App Connect

Microsoft Entra ID, previously known as Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), is a multi-tenant cloud-based directory and identity management service from Microsoft. Microsoft Entra ID extends on-premises Active Directory into the cloud.

Using Microsoft Entra ID with IBM® App Connect

You can use App Connect to perform actions on the following objects:

• Administrative units
• Devices
• Domains
• Groups
• Organizations
• Users

Building a flow in App Connect with Microsoft Entra ID 

You can now use IBM App Connect to build flows that integrate with Microsoft Entra ID and other applications.

The connector is displayed as “Microsoft Entra ID” on the IBM App Connect User Interface (UI). 

You can opt to log in by using the basic, or OAuth 2.0 password authentication mode. The required information to connect App Connect to your Microsoft Entra ID account differs based on the authentication mode.

For App Connect deployments in containerized environments, the following properties are required for your Microsoft Entra ID account connection.

Now, let’s look at the Microsoft Entra ID use cases that are run in a containerized environment.

Scenario 1: Syncs Microsoft Active Directory computers to Microsoft Entra ID 

Consider this scenario where you use App Connect that schedules an hourly synchronization scheduler-based flow between the Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and Entra ID devices in a containerized environment.

The flow creates or updates the device in Microsoft Entra ID whenever a new computer is created or updated in Microsoft AD, helping you keep your devices information in sync.

For this scenario:

1. You run a scheduler-based flow that retrieves computers from Microsoft Active Directory (AD) through a batch process.
2. The Microsoft AD retrieve computers operation fetches the computer details based on the base-distinguished name.

     For example:    

For each Microsoft AD computer is mapped with a common name string.

For example:  

This setting generates random data with the common name, making it a unique entry for Entra ID.

4. The Microsoft Entra ID update or create device operation either updates or creates the device details based on the device registration ID mapped to the retrieved computer common name.

For example:

 If the device is not found, the device details are created, or for an existing device, the details are updated accordingly in Microsoft Entra ID.

Scenario 2: Syncs Microsoft Active Directory users to Microsoft Entra ID

Similarly, consider the following scenario that schedules an hourly synchronization scheduler-based flow in a containerized environment, which creates or updates the user in Microsoft Entra ID whenever a new user is created or updated in Microsoft AD, helping you keep your user information in sync.

For this scenario:

1. You run a scheduler-based flow that retrieves users from Microsoft Active Directory (AD) based on the base-distinguished name.
2. A Set variable node is added to a ‘For each’ loop to map the retrieved user with the ‘User principal name’ string.

For each Microsoft AD user is mapped with the ‘User principal name’ string.

       
For example:

3. The Microsoft Entra ID update or create user operation either updates or creates the user details based on the username. If the user is not found, the user and its details are created, or for an existing user, the details are updated accordingly in Microsoft Entra ID.

IBM® App Connect supports a wide range of data formats, application infrastructures, and integration styles. For more information, see IBM® App Connect connectors.