure SAML Authentication for the Identity Provider

You must have the company admin role to perform these functions.
To access SAML configuration, navigate to Account Management Portal.

SAML Settings for the Identity Provider

Your identity provider requires information about your account for the SAML settings. The <domain> is the domain of your Observability Platform tenant, but doesn't apply to all SaaS Tenants. 

SettingDescription
Issuer ID (Service Provider Entity ID)

The unique identifier intended for the SAML assertion. In most cases, it is the Service Provider Entity ID, unless the Service Provider decides to use a different identifier.

  • Syntax: http://<domain>/tenant
  • Example: http://yourcompany.observe.appdynamics.com/tenant
Single Sign-On URL (Assertion Consumer URL)

The Cisco AppDynamics endpoint to service SAML Authentication. You need to specify your Cisco AppDynamics account name with the query string parameter accountName as shown with the following syntax and example:

  • Syntax: http://<domain>/tenant/saml-auth?accountName=<account_name>
  • Example: http://yourcompany.observe.appdynamics.com/tenant/saml-auth?accountName=myaccount

SAML Attributes for the Identity Provider

You set attributes with your identity provider to map attribute values to Cisco AppDynamics SAML users. Once the attributes are set, the Cisco AppDynamics Account Administrator can view the attribute values mapped to a user from the Account Management Portal. In addition, Cisco AppDynamicsusers may also see the mapped attribute values in their mini profiles of the Observability Platform tenants.

The following table shows how IdP example attributes map to the First Name, Last Name, and Email attribute settings of a SAML user:

Example Attribute NameExample Attribute ValuesDescription
First NameJane

Informal name for the user corresponding to the AppDynamics firstName field.

Last NameDoeInformal name for the user corresponding to the AppDynamics lastName field. 
EmailJane.Doe@company.com

User's email address corresponding to AppDynamics emailAddress field. The value must be unique among all SAML users in the ACisco AppDynamics account.

JIT Provisioning

Administrators can initiate JIT provisioning of users through the IdP or the Service Provider (Cisco AppDynamics Accounts): 

  • JIT-initiated by IdP: Administrators configure SAML authentication, and users visit the IdP and click a link to the Cisco AppDynamics Accounts to self-provision their user accounts. 

  • JIT-initiated by Cisco AppDynamics Accounts: Administrators configure SAML authentication and generate a JIT-provisioning link that can be shared with users to self-provision their Cisco AppDynamics accounts. When team members sign in using this link, their AppDynamics user profile with Community and training access will be auto-created for them.

    The JIT provisioning link will only work if SAML federation is active and is entirely optional: Cisco AppDynamics Administrators can still manually create user profiles. 

In addition, when setting up SAML from Cisco AppDynamics Accounts, Administrators can also select which Observability Platform tenants  to provision for those signing in with the JIT-provisioning link. For security reasons, the JIT-provisioned users are assigned to a read-only role, so you'll need to manually update the roles of JIT-provisioned users. See Assign Tenant Roles. 

Configure SAML Authentication

The processes described vary slightly based on your choice to upload your IdP data or to enter it manually. 

The following steps assume you have access to your IdP and standard knowledge of SAML configuration.

The following two flows make it easier for you to configure SAML and reduce the need to go back and forth between your IdP and AppDynamics:

Configure your IdP with AppDynamics

(1) Select Setup Method

  1. Select Configure your IdP in AppDynamics. 


  2. Click Next.

(2) Provide IdP Metadata

  1. Click Upload metadata to upload the IdP metadata from your local drive or manually enter/select values for the following fields:

    • Single sign-on URL - (SSO URL) A unique URL allowing users to access multiple applications and services with one set of login credentials.

    • X.509 Certificate - A digital certificate using the X.509 standard to verify the identity of a person, organization, or device in a secure and encrypted manner.
    • Issuer ID - A unique identifier assigned to the entity that issues a digital certificate. It helps to verify the authenticity of the certificate and trace its chain of trust back to the root certificate authority.
    • Request Binding - The HTTP method to send an authorization request to an authorization server.

  2. Confirm that each of the fields has been completed and click Next.

(3) Set Up In Your IdP

  1. From Set up AppDynamics metadata in your IdP, enter values for the following fields:

    • Assertion consumer service URL - The URL where a web service provider receives authentication assertions from an identity provider during SSO.
    • Service provider entity ID - The unique identifier (URL) for the service provider in a SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) transaction.
    • Request binding -  The HTTP method to send an authorization request to an authorization server.

