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.

  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 initial settings.

  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 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" } }

    You can optionally add the following parameters:

    • base_azure_url for different locales. For example, base_azure_url: "https://login.microsoftonline.de".
    • scope, which you add to args. 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.