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To authenticate to Azure Key Vault, you need an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) credential, either a shared secret or a certificate.
Prerequisite: Create a Vault Entry for your API Account Authentication To create a Connector, you must first store the authorization information in an Authorization Vault, which provides a secure storage location for API keys, tokens, username and passwords, headers, and other info used to authorize calls to external Web Services. In both cases, applications can access Key Vault in two ways: User plus application access: The application accesses Key Vault on behalf of a signed-in user. Examples of this type of access include Azure PowerShell and the Azure portal. User access is granted in two ways. Users can access Key Vault from any application, or they must use a specific application (referred to as compound identity).
Managing such credentials can be difficult. It's tempting to bundle credentials into an app by including them in source or configuration files. The
Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication
for .NET library simplifies this problem. It uses the developer's credentials to authenticate during local development. When the solution is later deployed to Azure, the library automatically switches to application credentials. Using developer credentials during local development is more secure because you don't need to create Azure AD credentials or share credentials between developers.The
Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication
library manages authentication automatically, which in turn lets you focus on your solution, rather than your credentials. It supports local development with Microsoft Visual Studio, Azure CLI, or Azure AD Integrated Authentication. When deployed to an Azure resource that supports a managed identity, the library automatically uses managed identities for Azure resources. No code or configuration changes are required. The library also supports direct use of Azure AD client credentials when a managed identity isn't available, or when the developer's security context can't be determined during local development.Prerequisites
- Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017 v15.5.
- The App Authentication extension for Visual Studio, available as a separate extension for Visual Studio 2017 Update 5 and bundled with the product in Update 6 and later. With Update 6 or later, you can verify the installation of the App Authentication extension by selecting Azure Development tools from within the Visual Studio installer.
Using the library
For .NET applications, the simplest way to work with a managed identity is through the
Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication
package. Here's how to get started:- Select Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Manage NuGet Packages for Solution to add references to the Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication and Microsoft.Azure.KeyVault NuGet packages to your project.
- Add the following code:
The
AzureServiceTokenProvider
class caches the token in memory and retrieves it from Azure AD just before expiration. So, you no longer have to check the expiration before calling the GetAccessTokenAsync
method. Just call the method when you want to use the token.The
GetAccessTokenAsync
method requires a resource identifier. To learn more about Microsoft Azure services, see What is managed identities for Azure resources.Local development authentication
For local development, there are two primary authentication scenarios: authenticating to Azure services, and authenticating to custom services.
Authenticating to Azure Services
Local machines don't support managed identities for Azure resources. As a result, the
Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication
library uses your developer credentials to run in your local development environment. When the solution is deployed to Azure, the library uses a managed identity to switch to an OAuth 2.0 client credential grant flow. This approach means you can test the same code locally and remotely without worry.For local development,
AzureServiceTokenProvider
fetches tokens using Visual Studio, Azure command-line interface (CLI), or Azure AD Integrated Authentication. Each option is tried sequentially and the library uses the first option that succeeds. If no option works, an AzureServiceTokenProviderException
exception is thrown with detailed information.Authenticating with Visual Studio
To authenticate by using Visual Studio:
- Sign in to Visual Studio and use Tools > Options to open Options.
- Select Azure Service Authentication, choose an account for local development, and select OK.
If you run into problems using Visual Studio, such as errors that involve the token provider file, carefully review the preceding steps.
You may need to reauthenticate your developer token. To do so, select Tools > Options, and then select Azure Service Authentication. Look for a Re-authenticate link under the selected account. Select it to authenticate.
Authenticating with Azure CLI
To use Azure CLI for local development, be sure you have version Azure CLI v2.0.12 or later.
To use Azure CLI:
- Search for Azure CLI in the Windows Taskbar to open the Microsoft Azure Command Prompt.
- Sign in to the Azure portal: az login to sign in to Azure.
- Verify access by entering az account get-access-token --resource https://vault.azure.net. If you receive an error, check that the right version of Azure CLI is correctly installed.If Azure CLI isn't installed to the default directory, you may receive an error reporting that
AzureServiceTokenProvider
can't find the path for Azure CLI. Use the AzureCLIPath environment variable to define the Azure CLI installation folder.AzureServiceTokenProvider
adds the directory specified in the AzureCLIPath environment variable to the Path environment variable when necessary. - If you're signed in to Azure CLI using multiple accounts or your account has access to multiple subscriptions, you need to specify the subscription to use. Enter the command az account set --subscription .Nov 30, 2016 Download key generator and get your very own unique unused product key for TOTALLY FREE. Our key generator will offer you the power to create a main cd key for Just Dance. With our method you will have a cd type in simply a couple of seconds, with merely a couple of clicks. How to use Just Dance 2017 Key Generator: 1.Download and Install Just Dance 2017 Key Generator.exe and Open it. 2.Choose the Platform for which you want to generate the key. 3.Press 'Generate CD-Key!' You also can Download Crack or FULL GAME (Skidrow version). Just dance 2017 activation key generator. Today we give you a very usefull key generator. Just Dance 2017 is a new game available for PC and Consoles. If you want to play this game we give you a tool that will generate keys totally for free. Just Dance 2017 is a video game based on the Dragon Ball media franchise. Our key generator will generate a 100% legit code for your game. Just Dance 2017 Serial Key Download Fresh and Working 1.Download and Install Just Dance 2017 Key Generator.exe and Open it. 2.Choose the Platform for which you want to generate the key. About Key Generator. Use Keygen, generate Just Dance 2017 steam key. It is designed to be easy to use, so to be available to as many users. It has possibility of automatic updates, one hundred percent safe to use and can be used on any system, it is compatible with all Windows.
