HaloPSA Integration with AuthPoint

Deployment Overview

This document describes how to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for HaloPSA with AuthPoint as an identity provider. HaloPSA must already be configured and deployed before you set up MFA with AuthPoint.

HaloPSA Authentication Data Flow with AuthPoint

AuthPoint communicates with various cloud-based services and Service Providers with the SAML protocol. This diagram shows the data flow of an MFA transaction for HaloPSA.

The MFA transaction for HaloPSA diagram

Before You Begin

Before you begin these procedures, make sure that:

Additional charges might apply to use HaloPSA.

Configure HaloPSA

Configure SAML 2.0 in HaloPSA

You can create an agent and a user in HaloPSA. In this example, we create an agent as the test user.

Before you can configure Halo PSA, you must download the metadata file from the Certificate Management page in the AuthPoint management UI.

  1. Log in to WatchGuard Cloud.
  2. From the navigation menu, select Configure > AuthPoint.
    If you have a Service Provider account, you must select an account from Account Manager.
  3. Select Resources.

Screenshot of the Resources page

  1. Click Certificate.

Screenshot of Certificates page

  1. Next to the AuthPoint certificate that you want to associate with your resource, click and select Download Metadata.

    We recommend that you choose the certificate with the latest expiration date. If you do not have a certificate, or if all of your certificates have expired, click Add Certificate and use the new certificate.

    The AuthPoint metadata URL provides your resource, in this case HaloPSA, with the information necessary to identify AuthPoint as a trusted identity provider.

  2. Log in to HaloPSA as an administrator.
  3. Click The icon of expand .
    The navigation bar expands.
  4. Select Configuration > Integrations > Identity Management > AD FS.
  5. To upload the AuthPoint Metadata file you downloaded, click Upload IdP Metadata .
    The Login URL, Logout URL, and Certificate Thumbprint values are filled in automatically in the SAML Configuration section.
  6. In the Identity Provider section, from the Type drop-down list, select Other.
  7. In the Name text box, type your IdP name. In our example, we type AuthPoint.

Screenshot of the upload AuthPoint metadata file in HaloPSA

  1. Click IdP Configuration and then copy the Entity ID/Audience and Single Sign-On URL values. You use these values when you configure AuthPoint.
    If you have a trial account for HaloPSA, copy the ?tenant=<your subdomain> value. 

Screenshot of ldP Configuration page in HaloPSA

  1. In the HaloPSA Configuration section, from the Assertion Endpoint drop-down list, select /account/saml.
    HaloPSA will use this value for all new SAML implementations.
  2. From the Allow Single Sign-On for Agents and/or Users drop-down list, select Agents & Users.
  3. From the User Matching Field drop-down list, select Email Address.
  4. (Optional) Select theAccept login requests that are initiated via the identity provider check box.
    You must select this check box if you want to enable IdP-Initiated SSO.
  5. Use the default values for the other settings.

Screenshot of the HaloPSA Configuration section

  1. Select Configuration > Integrations.
  2. In the Identity Management section, point to the AD FS icon, and click The screenshot of add icon to enable this feature.

Screenshot of the enable AD FS SAML 2.0 feature

Create an Agent or a User

  1. Log in to HaloPSA as an administrator.
  2. Click The icon of expand.
    The navigation bar expands.
  3. Click Configuration.
  4. In the Core Features section, select Teams & Agents > Agents > New.
    The New Agent page opens.
  5. Complete the Account Details, Agent Details, and Approval Settings sections on this page.
    Make sure the email address you specify for the agent is identical to the email address of the AuthPoint user.

Screenshot of the add New Agent page in HaloPSA

  1. Click Save.

(Optional) Get the client_id Parameters for HaloPSA

This section is only available for IdP-Initiated SSO. If you select SP-Initiated SSO, you can skip this section. To find the client_id parameters of the HaloPSA application and self-service portal, you can create a custom report to get the data.

  1. Select The screenshot of extend icon > Reporting.
  2. In the upper-right corner, select New > Data Source.
  3. From the Data Source drop-down list, select Write a custom SQL Query.
  4. In the text box, type SELECT ClientID, DisplayName FROM NHD_Identity_Application.

Screenshot of the write a SQL Query Report page

  1. Click Next until the Preview Report page opens.
  2. Click Load Report.
    The client_id and DisplayName required for the halo-user-portal and nethelpdesk-agent-web-application appear.
  3. Select the client_id value to connect to the respective portal.
  4. If you want to log in to the self-service portal, use theclient_id value of halo-user portal.
  5. For the HaloPSA application, use the client_id value of nethelpdesk-agent-web-application.

The client_id value is required when you configure AuthPoint.

Screenshot of the Report preview

Configure AuthPoint

Before AuthPoint can receive authentication requests from HaloPSA, you must add a SAML resource in AuthPoint. You must also create an authentication policy for the HaloPSA resource to determine which users can authenticate and log in to HaloPSA and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).

Add a SAML Resource in AuthPoint

From the AuthPoint management UI:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Resources. Click Add Resource.
    The Add Resource page opens.

