Authentication with Azure AD

Our Archivematica instance relies on Azure AD for user authentication.

How login looks for the user

Here's how the login flow works:

1. A user goes to log in to Archivematica, and clicks the button that takes them to Azure AD:

   

   (Note: this screen is one of the changes in our Archivematica fork. We deliberately emphasise SSO over the username/password login.)

2. This sends the user to the standard Wellcome AD login screen:

   

   The user logs in with their standard Wellcome username/password.

3. The user gets redirected back to Archivematica, where they're now able to access the Archivematica dashboard.

How login works under the hood (roughly)

1. A user goes to log in to Archivematica, and clicks the button that takes them to Azure AD.

2. The user logs in to Azure AD with their standard username/password.

3. If the login is successful, Azure AD sends a message to Archivematica telling it who this user is, e.g.

   This user is [email protected].

   Azure AD will allow any user to "log in" to Archivematica this way. It doesn't enforce any permissions.

4. Archivematica looks to see if it has a user with that email address. If so, it allows them to access the dashboard. If not, it rejects their login.

   This is how we control access to Archivematica -- only staff with a user configured in Archivematica will get past this step.