About SAML single sign-on for Enterprise Managed Users
With Enterprise Managed Users, your enterprise uses SAML SSO to authenticate all members. Instead of signing in to GitHub with a GitHub username and password, members of your enterprise will sign in through your IdP.
Enterprise Managed Users supports the following IdPs:
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
- Okta
After you configure SAML SSO, we recommend storing your recovery codes so you can recover access to your enterprise in the event that your identity provider is unavailable. For more information, see "Saving your recovery codes."
Configuring SAML single sign-on for Enterprise Managed Users
To configure SAML SSO for your enterprise with managed users, you must configure an application on your IdP and then configure your enterprise on GitHub.com. After you configure SAML SSO, you can configure user provisioning.
To install and configure the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application on your IdP, you must have a tenant and administrative access on a supported IdP.
If you need to reset the password for your setup user, use an incognito or private browsing window to request a new password. When the email arrives with the link to reset your password, copy the link into your browser. For more information on resetting your password, see "Requesting a new password ."
Configuring your identity provider
To configure your IdP, follow the instructions they provide for configuring the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application on your IdP.
-
To install the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application, click the link for your IdP below:
-
To configure the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application and your IdP, click the link below and follow the instructions provided by your IdP:
-
So you can test and configure your enterprise, assign yourself or the user that will be configuring SAML SSO on GitHub to the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application on your IdP.
-
To enable you to continue configuring your enterprise on GitHub, locate and note the following information from the application you installed on your IdP:
Value Other names Description IdP Sign-On URL Login URL, IdP URL Application's URL on your IdP IdP Identifier URL Issuer IdP's identifier to service providers for SAML authentication Signing certificate, Base64-encoded Public certificate Public certificate that IdP uses to sign authentication requests
Configuring your enterprise
After you install and configure the GitHub Enterprise Managed User application on your identity provider, you can configure your enterprise.
-
Sign into GitHub.com as the setup user for your new enterprise with the username @SHORT-CODE_admin.
-
In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Your enterprises.
-
In the list of enterprises, click the enterprise you want to view.
-
In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
-
In the left sidebar, click Security.
-
Under "SAML single sign-on", select Require SAML authentication.
-
Under Sign on URL, type the HTTPS endpoint of your IdP for single sign-on requests that you noted while configuring your IdP.
-
Under Issuer, type your SAML issuer URL that you noted while configuring your IdP, to verify the authenticity of sent messages.
-
Under Public Certificate, paste the certificate that you noted while configuring your IdP, to verify SAML responses.
-
To verify the integrity of the requests from your SAML issuer, click . Then, in the "Signature Method" and "Digest Method" drop-downs, choose the hashing algorithm used by your SAML issuer.
-
Before enabling SAML SSO for your enterprise, to ensure that the information you've entered is correct, click Test SAML configuration.
-
Click Save.
Note: When you require SAML SSO for your enterprise, the setup user will no longer have access to the enterprise but will remain signed in to GitHub. Only managed users provisioned by your IdP will have access to the enterprise.
-
To ensure you can still access your enterprise in the event that your identity provider is ever unavailable in the future, click Download, Print, or Copy to save your recovery codes.
Enabling provisioning
After you enable SAML SSO, enable provisioning. For more information, see "Configuring SCIM provisioning for enterprise managed users."
Saving your recovery codes
In the event that your identity provider is unavailable, you can use the setup user and a recovery code to sign in and access your enterprise. If you did not save your recovery codes when you configured SAML SSO, you can still access them from your enterprise's settings.
-
In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Your enterprises.
-
In the list of enterprises, click the enterprise you want to view.
-
In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
-
In the left sidebar, click Security.
-
Under "Require SAML authentication", click Save your recovery codes.
-
To save your recovery codes, click Download, Print, or Copy.