Use Microsoft Azure as an authentication provider (FREE SELF)

You can enable the Microsoft Azure OAuth 2.0 OmniAuth provider and sign in to GitLab with your Microsoft Azure credentials. You can configure the provider that uses the earlier Azure Active Directory v1.0 endpoint, or the provider that uses the v2.0 endpoint.

NOTE: For new projects, Microsoft suggests you use the OpenID Connect protocol, which uses the Microsoft identity platform (v2.0) endpoint.

Register an Azure application

To enable the Microsoft Azure OAuth 2.0 OmniAuth provider, you must register an Azure application and get a client ID and secret key.

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

2. If you have multiple Azure Active Directory tenants, switch to the desired tenant. Note the tenant ID.

3. Register an application and provide the following information:

   • The redirect URI, which requires the URL of the Azure OAuth callback of your GitLab installation. For example:
     • For the v1.0 endpoint: https://gitlab.example.com/users/auth/azure_oauth2/callback.
     • For the v2.0 endpoint: https://gitlab.example.com/users/auth/azure_activedirectory_v2/callback.
   • The application type, which must be set to Web.

4. Save the client ID and client secret. The client secret is only displayed once.

   If required, you can create a new application secret.

client ID and client secret are terms associated with OAuth 2.0. In some Microsoft documentation, the terms are named Application ID and Application Secret.

Add API permissions (scopes)

If you're using the v2.0 endpoint, after you create the application, configure it to expose a web API. Add the following delegated permissions under the Microsoft Graph API:

• email
• openid
• profile

Alternatively, add the User.Read.All application permission.

Enable Microsoft OAuth in GitLab

1. On your GitLab server, open the configuration file.

   • For Omnibus installations

     sudo editor /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

   • For installations from source

     cd /home/git/gitlab
     
     sudo -u git -H editor config/gitlab.yml

2. Configure the common settings to add azure_oauth2 as a single sign-on provider. This enables Just-In-Time account provisioning for users who do not have an existing GitLab account.

3. Add the provider configuration. Replace <client_id>, <client_secret>, and <tenant_id> with the values you got when you registered the Azure application.

   • For Omnibus installations

     For the v1.0 endpoint:

     gitlab_rails['omniauth_providers'] = [
       {
         name: "azure_oauth2",
         # label: "Provider name", # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD"
         args: {
           client_id: "<client_id>",
           client_secret: "<client_secret>",
           tenant_id: "<tenant_id>",
         }
       }
     ]

     For the v2.0 endpoint:

     gitlab_rails['omniauth_providers'] = [
       {
         "name" => "azure_activedirectory_v2",
         "label" => "Provider name", # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD v2"
         "args" => {
           "client_id" => "<client_id>",
           "client_secret" => "<client_secret>",
           "tenant_id" => "<tenant_id>",
         }
       }
     ]

     For alternative Azure clouds, configure base_azure_url under the args section. For example, for Azure Government Community Cloud (GCC):

     gitlab_rails['omniauth_providers'] = [
       {
         "name" => "azure_activedirectory_v2",
         "label" => "Provider name", # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD v2"
         "args" => {
           "client_id" => "<client_id>",
           "client_secret" => "<client_secret>",
           "tenant_id" => "<tenant_id>",
           "base_azure_url" => "https://login.microsoftonline.us"
         }
       }
     ]

   • For installations from source

     For the v1.0 endpoint:

     - { name: 'azure_oauth2',
         # label: 'Provider name', # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD"
         args: { client_id: '<client_id>',
                 client_secret: '<client_secret>',
                 tenant_id: '<tenant_id>' } }

     For the v2.0 endpoint:

     - { name: 'azure_activedirectory_v2',
         label: 'Provider name', # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD v2"
         args: { client_id: "<client_id>",
                 client_secret: "<client_secret>",
                 tenant_id: "<tenant_id>" } }

     For alternative Azure clouds, configure base_azure_url under the args section. For example, for Azure Government Community Cloud (GCC):

     - { name: 'azure_activedirectory_v2',
         label: 'Provider name', # optional label for login button, defaults to "Azure AD v2"
         args: { client_id: "<client_id>",
                 client_secret: "<client_secret>",
                 tenant_id: "<tenant_id>",
                 base_azure_url: "https://login.microsoftonline.us" } }

   You can also optionally add the scope for OAuth 2.0 scopes parameter to the args section. The default is openid profile email.

4. Save the configuration file.

5. Reconfigure GitLab if you installed using Omnibus, or restart GitLab if you installed from source.

6. Refresh the GitLab sign-in page. A Microsoft icon should display below the sign-in form.

7. Select the icon. Sign in to Microsoft and authorize the GitLab application.

Read Enable OmniAuth for an existing user for information on how existing GitLab users can connect to their new Azure AD accounts.