Canvas SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)

Canvas is a LMS Solution designed to make teaching and learning easier for everyone, from elementary school students to college professors and business executives. With miniOrange’s Canvas SSO solution you can also integrate your external Applications used by Teachers and Students using a single Federated Identity. You can also connect to your external Active directory or any External Identity Providers (Azure Active Directory, Okta, Auth0) as you want your users to log into canvas using existing IDP credentials, you can easily allow them to SSO using their IDP credentials in a secure manner. You can follow the given setup guide to integrate SAML SSO for your Canvas account.

Canvas SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) solution provides easy, secure and seamless system for identy access management by establishing a trust relationship between the Service Provider and Identity Provider (IdP). The user credentials and other identifying information are stored and managed by a centralized system called Identity Provider (IdP). Along with miniOrange IDP (Identity Provider), miniOrange provides user authentication from other User stores, external Idenitity Provider and external directories as well.

miniOrange and Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) integration supports the following features:

SP Initiated Single Sign-On (SSO)
IdP Initiated Single Sign-On (SSO)

Connect with External Source of Users

miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Azure AD, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Shibboleth, Ping, Okta, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more.

Follow the Step-by-Step Guide given below for Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO)

1. Configure Canvas in miniOrange

Login into miniOrange Admin Console.
Go to Apps and click on Add Application button.

In Choose Application Type click on Create App button in SAML/WS-FED application type.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) choose app type

Search for Canvas in the list, if you don't find Canvas in the list then, search for custom and you can set up your application via Custom SAML App.

Now, you'll find an Import SP metadata button. Click on it.

Canvas Single Sign On (sso) import service provider metadata

Enter App name as CanvasLMS and the URL as https://your_canvas_domain.instructure.com/saml2 .
Click on Import button.
Now enter Canvas in the Policy Name field.

Click on Save to configure Canvas.
Click on Metadata from Select dropdown, then select Show Metadata Details.

Click on metadata URL button to copy your IDP Metadata. This will be needed in Step 2.

2. Configure SSO in Canvas

Login to your Canvas LMS domain as an Account Administrator.
Click on Admin.
Go to Authentication.

Canvas Single Sign On (sso) authentication

On the top right side, you will see Add an Identity Provider. From the dropdown, Select SAML.

Copy the metadata URL copied from step 1 under the IDP metadata URI section.
Change Authentication Context to urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:unspecified.
Enable Just in Time Provisioning if you need the feature.
Click on Save. Your IDP metadata will be autofilled.
Under the Current providers section, you can see your IDP configured.

Canvas Single Sign on (sso) configured settings

3. Test SSO Configuration

Test SSO login to your Canvas account with miniOrange IdP:

Using SP Initiated Login

Go to your Canvas URL, here you will be either asked to enter the username or click on the SSO link which will redirect you to miniOrange IdP Sign On Page.

Enter your miniOrange login credential and click on Login. You will be automatically logged in to your Canvas account.

Using IDP Initiated Login

On the Dashboard, click on Canvas application which you have added, to verify SSO configuration.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) verify configuration

Not able to configure or test SSO?

Contact us or email us at idpsupport@xecurify.com and we'll help you setting it up in no time.

4. Configure Your User Directory (Optional)

miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Azure AD, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Okta, Shibboleth, Ping, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more. You can configure your existing directory/user store or add users in miniOrange.

Setup miniOrange as IDP
Setup AD as User Directory
Setup External IDP

To add your users in miniOrange there are 2 ways:

1. Create User in miniOrange

2. Bulk Upload Users

1. Create User in miniOrange

Click on Users >> Add User.

Here, fill the user details without the password and then click on the Create User button.

After successful user creation a notification message "An end user is added successfully" will be displayed at the top of the dashboard.

Canvas Two-Factor Authentication: Add user details

Click on On Boarding Status tab. Check the email, with the registered e-mail id and select action Send Activation Mail with Password Reset Link from Select Action dropdown list and then click on Apply button.

Now, Open your email id. Open the mail you get from miniOrange and then click on the link to set your account password.
On the next screen, enter the password and confirm password and then click on the Single Sign-On (SSO) reset password button.

Canvas Multi-Factor Authentication: Reset user password

Now, you can log in into miniOrange account by entering your credentials.

2. Bulk Upload Users in miniOrange via Uploading CSV File.

Navigate to Users >> User List. Click on Add User button.

In Bulk User Registration Download sample csv format from our console and edit this csv file according to the instructions.

Canvas Two-Factor authentication: Download sample csv file

To bulk upload users, choose the file make sure it is in comma separated .csv file format then click on Upload.

After uploading the csv file successfully, you will see a success message with a link.
Click on that link you will see list of users to send activation mail. Select users to send activation mail and click on Send Activation Mail. An activation mail will be sent to the selected users.

Click on User Stores >> Add User Store in the left menu of the dashboard.

Select User Store type as AD/LDAP.

Canvas 2FA: Select AD/LDAP as user store

STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.

Canvas Two-Factor Authentication : Select ad/ldap user store type

Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.

Canvas MFA/2FA: Configure LDAP server URL Connection

In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.

Canvas MFA: Configure user bind account domain name

Enter the valid Bind account Password.
Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.

Canvas MFA: Check bind account credentials

Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.