  1. From the Type drop-down list, select SAML.
    Additional fields appear.

  1. On the SAML page, in the Name text box, type a name for this resource.
  2. From the Application Type(Integration Guide) drop-down list, select HaloPSA.
  3. In the Service Provider Entity ID text box, paste the Entity ID/Audience value from the IdP Configuration of HaloPSA.
  4. In the Assertion Consumer Service text box, paste the Single Sign-On URL value from the IdP Configuration of HaloPSA.
    • If you use a trial account, append ?tenant=<your subdomain> to the end of the URL.
    • If you want to enable IdP-Initiated SSO, you must add an ampersand to the URL followed by a valid client_id parameter . For example: https://aus-trial.halopsa.com/account/saml?tenant=<your subdomain>&client_id=<your client_id> .
  5. From the User ID sent on redirection to service provider drop-down list, select Email.
  6. Leave the Logout URL text box empty.
  7. From the Signature Method drop-down list, select SHA-256.
  8. From the AuthPoint Certificate drop-down list, select the AuthPoint certificate to associate with your resource. This must be the same certificate that you downloaded the metadata for in the previous section.
  9. Click Save.

Add a Group in AuthPoint

You must have at least one user group in AuthPoint to configure MFA. If you already have a group, you do not have to add another group.

To add a group to AuthPoint:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Groups.
  2. Click Add Group.
    The New Group page appears.

Screenshot that shows the Groups page.

  1. In the Name text box, type a descriptive name for the group.
  2. (Optional) In the Description text box, type a description of the group.

Screen shot of the New Group page.

  1. Click Save.
    Your group is listed on the Groups page.

Screenshot of the Save button on the New Group page.

Add an Authentication Policy to AuthPoint

Authentication policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).

You must have at least one authentication policy in AuthPoint that includes HaloPSA resource. If you already have authentication policies, you do not have to create a new authentication policy. You can add this resource to your existing authentication policies.

Users that do not have an authentication policy for a specific resource cannot authenticate to log in to that resource.

To configure an authentication policy:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Authentication Policies.
  2. Click Add Policy.

Screenshot of the Add Policy button on the Authentication Policies page.

  1. Type a name for this policy.
  2. From the Select the authentication options drop-down list, select Authentication options and select which authentication options users can choose from when they authenticate.

    For SAML resources, if you select more than one authentication option, users must select one of the available options when they authenticate. For example, if you select OTP and Push, users can choose to type their OTP or approve a push to authenticate. You cannot require that they do both.

  1. Select which groups this policy applies to. You can select more than one group. To configure this policy to apply to all groups, select All Groups.
  2. Select the resource that you created in the previous section. If you want this policy to apply to additional resources, select each resource this policy applies to. To configure this policy to apply to all resources, select All Resources.

Screenshot of the Add Policy page with the groups and resources selected

  1. (Optional) If you have configured policy objects such as a Network Location, select which policy objects apply to this policy. When you add a policy object to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that are the same as the conditions of the policy objects. For example, if you add a Network Location to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that come from that Network Location. Users who only have a policy that includes a Network Location do not get access to the resource when they authenticate outside of that Network Location (because they do not have a policy that applies, not because authentication is denied).

    If you configure policy objects, we recommend that you create a second policy for the same groups and resources without the policy objects. The policy with the policy objects should have a higher priority.

Screenshot of the Policy Objects drop-down list.

  1. Click Save.
    Your policy is created and added to the end of the policy list.

    When you create a new policy, we recommend that you review the order of your policies. AuthPoint always adds new policies to the end of the policy list.

Screenshot of the Save button on the Add Policy page.

Add Users to AuthPoint

Before you assign users to a group, you must add the users to AuthPoint. There are two ways to add AuthPoint user accounts:

  • Sync users from an external user database
  • Add local AuthPoint users

Each user must be a member of a group. You must add at least one group before you can add users to AuthPoint.

To import users from Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, or an LDAP database, you must add an external identity in the AuthPoint management UI. External identities connect to user databases to get user account information and validate passwords.

  • To sync users from Active Directory or an LDAP database, you must add an LDAP external identity
  • To sync users from Microsoft Entra ID, you must add a Microsoft Entra ID external identity

When you sync users from an external user database, you can sync any number of users and they are all added to AuthPoint at one time. Users synced from an external user database use the password defined for their user account as their AuthPoint password.

To learn how to sync users, go to Sync Users from Active Directory or LDAP and Sync Users from Azure Active Directory.

You can create local AuthPoint users on the Users page in the AuthPoint management UI. Because you can create only one user at a time, you most commonly do this when you want to create test users or to add only a small number of users.

Unlike users synced from an external user database, local AuthPoint users define and manage their own AuthPoint password. When you add a local user account, the user receives an email that prompts them to set their password.

To learn how to add local AuthPoint user accounts, go to Add Local AuthPoint Users.

Test the Integration

To test AuthPoint MFA with HaloPSA, you can authenticate with a mobile token on your mobile device. You can choose any method (Push, QR code, or OTP).

In this example, we use the push authentication method. Users receive a push notification in the mobile app that they must approve to authenticate.

HaloPSA supports connections to both the HaloPSA application and the self-service portal. In this example, we connect to the HaloPSA application. You can use the self-service portal in the same way.

  1. In a web browser, go to the HaloPSA application.

Screenshot of the HaloPSA login page

  1. Click Log in with AuthPoint.
  2. Type your email address or AuthPoint user name. Click Next.
  3. If required, in the Password text box, type your password.
  4. For the authentication method, select Send Push.
  5. Approve the authentication request that you received on your mobile device.
    You are logged in to the HaloPSA application.