Integrate Freshdesk with Zero Trust Network Access

In this topic, you will find general instructions on how to integrate Freshdesk with Portnox™ Zero Trust Network Access.

Create a Portnox Cloud application configuration

In this step, you will create a configuration in Portnox Cloud that will contain all the information necessary to integrate with Freshdesk.

  1. In a new tab of your browser, open your Portnox Cloud account by accessing the following URL: https://clear.portnox.com/

    From now on, we will call this tab the Portnox tab.

  2. In the Cloud portal top menu, click on the Zero Trust Resources option.

  3. On the Resources screen, click on the Create resource button.

    1. In the What type of resource is this? section, select the SSO web application option.
    2. In the Authentication protocol section, select the SAML option.
    3. Click on the Next button.

  4. Optional: If you have more than one SAML identity provider configured, select the identity provider in the Select an identity provider to use for this resource section.
  5. In the Resource details section, enter a Resource name and optionally a Description.

    In this example, we used the name Freshdesk for the new application configuration but you can use any name you like.

  6. Keep this browser tab open. You will need it later.

Open your Freshworks SSO settings

In this section, you will access your Freshworks administrative interface and find the single sign-on (SSO) settings.

  1. In another tab of your browser, open your Freshdesk web interface by accessing the following URL: https://your_tenant.freshdesk.com/, substituting your_tenant with your Freshdesk tenant name.

    From now on, we will call this tab the Freshdesk tab.

  2. In the left-hand side menu, click on the  ⚙  icon to access the settings pane.

  3. In the settings pane, scroll all the way down to the Account section, and then find and click on the Security option.

  4. In the Security settings pane, click on the Configure Freshworks SSO link.

    Note:
    A new browser tab will open with configuration for your Freshworks account. The Freshworks account applies to all other Freshworks products, so by configuring SSO for Freshdesk, you will also be able to use it for other Freshworks products that support SSO.
  5. In the Freshworks Security Settings pane, click on the > symbol to the right of the Default Login Methods label.

    Note:
    After you test Zero Trust Network Access, you can use other settings on this pane to turn off less secure login methods.
  6. In the Default Login Method pane, activate the switch next to the SSO Login label.

  7. In the Configure SSO pane, click on the SAML button in the IdP of your choice section.

Copy configuration values from the Portnox tab to the Freshdesk tab

In this section, you will copy the values displayed by Portnox Cloud and paste them in the relevant fields in the Freshdesk SSO setup section.

  1. In the Portnox tab, in the Service details section, click on the  ⧉  icon next to the Identity Provider Entity ID / Audience URI field to copy the value.

  2. In the Freshdesk tab, click on the empty field next to the Entity ID provided by the IdP label and paste the value copied from Portnox Cloud.

  3. In the Portnox tab, in the Service details section, click on the  ⧉  icon next to the Sign-In URL / SSO URL field to copy the value.

  4. In the Freshdesk tab, click on the empty field next to the SAML SSO URL label and paste the value copied from Portnox Cloud.

  5. In the Portnox tab, in the Certificates > Signing certificates section, click on the  ⋮  icon next to the Active certificate and select the Copy certificate option to copy the certificate.

  6. In the Freshdesk tab, click on the empty field next to the Security certificate label and paste the value copied from Portnox Cloud.

Copy configuration values from the Freshdesk tab to the Portnox tab

In this section, you will copy the values displayed in your Freshdesk SSO setup section, and paste them in the relevant fields in Portnox Cloud.

  1. In the Freshdesk tab, click on the  ⧉  icon next to the Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) URL field to copy the value to the clipboard.

  2. In the Portnox tab, in the Resource properties section, click on the empty field under the Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) URL / Reply URL heading and paste the value copied from Freshdesk.

  3. In the Freshdesk tab, click on the  ⧉  icon next to the Service Provider (SP) Entity ID field to copy the value to the clipboard.

  4. In the Portnox tab, in the Resource properties section, click on the empty field under the Entity ID / Service Provider Entity URL heading and paste the value copied from Freshdesk.

Finalize the configuration

In this section, you will finalize the configuration in Portnox Cloud and Freshdesk.

  1. Finalize the configuration in the Portnox tab.
    1. Optional: Click on the Next button, and in the Policy enforcement section, in the Device risk assessment section, change the setting to Override with custom policy and then select a risk assessment policy if you want to assess risk with this application using a custom risk assessment policy, and in the Access control section, change the setting to Override with custom policy and then select an access control policy if you want to control access to this application using a custom access control policy.
    2. Scroll all the way down to the end of the page, and then click on the Add resource button.

  2. Finalize the configuration in the Freshdesk tab.
    1. In the Signing Options field, select the Only Signed Assertions option.

    2. Click on the Configure SSO button.

Result: You have configured Freshdesk to be accessible using Portnox Zero Trust Network Access.