  2. Confirm that each of the fields has been completed and click Next.


(4) Map Attributes

  1. From Map your IdP attributes to AppDynamics attributes, enter attributes from your IdP and the corresponding attribute values for AppDynamics. For example, you might map the IdP attributes fname, lname, and email to the AppDynamics attributes First Name, Last Name, and Email. 

  2. Click Next.

(5) Configure JIT Provisioning (Optional)

  1. Select the Tenants you want to provision by default.

  2. Click Save.

  3. Copy and share the JIT provisioning link with members of your organization needing an Cisco AppDynamics user profile with Community and training access. 

Configure AppDynamics in your IdP

(1) Select Setup Method

  1. Select Configure AppDynamics in your IdP. 

  2. Click Next.

(2) Set Up in Your IdP

  1. From Set up AppDynamics metadata in your IdP, enter value for the following fields:

    1.  Assertion consumer service URL -  The web address (URL) used by your service provider (SP) to receive and process authentication information (SAML response) from an identity provider (IdP).
    2. Service provider entity ID - The web address (URL) of a service provider (SP) used by the identity provider (IdP) to identify and establish trust with the service provider (SP).
    3. Request binding - The HTTP method to send an authorization request to an authorization server.

  2. Confirm that each of the fields has been completed and click Next. 

(3) Provide IdP Metadata

  1. From Provide metadata from your identify provider (IdP):

    1. From Upload metadata, click the empty field and select the metadata file from your local drive.
      OR

    2. Enter the IdP details:
      • Single sign-on URL - (SSO URL) A unique URL allowing users to access multiple applications and services with one set of login credentials.
      • X.509 certificate - A digital certificate using the X.509 standard to verify the identity of a person, organization, or device in a secure and encrypted manner.
      • Issuer ID - A unique identifier assigned to the entity that issues a digital certificate. It helps to verify the authenticity of the certificate and trace its chain of trust back to the root certificate authority.
      • Request binding - The HTTP method to send an authorization request to an authorization server.

  2. Confirm that each of the fields has been completed and click Next. 

(4) Map Attributes

  1. From Map your IdP attributes to AppDynamics attributes, enter attributes from your IdP and the corresponding attribute values for AppDynamics. For example, you might map the IdP attributes fname, lname, and email to the AppDynamics attributes First Name, Last Name, and Email. 

  2. Click Next.

(5) Configure JIT Provisioning (Optional)

  1. Select the Tenants you want to provision by default.

  2. Click Save.

  3. Copy and share the JIT provisioning link with members of your organization needing an Cisco AppDynamics user profile with Community and training access.

You can now also map users to the SAML IdP through User Management. See Create a New User.

Verify SAML Authentication Configuration

To verify that you configured SAML authentication correctly, navigate to accounts.appdynamics.com.

  • If you chose to authenticate through your IdP, the sign-in screen asks for your email and redirects you to your IdP for authentication.

  • If you chose to authenticate through AppDynamics, the sign-in screen requests your email and password.

Update or Fetch SAML Configuration

After successfully configuring SAML, you can update your IdP metadata, attribute mapping, or fetch your AppDynamics metadata and JIT-provisioning URL.

Update SAML ConfigurationFetch SAML Configuration
  1. Navigate to accounts.appdynamics.com.
  2. Go to Access Management > SAML Federation.
  3. From the METADATA FOR CONFIGURATION panel, click .
  4. You can edit the following fields of the IdP metadata:
    • Single sign-on URL
    • X.509 certificate
    • Issuer ID
  5. Click Save.
  6. From the ATTRIBUTE MAPPING panel, click .
  7. Update any of the values for your IdP attributes.
  8. Click Save.
  9. From the JUST-IN_TIME USER PROVISIONING panel, click .
  10. Check or uncheck Support to give or remove the ability of JIT-provisioned users to open and manage support requests with AppDynamics.
  11. Uncheck Cloud Tenant Access to remove access to Observability Platform tenants from JIT-provisioned users, or check Observability Platform tenant Access and select Observability Platform tenants that you want to grant access to JIT-provisioned users.
  1. Navigate to accounts.appdynamics.com.
  2. Go to Access Management > SAML Federation.
  3. Click to copy any of the following AppDynamics metadata:
      • Assertion consumer service URL
      • Service provider entity ID
      • Request binding
  4. Click Download metadata to download a copy of the AppDynamics metadata.
  5. From JUST-IN-TIME USER PROVISIONING, click to copy the AppDynamics sign-in link for JIT-provisioning.