Support for Azure AD user creation on behalf of Azure AD Applications for Azure SQL DB

by Contributed | May 12, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We are announcing a general availability for Azure AD user creation support for Azure SQL Database on behalf of Azure AD Applications (service principals). See Azure Active Directory service principal with Azure SQL.

What support for Azure AD user creation on behalf of Azure AD Applications means?

Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance support the following Azure AD objects: 

1. Azure AD users (managed, federated and guest) 


2. Azure AD groups (managed and federated) 


3. Azure AD applications  

For more information on Azure AD applications, see Application and service principal objects in Azure Active Directory  and Create an Azure service principal with Azure PowerShell. 

Formerly, only SQL Managed Instance supported the creation of those Azure AD object types on behalf of an Azure AD Application (using service principal). Support for this functionality in Azure SQL Database is now generally available.

This functionality is useful for automated processes where Azure AD objects are created and maintained in Azure SQL Database without human interaction by Azure AD applications. Since service principals could be an Azure AD admin for SQL DB as part of a group or an individual user, automated Azure AD object creation in SQL DB can be executed. This allows for a full automation of a database user creation. This functionality is also supported for Azure AD system-assigned managed identity and user-assigned managed identity that can be created as users in SQL Database on behalf of service principals (see the article, What are managed identities for Azure resources?).

Prerequisites

To enable this feature, the following steps are required:

1)   Assign a server identity (a system managed identity) during SQL logical server creation or after the server is created.

      See the PowerShell example below:

• To create a server identity during the Azure SQL logical server creation, execute the following command:  

         New-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName <resource group>
         -Location <Location name> -ServerName <Server name>
         -ServerVersion “12.0” -SqlAdministratorCredentials (Get-Credential)
         -AssignIdentity  
         (See the New-AzSqlServer command for more details)  

• For existing Azure SQL logical servers, execute the following command:

         Set-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName <resource group>
         -ServerName <Server name> -AssignIdentity     
         (See the  Set-AzSqlServer command for more details)  
         To check if a server identity is assigned to the Azure SQL logical 
         server, execute the following  command:
         Get-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName <resource group> 
         – ServerName <Server name> 
         (See the Get-AzSqlServer command for more details)

2)   Grant the Azure AD “Directory Readers” permission to the server identity
      created above 
     (For more information, see Provision Azure AD admin (SQL Managed Instance) 

How to use it

Once steps 1 and 2 are completed, an Azure AD application with the right permissions can create an Azure AD object (user/group or service principal) in Azure SQL DB. For more information, see the step-by-step tutorial doc
(see Tutorial: Create Azure AD users using Azure AD applications ).

Example

Using SMI (System-assigned Managed Identity) set up as an Azure AD admin for SQL DB,
create an Azure AD application as a SQL DB user.

Preparation

Enable steps 1 and 2 indicated above for the Azure SQL logical server

• In the example below, the server name is ‘testaadsql’


• The user database created under this serve is ‘testdb’

• Enable SMI on the Azure VM (see What are managed identities for Azure resources?)
  
  
  
  • In the example below, the SMI name is ‘mytestvm’
  
  
  
  




• Copy the display name of the SMI which is your VM name


• Create an Azure AD application
  See How to: Use the portal to create an Azure AD application and service principal that can access resou…

• Copy the display name of the application




• In the example below the app name is ‘myapp’




• Using the Azure portal, assign your SMI (display name mytestvm) as an Azure AD admin for the Azure SQL logical server  (see the screenshot below).

• Create Azure AD application user in SQL DB on behalf of the SMI




• From your Azure VM, execute the PowerShell script indicated below that creates an Azure AD application user in SQL DB on behalf of the SMI that is an Azure AD admin for this server
  (For more information on the SMI access see Tutorial: Use a Windows VM system-assigned managed identity to access Azure SQL)


• Alternatively, the SMI could be also be represented as a regular Azure AD user created in the database ‘testdb’ with dbo permissions allowing to create other Azure AD users ( see an example in Tutorial: Create Azure AD users using Azure AD applications )




• To check that the user ‘myapp’ was created in the database ‘testdb’ you can execute the T-SQL command select * from sys.database_principals.

