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 Freshdesk as a SAML 2.0 service provider (SP)
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Security and then Set up single sign-on (SSO).

    To see Security, you might have to click More controls at the bottom. 

  3. Click the Download button to download the Google IdP metadata and the X.509 Certificate.
  4. In a new browser tab, log into your Freshdesk application as an administrator.
  5. Under the Admin tab, go to Security.
  6. Click on the SSO toggle to enable it.
  7. Click the SAML SSO radio button.
  8. Copy the Google Single Sign-On URL (see Step 5 below) from the Freshdesk cloud application and paste it into the SAML Login URL field.
  9. Filling in the Logout URL field is optional. You can leave it empty. 
  10. Generate the SHA-1 fingerprint from the Google X.509 certificate you downloaded in Step 3.
  11. Click Save and proceed to the next section to set up Google as a SAML identity provider (IdP).
Step 2: Set up Google as a SAML identity provider (IdP)
  1. In a new browser tab, sign in to your Admin console as a super administrator.
  2. Click Apps > SAML apps.
  3. Click the plus (+) icon in the bottom corner.
  4. Select the Freshdesk item from the list. The values on the Google IDP Information page automatically populate.
  5. There are two ways to collect the service provider Setup information:

    You can copy the Entity ID and the Single Sign-On URL field values and download the X.509 Certificate, paste them into the appropriate service provider Setup fields, and then click Next
    or
    You can download the IDP metadata, upload it into the appropriate service provider Setup fields, and then  come back to the admin console and click Next.
     
  6. In the Basic application information window, the Application name and Description values automatically populate.
  7. Click Next.
Step 3: Enter service provider details in Google Admin console
  1. In the Service Provider Details section, enter the following URLs into the Entity ID, ACS URL, and Start URL fields:
            ACS URL: https://your-domain-name.freshdesk.com/login/saml
            Entity ID: your-domain-name.freshdesk.com
            Start URL: https://your-domain-name.freshdesk.com
  2. Leave Signed Response unchecked.
    When the Signed Response checkbox is unchecked, only the assertion is signed. When the Signed Response checkbox is checked, the entire response is signed.
  3. The default Name ID is the primary email. Multi-value input is not supported. You can change the Name ID mapping as per your requirement. Custom attributes of the user schema can also be used after creating them via Google Admin SDK APIs. The custom attributes for the user schema need to be created prior to setting up the Freshdesk SAML application. 
  4. Click Next.
  5. Click Add new mapping and map the attribute value "Email" to Basic Information > Primary Email
  6. In the drop-down list, first select the Category and then choose a User attribute to map the attribute from the Google profile.
  7. Click Finish.
Step 4: Enable the Freshdesk app
  1. Sign in to your Admin console.
  2. Go to Apps > SAML apps.
  3. Select Freshdesk.

  4. At the top right of the gray box, click Edit Service Compose.

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

  6. To turn on or off a service only for users in an organizational unit:

    1. At the left, select the organizational unit.
    2. Select On or Off.
    3. To keep the service turned on or off even when the service is turned on or off for the parent organizational unit, click Override.
    4. If the organization's status is already Overridden, choose an option:
      • Inherit—Reverts to the same setting as its parent.
      • Save—Saves your new setting (even if the parent setting changes).

    Learn more about organizational structure.

  7. Ensure that your Freshdesk user account email IDs match those in your Google domain.
Step 5: Verify that SSO is working
  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 6: Set up user provisioning

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

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