This command generates output only on failure. To verify the current account settings, enter the command
az account list
.Authenticating with Azure AD authentication
To use Azure AD authentication, verify that:
- Your on-premises Active Directory syncs to Azure AD. For more information, see What is hybrid identity with Azure Active Directory?.
- Your code is running on a domain-joined computer.
Authenticating to custom services
When a service calls Azure services, the previous steps work because Azure services allow access to both users and applications.
When creating a service that calls a custom service, use Azure AD client credentials for local development authentication. There are two options:
- Use a service principal to sign into Azure:
- Create a service principal. For more information, see Create an Azure service principal with Azure CLI.
- Use Azure CLI to sign in with the following command:Because the service principal may not have access to a subscription, use the
--allow-no-subscriptions
argument.
- Use environment variables to specify service principal details. For more information, see Running the application using a service principal.
After you've signed in to Azure,
AzureServiceTokenProvider
uses the service principal to retrieve a token for local development.This approach applies only to local development. When your solution is deployed to Azure, the library switches to a managed identity for authentication.
Running the application using managed identity or user-assigned identity
Vault Generate Key Application Authentication Guide
When you run your code on an Azure App Service or an Azure VM with a managed identity enabled, the library automatically uses the managed identity. No code changes are required, but the managed identity must have get permissions for the key vault. You can give the managed identity get permissions through the key vault's Access Policies.
Alternatively, you may authenticate with a user-assigned identity. For more information on user-assigned identities, see About Managed Identities for Azure resources. To authenticate with a user-assigned identity, you need to specify the Client ID of the user-assigned identity in the connection string. The connection string is specified in Connection String Support.
Running the application using a Service Principal
It may be necessary to create an Azure AD Client credential to authenticate. This situation may happen in the following examples:
- Your code runs on a local development environment, but not under the developer's identity. Service Fabric, for example, uses the NetworkService account for local development.
- Your code runs on a local development environment and you authenticate to a custom service, so you can't use your developer identity.
- Your code is running on an Azure compute resource that doesn't yet support managed identities for Azure resources, such as Azure Batch.
There are three primary methods of using a Service Principal to run your application. To use any of them, you must first create a service principal. For more information, see Create an Azure service principal with Azure CLI.
Use a certificate in local keystore to sign into Azure AD
- Create a service principal certificate using the Azure CLI az ad sp create-for-rbac command.This command creates a .pem file (private key) that's stored in your home directory. Deploy this certificate to either the LocalMachine or CurrentUser store.ImportantThe CLI command generates a .pem file, but Windows only provides native support for PFX certificates. To generate a PFX certificate instead, use the PowerShell commands shown here: Create service principal with self-signed certificate. These commands automatically deploy the certificate as well.
- Set an environment variable named AzureServicesAuthConnectionString to the following value:Replace {AppId}, {TenantId}, and {Thumbprint} with values generated in Step 1. Replace {CertificateStore} with either LocalMachine` or CurrentUser, based on your deployment plan.
- Run the application.
Use a shared secret credential to sign into Azure AD
- Create a service principal certificate with a password using the Azure CLI az ad sp create-for-rbac command with the --sdk-auth parameter.
- Set an environment variable named AzureServicesAuthConnectionString to the following value:Replace {AppId}, {TenantId}, and {ClientSecret} with values generated in Step 1.
- Run the application.
Once everything's set up correctly, no further code changes are necessary.
AzureServiceTokenProvider
uses the environment variable and the certificate to authenticate to Azure AD.Use a certificate in Key Vault to sign into Azure AD
This option lets you store a service principal's client certificate in Key Vault and use it for service principal authentication. You may use this option for the following scenarios:
- Local authentication, where you want to authenticate using an explicit service principal, and want to keep the service principal credential securely in a key vault. Developer account must have access to the key vault.
- Authentication from Azure where you want to use explicit credential and want to keep the service principal credential securely in a key vault. You might use this option for a cross-tenant scenario. Managed identity must have access to key vault.
