Box 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 Box

Here's how to set up single sign-on (SSO) via SAML for the Box application.

Step 1: Set up Box as a SAML 2.0 service provider (SP)
  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 and then Securityand thenAuthenticationand thenSSO with SAML applications.
  3. Download the Google IdP metadata.
  4. Fill out the Box SSO Setup Support Form and attach the IdP metadata file.  
  5. After Box completes SSO setup on its side, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: 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 and then Appsand thenWeb and mobile apps.
  3. Click Add appand thenSearch for apps.
  4. Enter Box in the search field.
  5. In the search results, hover over the Box SAML app and click Select.
  6. On the Google Identity Provider details page, click Continue.
  7. On the Service provider details page, edit the Start URL, replacing {your-box-subdomain} with the subdomain for your Box installation.
  8. Click Continue.
  9. On the Attribute Mapping page, click the Select field menu and map the following Google directory attributes to their corresponding Box attributes:
     
    Google directory attribute Box attribute
    Basic Information > Primary Email SAML_SUBJECT
  10. (Optional) To enter group names that are relevant for this app:
    1. For Group membership (optional), click Search for a group, enter one or more letters of the group name, and select the group name.
    2. Add additional groups as needed (maximum of 75 groups).
    3. For App attribute, enter the groups attribute name of the corresponding service provider.

    Regardless of how many group names you enter, the SAML response includes only groups that a user is a member of (directly or indirectly). For more information, go to About group membership mapping.

  11. Click Finish.
Step 3: Enable the Box 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 and then Appsand thenWeb and mobile apps.
  3. Select Box.
  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. To turn on a service for a set of users across or within organizational units, select an access group. For details, go to Use groups to customize service access.
  8. Ensure that your Box user account email IDs match those in your Google domain.
Step 4: Verify that the SSO is working

Box 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 and then Appsand thenWeb and mobile apps.
  3. Select Box.
  4. At the top left, click Test SAML login

    Box 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://your-box-subdomain.box.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 Box.
Step 5: Set up auto-provisioning

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

 


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