Freshdesk cloud application

You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.

Using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), your users can use their Google Cloud credentials to sign in to enterprise-cloud applications.

Set up SSO via SAML for Freshdesk

As administrator, here's how to set up single sign-on (SSO) via SAML for the Freshdesk application.

 

Step 1: Set up Google as a SAML identity provider (IdP)

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsWeb and mobile apps.
3. Click Add appSearch for apps.
4. Enter Freshdesk in the search field.
5. In the search results, hover over the Freshdesk SAML app and click Select.
6. On the Google Identity Provider details page, copy and save the SSO URL and the SHA-256 fingerprint.
7. Click Continue.
8. On the Service provider details page, edit the ACS URL, Entity ID, and Start URL, replacing {your‑account-name} with your Freshdesk subdomain.
9. Click Continue.
10. On the Attribute Mapping page, click the Select field menu and map the following Google directory attributes to their corresponding Freshdesk attributes:
     

    Google Directory attribute	Freshdesk attribute
    Basic Information > Primary Email	Email

11. (Optional) If you want to send a user’s group membership information in the SAML response, enter the group names that are relevant for this app in the Group membership field.

    1. Under Google groups, click in the Search for a group entry field.
    2. Type one or more letters of the group name.
    3. Choose the group name from the list.
    4. Add additional groups as needed (total groups cannot exceed 75).
    5. Under App attribute, enter the service provider’s corresponding groups attribute name.

    Note: Regardless of how many group names you enter, the SAML response will only include groups that a user is a member of (directly or indirectly). For more information, see About group membership mapping.

12. Click Finish.

Step 2: Set up Freshdesk as a SAML 2.0 service provider (SP)

1. In a new browser tab, log into your Freshdesk application as an administrator.
2. Under the Admin tab, go to Security.
3. Click on the SSO toggle to enable it.
4. Click the SAML SSO radio button.
5. In the SAML Login URL field, paste the SSO URL you copied from Google in Step 1 above.
6. Filling in the Logout URL field is optional. You can leave it empty. 
7. Enter the SHA-256 fingerprint you copied from Google in Step 1 above.
8. Click Save.

Step 3: Enable the Freshdesk app

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsWeb and mobile apps.
3. Select Freshdesk.
4. Click User access.

5. To turn a service on or off for everyone in your organization, click On for everyone or Off for everyone, and then click Save.

6. (Optional) To turn a service on or off for an organizational unit:

   1. At the left, select the organizational unit.
   2. To change the Service status, select On or Off.
   3. Choose one:
      • If the Service status is set to Inherited and you want to keep the updated setting, even if the parent setting changes, click Override.
      • If the Service status is set to Overridden, either click Inherit to revert to the same setting as its parent, or click Save to keep the new setting, even if the parent setting changes.
        Note: Learn more about organizational structure.

7. (Optional) Turn on the service for a group of users.
   Use access groups to turn on a service for specific users within or across your organizational units. Learn more

8. Ensure that your Freshdesk user account email IDs match those in your Google domain.

Step 4: Verify that SSO is working

Freshdesk supports both Identity Provider (IdP) initiated and Service Provider (SP) initiated SSO. Follow these steps to verify SSO in either mode:

IdP-initiated

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsWeb and mobile apps.
3. Select Freshdesk.
4. At the top left, click Test SAML login. 

   Freshdesk should open in a separate tab. If it doesn’t, use the information in the resulting SAML error messages to update your IdP and SP settings as needed, then retest SAML login.

SP-initiated

1. Close all browser windows.
2. Open https://freshdesk.com and attempt to sign in. You should be automatically redirected to the Google sign in page.
3. Enter your sign in credentials.
4. After your sign in credentials are authenticated, you are automatically redirected back to Freshdesk.

Step 5: Set up auto-provisioning

As a super administrator, you can automatically provision users in the Freshdesk application.

 

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