Django + Azure AD PoC

This is a Proof of Concept (PoC) Django application that connects to Azure Active Directory (AD) for user authentication and retrieves a list of users using the Microsoft Graph API. It uses cookie-based session management, so no database is required for session storage.

Prerequisites

Before running this PoC, ensure you have the following:

1. Azure AD Tenant: Access to an Azure Active Directory tenant (company or personal).
2. Azure App Registration: An Azure AD application registered with the necessary API permissions (User.Read).
3. Python: Python 3.7+ installed.
4. Django: Installed and set up on your machine.
5. Required Packages: requests, django, python-decouple

Setup Steps

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/ad-poc.git
cd ad-poc

Step 2: Clone the Repository

pip install django requests
pip install python-decouple

Step 3: Azure AD App Registration

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
2. Go to Azure Active Directory > App registrations > New registration.
3. Register your app:
   • Name: Provide a meaningful name (e.g., DjangoAzurePoC).
   • Supported account types: Choose Accounts in this organizational directory only.
   • Redirect URI: Set to http://localhost:8000/get_token/.
4. Once the app is created, go to Certificates & Secrets and generate a new client secret. Make sure to note the secret as it will only be visible once.
5. Go to API permissions and add the following Microsoft Graph API permission:
   • Delegated Permissions: User.Read
   • Grant admin consent for the permission if required by clicking on Grant admin consent.
6. Note down the following details from your Azure AD app registration:
   • Client ID (Application ID)
   • Client Secret (from the secret value created in Step 4)
   • Tenant ID (found in Overview or Endpoints)

Step 4: Configure Django Settings

1. Create a .env File: In the root directory of your Django project, create a file named .env to securely store your Azure AD credentials. This prevents sensitive information from being hardcoded in your source files.

.env File Example:

   AZURE_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id        # Replace with your Azure Client ID
   AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret  # Replace with your Azure Client Secret
   AZURE_TENANT_ID=your_tenant_id        # Replace with your Tenant ID
   AZURE_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/get_token/  # Must match the registered Redirect URI in Azure AD

Step 5: Run the Application

Run the Django development server using the following command:

python manage.py runserver

This will start the server on http://localhost:8000/. You can visit this URL in your web browser.

Step 6: Test the Application

1. Open your web browser and go to http://localhost:8000/login/.
2. You will be redirected to Microsoft's login page. Enter your Azure AD credentials to log in.
3. After successfully logging in, you will be redirected back to your app's get_token view. The application will exchange the authorization code for an access token and store it in the session.
4. You will then be redirected to http://localhost:8000/get_users/, where you can view the list of users from your Azure AD.

Make sure to handle any errors that may occur during the login or token retrieval process.