Select a suitable Search filter from the drop down menu. To use custom Search Filter select "Custom Search Filter" option and customize it accordingly.

Canvas MFA/2FA : Select user search filter

You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.

Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.

Attribute	Description
Activate LDAP	All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it
Sync users in miniOrange	Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP
Backup Authentication	If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange
Allow users to change password	This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server
Enable administrator login	On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server
Show IdP to users	If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users
Send Configured Attributes	If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login

Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Configuration to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.

On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
Click on Test Attribute Mapping.

Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.

Canvas MFA: Fetch mapped attributes for user

After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.

Refer our guide to setup LDAPS on windows server.

User Import and Provisioning from AD

Go to Settings in the Customer Admin Account.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for miniOrange dashboard

Enable the "Enable User Auto Registration" option and click Save.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Enable User Auto Registration

(Optional) To send a welcome email to all the end users that will be imported, enable the "Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration" option and click Save.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration

From the Left-Side menu of the dashboard select Provisioning.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for User Sync/Provisioning

In Setup Provisioning tab select Active Directory in the Select Application Drop Down.
Toggle the Import Users tab, click on Save button.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for User Sync Active Directory Configuration

On the same section, switch to Import Users section.
Select Active Directory from the dropdown and click on the Import Users tab, to import all the users from Active Directory to miniOrange.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for User Sync Import Operation

You can view all the Users you have imports by selecting Users >> User List from Left Panel.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for User List

All the imported users will be auto registered.
These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.

miniOrange integrates with various external user sources such as directories, identity providers, and etc.

Not able to find your IdP or Need help setting it up?

Contact us or email us at idpsupport@xecurify.com and we'll help you setting it up in no time.

5. Adaptive Authentication with Canvas

A. Restricting access to Canvas with IP Blocking

You can use adaptive authentication with Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) to improve the security and functionality of Single Sign-On. You can allow a IP Address in certain range for SSO or you can deny it based your requirements and you can also challenge the user to verify his authenticity. Adaptive authentication manages the user authentication bases on different factors such as Device ID, Location, Time of Access, IP Address and many more.

You can configure Adaptive Authentication with IP Blocking in following way:

Login to Self Service Console >> Adaptive Authentication.
Add a Policy Name for your Adaptive Authentication Policy.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access adaptive authnetication policy

Select your Action for behaviour Change and Challenge Type for user from the Action for behaviour Change Section.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access adaptive authentication behaviour change

Action for behaviour Change Options :

Attribute	Description
Allow	Allow user to authenticate and use services if Adaptive authentication condition is true.
Challenge	Challenge users with one of the three methods mentioned below for verifying user authenticity.
Deny	Deny user authentications and access to services if Adaptive authentication condition is true.

Challenge Type Options :

Attribute	Description
User second Factor	The User needs to authenticate using the second factor he has opted or assigned for such as OTP over SMS PUSH Notification OTP over Email And 12 more methods.
KBA (Knowledge-based authentication)	The System will ask user for 2 of 3 questions he has configured in his Self Service Console. Only after right answer to both questions user is allowed to proceed further.
OTP over Alternate Email	User will receive a OTP on the alternate email he has configured threw Self Service Console. Once user provides the correct OTP he is allowed to proceed further.

Now Enable Enable IP Restriction option from the IP RESTRICTION CONFIGURATION section to configure custom IP range.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access adaptive authentication ip blocking

Select the Action you want to perform if the IP address is out of the range. i.e. Allow, Challenge & Deny.
Specify the IP Address range for which you want above setting to reflect. You can add more than one IP Address ranges by clicking on following button +.
Scroll to the end and click on save.

B. Adaptive Authentication with Limiting number of devices.

Using Adaptive Authentication you can also restrict the number of devices the end user can access the Services on. You can allow end users to access services on a fixed no. of devices. The end users will be able to access services provided by us on this fixed no. of devices.

You can configure Adaptive Authentication with Device Restriction in following way

Login to Self Service Console >> Adaptive Authentication.
Add a Policy Name for your Adaptive Authentication Policy.
Select your Action for behaviour Change and Challenge Type for user from the Action for behaviour Change Section.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access adaptive authentication behaviour and challenge type

Scroll down to Device Configuration section and enable Allow User to Register Device option to allow users to register their devices.
Enter the Number of Devices which are allowed to register in field next to Number of Device Registrations Allowed
Choose Action if number of devices exceeded (This will override your setting for Action for Behaviour Change.)

Challenge: The user needs to verify himself using any of the three methods mentioned in table in step 5.1
Deny : Deny users access to the system

Enable option Send email alerts to Users if number of Device registrations exceeded allowed count if you want to alert the user about no of devices exceeding the limit. Save the configuration.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access adaptive authentication enable device restriction

C. Add Adaptive Authentication policy to Canvas.

Login to Self Service Console >> Policies.
Click on Edit option for predefined SAML app policy.

Canvas Single Sign-On (sso) edit device restriction policy

Set your application name in the Application and select password as Login Method.
Enable Adaptive Authentication on Policy page and select the required restriction method as an option.
From Select Login Policy dropdown select the policy we created in last step and click on save.

Canvas Single Sign-On (SSO) Restrict Access save device restriction policy

How to add a trusted Device

When End-user log in to the self service console after the policy for device restriction is on, he is provided the option to add the current device as a trusted device.

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