The managed identity or your developer identity must have permission to retrieve the client certificate from the Key Vault. The AppAuthentication library uses the retrieved certificate as the service principal's client credential.
To use a client certificate for service principal authentication:
- Create a service principal certificate and automatically store it in your Key Vault. Use the Azure CLI az ad sp create-for-rbac --keyvault <keyvaultname> --cert <certificatename> --create-cert --skip-assignment command:The certificate identifier will be a URL in the format
https://<keyvaultname>.vault.azure.net/secrets/<certificatename>
- Replace
{KeyVaultCertificateSecretIdentifier}
in this connection string with the certificate identifier:For instance, if your key vault was called myKeyVault and you created a certificate called myCert, the certificate identifier would be:
Connection String Support
By default,
AzureServiceTokenProvider
uses multiple methods to retrieve a token.To control the process, use a connection string passed to the
AzureServiceTokenProvider
constructor or specified in the AzureServicesAuthConnectionString environment variable.The following options are supported:
Connection string option | Scenario | Comments |
---|---|---|
RunAs=Developer; DeveloperTool=AzureCli | Local development | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses AzureCli to get token. |
RunAs=Developer; DeveloperTool=VisualStudio | Local development | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses Visual Studio to get token. |
RunAs=CurrentUser | Local development | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses Azure AD Integrated Authentication to get token. |
RunAs=App | Managed identities for Azure resources | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses a managed identity to get token. |
RunAs=App;AppId={ClientId of user-assigned identity} | User-assigned identity for Azure resources | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses a user-assigned identity to get token. |
RunAs=App;AppId={TestAppId};KeyVaultCertificateSecretIdentifier={KeyVaultCertificateSecretIdentifier} | Custom services authentication | KeyVaultCertificateSecretIdentifier is the certificate's secret identifier. |
RunAs=App;AppId={AppId};TenantId={TenantId};CertificateThumbprint={Thumbprint};CertificateStoreLocation={LocalMachine or CurrentUser} | Service principal | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses certificate to get token from Azure AD. |
RunAs=App;AppId={AppId};TenantId={TenantId};CertificateSubjectName={Subject};CertificateStoreLocation={LocalMachine or CurrentUser} | Service principal | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses certificate to get token from Azure AD |
RunAs=App;AppId={AppId};TenantId={TenantId};AppKey={ClientSecret} | Service principal | AzureServiceTokenProvider uses secret to get token from Azure AD. |
Samples
To see the
Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication
library in action, refer to the following code samples.- Programmatically deploy an Azure Resource Manager template from an Azure VM with a managed identity.
- Use .NET Core sample and a managed identity to call Azure services from an Azure Linux VM.
AppAuthentication Troubleshooting
Common issues during local development
Azure CLI is not installed, you're not logged in, or you don't have the latest version
Run az account get-access-token to see if Azure CLI shows a token for you. If it says no such program found, install the latest version of the Azure CLI. You may be prompted to sign in.
AzureServiceTokenProvider can't find the path for Azure CLI
AzureServiceTokenProvider looks for Azure CLI at its default install locations. If it can't find Azure CLI, set environment variable AzureCLIPath to the Azure CLI installation folder. AzureServiceTokenProvider will add the environment variable to the Path environment variable.
You're logged into Azure CLI using multiple accounts, the same account has access to subscriptions in multiple tenants, or you get an Access Denied error when trying to make calls during local development
Using Azure CLI, set the default subscription to one that has the account you want to use. The subscription must be in the same tenant as the resource you want to access: az account set --subscription [subscription-id]. If no output is seen, it succeeded. Verify the right account is now the default using az account list.
Common issues across environments
Unauthorized access, access denied, forbidden, or similar error
The principal used doesn't have access to the resource it's trying to access. Grant either your user account or the App Service's MSI 'Contributor' access to a resource. Which one depends on whether you're running the sample on your local computer or deployed in Azure to your App Service. Some resources, like key vaults, also have their own access policies that you use grant access to principals, such as users, apps, and groups.
Common issues when deployed to Azure App Service
Managed identity isn't set up on the App Service
Check the environment variables MSI_ENDPOINT and MSI_SECRET exist using Kudu debug console. If these environment variables don't exist, Managed Identity isn't enabled on the App Service.
![Key Key](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125874603/541989463.png)
Common issues when deployed locally with IIS
Can't retrieve tokens when debugging app in IIS
By default, AppAuth runs in a different user context in IIS. That's why it doesn't have access to use your developer identity to retrieve access tokens. You can configure IIS to run with your user context with the following two steps:
- Configure the Application Pool for the web app to run as your current user account. See more information here
- Configure 'setProfileEnvironment' to 'True'. See more information here.
