How do you implement multi-tenant architecture in Spring Boot with Azure AD?

Table of Contents

Introduction

In a multi-tenant architecture, a single instance of an application serves multiple tenants, where each tenant operates independently with its own isolated data, configurations, and user base. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a powerful identity provider that supports multi-tenancy, making it an ideal solution for managing authentication and authorization across different tenants in Spring Boot applications. This guide explains how to implement a multi-tenant architecture in Spring Boot using Azure AD for authentication and authorization.

Steps to Implement Multi-Tenant Architecture with Azure AD in Spring Boot

1. Set Up Azure AD Multi-Tenant Application

Before you can integrate Azure AD with your Spring Boot application, you need to set up a multi-tenant application in the Azure portal.

Steps to create a multi-tenant app:

  1. Go to the Azure Portal.
  2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations > New registration.
  3. In the Supported account types, select Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory - Multitenant).
  4. Enter your application's name, and configure the redirect URI (for example, http://localhost:8080/login/oauth2/code/azure for local development).
  5. After registration, note down the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID, which you'll use for authentication.

2. Configure Permissions and Scopes in Azure AD

To allow your Spring Boot application to authenticate users from different tenants, you need to configure the necessary API permissions:

  1. Go to API permissions under the registered application in the Azure portal.
  2. Add Microsoft Graph API permissions like User.Read, or any other custom API permissions that your application requires.
  3. Grant admin consent for the permissions.

3. Add Dependencies to Spring Boot Application

Add the necessary dependencies to your pom.xml for integrating Spring Security, OAuth 2.0, and Azure AD.

Dependencies in pom.xml:

These dependencies allow Spring Security to handle OAuth 2.0 authentication and enable integration with Azure AD.

4. Configure Application Properties for Azure AD Integration

You need to configure the Azure AD details in your application.yml or application.properties file to enable OAuth 2.0 login.

Example (application.yml):

  • client-id: The client ID of your Azure AD application.
  • client-secret: The client secret associated with the application.
  • tenant-id: Use common for multi-tenant scenarios. This allows the application to authenticate users from multiple Azure AD tenants.
  • redirect-uri: The URI to which users are redirected after authentication.

5. Configure Spring Security for OAuth2 Login

Spring Security OAuth 2.0 handles the authentication flow. Configure Spring Security in your SecurityConfig class to use Azure AD for authentication.

Example SecurityConfig Class:

This configuration enables OAuth2 login and ensures that any request except /login and /error requires authentication.

6. Handle Multi-Tenant Authentication

In a multi-tenant application, each tenant can have its own users and permissions. When a user logs in, Azure AD provides an identity token that contains information about the user's tenant. You can retrieve and use this information to isolate data and ensure proper authorization.

Example: Fetching Tenant Information

In this example, the tenant ID is extracted from the authentication object. This ID can be used to isolate data for different tenants.

7. Tenant-Specific Data Handling

Once you've identified the tenant through Azure AD's token, you can implement tenant-specific data handling by associating each user's actions with their respective tenant. This often involves:

  • Storing tenant IDs in a database.
  • Configuring the data source dynamically based on the tenant.

For example, if you're using a database, you can configure multiple data sources based on the tenant's ID.

8. User Roles and Permissions in Multi-Tenant Apps

Azure AD supports role-based access control (RBAC) within tenants. You can assign roles to users within different tenants and control access to various resources in your application based on these roles.

Example: Fetching User Roles

This will allow you to access the roles of the authenticated user and implement role-based access control (RBAC) within your multi-tenant application.

Conclusion

Implementing multi-tenant architecture in Spring Boot with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) enables you to handle user authentication and authorization in a scalable and secure way. Azure AD’s multi-tenant model allows you to authenticate users from multiple organizations (tenants) without managing separate identities for each tenant. By configuring OAuth 2.0, using Spring Security for authentication, and managing tenant-specific data, you can build a robust multi-tenant application.

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