PowerShell Script

# PS script creating a SQL user myapp from an Azure AD application on behalf of SMI “mytestvm”
#  that is also set as Azure AD admin for SQ DB
# Execute this script from the Azure VM with SMI name ‘mytestvm’   
# Azure AD application – display name  ‘myapp’
# This is the user name that is created in SQL DB ‘testdb’ in the server  ‘testaadsql’

# Metadata service endpoint for SMI, accessible only from within the VM:

$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri

 ‘http://169.254.169.254/metadata/identity/oauth2/token?api-version=2018-02-01&resource=https%3A%2F%2Fdatabase.windows.net%2F‘ -Method GET -Headers @{Metadata=”true”}  

$content = $response.Content | ConvertFrom-Json
$AccessToken = $content.access_token

# Specify server name and database name
# For the server name, the server identity must be assigned and “Directory Readers”
# permission granted to the identity

$SQLServerName = “testaadsql”
$DatabaseName = ‘testdb’

$conn = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SQLConnection
$conn.ConnectionString = “Data Source=$SQLServerName.database.windows.net;Initial Catalog=$DatabaseName;Connect Timeout=30”
$conn.AccessToken = $AccessToken

$conn.Open()

# Create SQL DB user [myapp] in the ‘testdb’ database
$ddlstmt = ‘CREATE USER [myapp] FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER;’

$command = New-Object -TypeName System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand($ddlstmt, $conn)      
Write-host ” “
Write-host “SQL DDL command was executed”
$ddlstmt
Write-host “results”
$command.ExecuteNonQuery()
$conn.Close() 

For more information see

• Azure Active Directory service principal with Azure SQL. and


• Tutorial: Create Azure AD users using Azure AD applications 

For feedback/questions on this preview feature, please reach out to the SQL AAD team at SQLAADFeedback@Microsoft.com  

MidDay Cafe Episode 9 – MBAS, Single Platform, VIVA Connections

by Contributed | May 12, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

MidDay Cafe Episode 9 – MBAS, Single Platform, VIVA Connections

In this episode of MidDay Cafe host Michael Gannotti is joined by Microsoft’s Kendra Burgess and Sue Vencill as they discuss the Microsoft Business Application Summit (MBAS)), Why I Came to Microsoft/Single Platform, and Next Generation Intranets with Microsoft VIVA Connections. 

Resources:

• General information on Teams Online Meetings and Conferencing Software | Microsoft Teams for Work


• Teams as a Platform – Training VoDs. Microsoft Teams platform on the Microsoft Virtual Hub – Microsoft Adoption


• Building Apps for Teams Build apps for the Microsoft Teams platform – Teams | Microsoft Docs


• Introducing Microsoft Viva Connections  


• Microsoft Viva Connections to start rollout to general availability – Microsoft Tech Community


• Add Viva Connections for Microsoft Teams desktop – SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Docs
  
  
  
  • Contains information on: Preparation for Viva Connections, Viva Connections requirements and recommendations, step-by-step guide to setting up Viva Connections desktop, and onboarding end users for Viva Connections.
  
  
  
  


• Additional resources to prepare for Viva Connections.
  
  
  
  • Set up a home site for your organization.
  
  
  • Enable and set up global navigation in the SharePoint app bar.
  
  
  • Introduction to SharePoint Online Management Shell
  
  
  
  

Keep up to date with MidDay Café:

• The MidDay Café Blog Board 


• Subscribe to the MidDay Café YouTube Playlist  


• Audio Podcast Subscriptions




• Audio Podcast RSS Feed 


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Anchor 


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Spotify  


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Apple Podcasts  


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Google Podcasts


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Pocket Casts


• Subscribe to the Audio Podcast on Radio Public 

Thanks for visiting – Michael Gannotti   LinkedIn | Twitter

Michael Gannotti

Developer Experiences – Manage Scanning Data Plane using REST APIs.

by Contributed | May 12, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We are happy to announce that REST APIs for scanning data plane are now released. Software engineers or developers in your organization can now call these APIs to register data sources, set up scans and classifications programmatically to integrate with other systems or products in your company.

Purview Scaning Data Plane Endpoints

You need to have the purview account name to call scanning APIs. Below is how the endpoint will look:

https://{your-purview-account-name}.scan.purview.azure.com

Set up authentication using service principal.

To call the scanning APIs, the first thing you need to do is to register an application and create a client secret for that application in Azure Active Directory.  When you register an application a service principal is automatically created in your tenant. For more information on how to create a service principal (application) and client secret, please refer here.

Once service principal is created, you need to assign ‘Data source Admin’ role of your purview account to the service principal created above. The below steps need to be followed to assign role to establish trust between the service principal and purview account.

1. Navigate to your Purview account.


2. On the Purview account page, select the tab Access control (IAM)


3. Click + Add.


4. Select Add role assignment.


5. For the Role select Purview Data Source Administrator from the drop down.


6. For Assign access to leave the default, User, group, or service principal.


7. For Select enter the name of the previously created service principal you wish to assign and then click on their name in the results pane.


8. Click on Save.

You’ve now configured the service principal as an application administrator, which enables it to send content to the scanning APIs. Learn about roles here.