- Go to %windir%System32inetsrvconfigapplicationHost.config
- Search for 'setProfileEnvironment'. If it's set to 'False', change it to 'True'. If it's not present, add it as an attribute to the processModel element (/configuration/system.applicationHost/applicationPools/applicationPoolDefaults/processModel/@setProfileEnvironment), and set it to 'True'.
- Learn more about managed identities for Azure resources.
- Learn more about Azure AD authentication scenarios.
![Vault generate key application authentication download Vault generate key application authentication download](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125874603/315305240.png)
The best way to authenticate to Azure services is by using a managed identity, but there are some scenarios where that isn't an option. In those cases, access keys or secrets are used. You should periodically rotate access keys or secrets.
This tutorial shows how to automate the periodic rotation of secrets for databases and services that use single-user/single-password authentication. Specifically, this tutorial rotates SQL Server passwords stored in Azure Key Vault by using a function triggered by Azure Event Grid notification:
- Thirty days before the expiration date of a secret, Key Vault publishes the 'near expiry' event to Event Grid.
- Event Grid checks the event subscriptions and uses HTTP POST to call the function app endpoint subscribed to the event.
- The function app receives the secret information, generates a new random password, and creates a new version for the secret with the new password in Key Vault.
- The function app updates SQL Server with the new password.
Note
There could be a lag between steps 3 and 4. During that time, the secret in Key Vault won't be able to authenticate to SQL Server.In case of a failure of any of the steps, Event Grid retries for two hours.
Create a key vault and SQL Server instance
The first step is to create a key vault and a SQL Server instance and database and store the SQL Server admin password in Key Vault.
This tutorial uses an existing Azure Resource Manager template to create components. You can find the code here: Basic Secret Rotation Template Sample.
- Select the Azure template deployment link:
- Under Resource group, select Create new. Name the group simplerotation.
- Select Purchase.
You'll now have a key vault, a SQL Server instance, and a SQL database. You can verify this setup in the Azure CLI by running the following command:
The result will look something the following output:
Create a function app
Next, create a function app with a system-managed identity, in addition to the other required components.
The function app requires these components:
- An Azure App Service plan
- A storage account
- An access policy to access secrets in Key Vault via function app managed identity
- Select the Azure template deployment link:
- In the Resource group list, select simplerotation.
- Select Purchase.
After you complete the preceding steps, you'll have a storage account, a server farm, and a function app. You can verify this setup in the Azure CLI by running the following command:
The result will look something like the following output:
For information on how to create a function app and use managed identity to access Key Vault, see Create a function app from the Azure portal and Provide Key Vault authentication with a managed identity.
Rotation function
The function uses an event to trigger the rotation of a secret by updating Key Vault and the SQL database.
Function trigger event
This function reads event data and runs the rotation logic:
Secret rotation logic
This rotation method reads database information from the secret, creates a new version of the secret, and updates the database with the new secret:
You can find the complete code on GitHub.
Function deployment
- Download the function app zip file from GitHub.
- Upload the simplerotationsample-fn.zip file to Azure Cloud Shell.
- Use this Azure CLI command to deploy the zip file to the function app:
After the function is deployed, you should see two functions under simplerotation-fn:
Add an event subscription for the SecretNearExpiry event
Copy the function app's
eventgrid_extension
key:Use the copied
eventgrid_extension
key and your subscription ID in the following command to create an Event Grid subscription for SecretNearExpiry
events:Add the secret to Key Vault
Set your access policy to grant manage secrets permissions to users:
Create a new secret with tags that contain the SQL database data source and the user ID. Include an expiration date that's set for tomorrow.
Creating a secret with a short expiration date will immediately publish a
SecretNearExpiry
event, which will in turn trigger the function to rotate the secret.Test and verify
After few minutes, the
sqluser
secret should automatically rotate.To verify that the secret has rotated, go to Key Vault > Secrets:
Open the sqluser secret and view the original and rotated versions:
Create a web app
To verify the SQL credentials, create a web app. This web app will get the secret from Key Vault, extract SQL database information and credentials from the secret, and test the connection to SQL Server.
The web app requires these components:
- A web app with system-managed identity
- An access policy to access secrets in Key Vault via web app managed identity
- Select the Azure template deployment link:
- Select the simplerotation resource group.
- Select Purchase.
Deploy the web app
You can find source code for the web app on GitHub.
To deploy the web app, complete these steps:
- Download the function app zip file from GitHub.
- Upload the simplerotationsample-app.zip file to Azure Cloud Shell.
- Use this Azure CLI command to deploy the zip file to the function app:
Open the web app
Go to the deployed application and select the URL:
You should see the Generated Secret Value with a Database Connected value of true.
Learn more
- Overview: Monitoring Key Vault with Azure Event Grid (preview)
- How to: Receive email when a key vault secret changes