Get Token

You can send a POST request to the following URL to get access token.

https://login.microsoftonline.com/{your-tenant-id}/oauth2/token

The following parameters needs to be passed to the above URL.

• client_id:  client id of the application registered in Azure Active directory and is assigned ‘Data Source Admin’ role for the Purview account.


• client_secret: client secret created for the above application.


• grant_type: This should be ‘client_credentials’.


• resource: This should be ‘https://purview.azure.net’

Figure 1: Screenshot showing a sample response in Postman.

Scanning Data Plane REST APIs

Once you have followed all the above steps and have received access token you can now call various scanning APIs programmatically. The different types of entities you can interact with are listed below:

• Classification Rules


• Data Sources


• Key Vault Connections


• Scans and scan related functionality like triggers and scan rule sets.

The below examples explains the APIs you need to call to configure a data source , set up and run a scan for the data source but for complete information on all the REST APIs supported by scanning data plane refer here –

1. To create or update a data source using APIs the following REST API can be leveraged:

PUT {Endpoint}/datasources/{dataSourceName}?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

You can register an Azure storage data source with name ‘myStorage’ by sending a PUT request to the following URL

{Endpoint}/datasources/myStorage?api-version=2018-12-01-preview with the below request body:

{

  “name”: “myStorage”,

  “kind”: “AzureStorage”,

  “properties”: {

    “endpoint”: “https://azurestorage.core.windows.net/“

  }

}

2. To create a scan for a data source already registered in Purview the following REST API can be leveraged:

PUT {Endpoint}/datasources/{dataSourceName}/scans/{scanName}?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

You can schedule a scan ‘myStorageScan’ using a credential ‘CredentialAKV’ and system scan rule set ‘AzureStorage’ for the already registered data source ‘myStorage’ by sending a PUT request to the following URL with the below request body:

{Endpoint}/datasources/myStorage/scans/myStorageScan?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

{

  “kind”: “AzureStorageCredential”,

  “properties”: {

    “credential”: {

      “referenceName”: “CredentialAKV”,

      “credentialType”: “AccountKey”

    },

    “connectedVia”: null,

    “scanRulesetName”: “AzureStorage”,

    “scanRulesetType”: “System”

  }

}

The above call with return the following response:

{

  “name”: “myStorageScan”,

  “id”: “datasources/myDataSource/scans/myScanName”,

  “kind”: “AzureStorageCredential”,

  “properties”: {

    “credential”: {

      “referenceName”: “CredentialAKV”,

      “credentialType”: “AccountKey”

    },

    “connectedVia”: null,

    “scanRulesetName”: “AzureStorage”,

    “scanRulesetType”: “System”,

    “workers”: null

  },

  “scanResults”: null

}

3. Once the scan is created you need to add filters to the scan which is basically scoping your scan or determining what objects should be included as part of scan. To create a filter, you can leverage the following REST API

PUT {Endpoint}/datasources/{dataSourceName}/scans/{scanName}/filters/custom?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

You can create a filter for the above scan ‘myStorageScan’ by sending a PUT request to the following URL with the below request body. This will create a scope to include folders /share1/user and /share1/aggregated and exclude folder /share1/user/temp/ as part of the scan.

{Endpoint}/datasources/myStorage/scans/myStorageScan/filters/custom?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

{

  “properties”: {

    “includeUriPrefixes”: [

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/user“,

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/aggregated“

    ],

    “excludeUriPrefixes”: [

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/user/temp“

    ]

  }

}

The above call will return the following response:

{

  “name”: “custom”,

  “id”: “datasources/myStorage/scans/myStorageScan/filters/custom”,

  “properties”: {

    “includeUriPrefixes”: [

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/user“,

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/aggregated“

    ],

    “excludeUriPrefixes”: [

      “https://myStorage.file.core.windows.net/share1/user/temp“

    ]

  }

}

4.To run a scan, you need to use the following REST API

PUT {Endpoint}/datasources/{dataSourceName}/scans/{scanName}/runs/{runId}?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

You can now trigger the above scan ‘myStorageScan’ by sending a PUT request to the below URL. The runId is a guid.

{Endpoint}/datasources/myStorage/scans/myStorageScan/runs/138301e4-f4f9-4ab5-b734-bac446b236e7?api-version=2018-12-01-preview

The above call will return the following response:

{

  “scanResultId”: “138301e4-f4f9-4ab5-b734-bac446b236e7”,

  “startTime”: “2019-05-16T17:01:37.3089193Z”,

  “endTime”: null,

  “status”: “Accepted”,

  “error”: null

}

To learn more about Azure Purview, check out our full documentation today.