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Version: v4.5

SSO for Snowflake

Why SSO with Cyral?​

With its support for SAML 2.0 federated authentication, Snowflake provides single sign-on (SSO) that lets users authenticate through your identity provider (for example, Okta or Azure AD) in order to access your organization's data in Snowflake.

You can add Cyral protection and policy enforcement to your Snowflake SSO configuration. This allows your users to keep the same, seamless SSO login experience while you gain the security and visibility benefits of Cyral.

To add Cyral to your Snowflake SSO SAML 2.0 configuration, follow the steps in Prerequisites and Configuration in your IdP platform, below.

How Cyral fits into your authentication flow​

With Cyral added to your Snowflake authentication flow, Snowflake is configured to use the Cyral Sidecar as the identity provider (IdP), and your enterprise IdP is configured to use the Cyral Sidecar as the SAML service provider (SP).

Prerequisites​

Make sure you have the following available. You will need them in the configuration steps below:

  • Certificate: The Cyral sidecar needs a certificate and private key to sign SAML 2.0 messages when interacting with your IdP and Snowflake to authenticate users. See Get your certificate below.
  • CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN: This is the sidecar hostname (also known as Cyral sidecar domain) that is used by data users to connect to the sidecar. See Add a CNAME or A record for a sidecar

Configuration in your IdP platform​

Follow the steps for your identity provider (IdP):

Configuration in Okta​

Procedure​

  1. Open your Okta Administrator Dashboard.
  2. Select Applications ➡️ Applications from the sidebar menu on the left to access the your Okta apps.
  3. Select Create App Integration.
    • Select SAML 2.0.
    • Select Next
  4. Enter an App name then select Next.
  5. Configure the App.
    1. In SAML Settings section:
      1. Configure the Single sign-on URL.
        • Enter the following value: https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>/fed/login, taking care to replace <CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN> with the DNS name where your sidecar is reachable. If the Snowflake account is restricted to connect through AWS PrivateLink, then the hostname must have the privatelink. prefix (i.e., https://privatelink.<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>/fed/login).
        • Select Use this for Recipient URL and Destination URL.
      2. Configure Audience URI (SP Entity ID).
        • Enter the following value: https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>.
    2. In the Attribute Statements section, add an attribute with following inputs:
      • Name: email
      • Name format: Basic
      • Value: user.email
    3. In the Group Attribute Statements section, add an attribute with following inputs:
      • Name: memberOf
      • Name format: basic
      • Filter: Matches regex
      • Value: .*
    4. Select Next.
  6. Once the SAML App is configured, a screen will display with the message: Help Okta Support understand how you configured this application. In this screen:
    1. Select:
      • I'm an Okta customer adding an internal app
      • This is an internal app that we have created
    2. Click Finish.

You've completed the configuration in your IdP. Proceed to the next section, Export required values from Okta

Export required values from Okta​

Export the SAML app values from Okta for use with Cyral and Snowflake.

  1. Still working in the Okta Administrator Dashboard, select the Sign on tab.
  2. Select View SAML setup instructions. This will open a new tab containing the SAML information associated with Okta application you just created.
  3. Copy the following values, and save them for later:
    • Identity Provider Single Sign-On URL. We'll refer to this as the IDP_SSO_LOGIN_URL.
    • X.509 Certificate. We'll refer to this as the IDP_X509_CERT.
  4. Copy the full certificate, taking care to include its header (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----) and its footer (-----END CERTIFICATE-----).

Proceed to Get your certificate, below.

Configuration in Azure AD​

Procedure​

  1. In your Microsoft Azure portal:

    1. Search for Azure Active Directory in the search bar and select the Azure AD service.
    2. Click Enterprise Applications on the left panel, under the Manage section.

  2. Select New application to add a new integration

    1. Select Create your own application on the top
    2. Enter a name for your application on the right panel
    3. Select Integrate any other application you don't find in the gallery (Non-gallery)
    4. Click Create

  3. On the new application, select Single sign-on on the left panel, under the Manage section.

    1. Select the SAML tile

  4. Click to edit the Basic SAML Configuration section

    1. Click Add identifier and set https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN> as identifier (note that <CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN> here is a placeholder and must be replaced.)
    2. Click Add reply URL and set https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>/fed/login as the reply URL.
    3. Click Save at the top of the right panel

  5. Click to edit the Attributes & Claims section

    1. Delete all the pre-defined additional claims by clicking on the three dots and Delete for row in the table and then confirming with OK

    2. Click to Add new claim for email

      1. Set Name as email
      2. Enter an empty string as the Namespace value.
      3. Select user.mail as Source attribute
      4. Click Save

    3. Click to Add a group claim

      1. Select All groups

      2. Select sAMAccountName for Source Attribute.

        note

        If sAMAccountName is not available with your AD instance (if your Azure AD tenant is not synchronized with an on-premises Active Directory using AAD Connect Sync 1.2.70.0), then you can select Group ID to be sent in the SAML assertion instead. If this option is the only one available, all groups will be sent as group IDs rather than as names. As a result, you must define Cyral policies based on these group IDs rather than group names.

      3. Click to expand Advanced options

      4. Check Customize the name of the group claim

      5. Set memberOf for Name

      6. Enter an empty string as the Namespace value.

      7. Click Save

The completed configuration should look similar to the Azure AD sample screen shown below.

Export required values from Azure AD​

Export the SAML app values from Azure AD for use with Cyral and Snowflake.

  1. Download the base64 encoded certificate from the SAML Certificates and replace line breaks with \n. You'll use the certificate later in this procedure as the IDP_CERTIFICATE in the sidecar deployment parameters.
  2. Copy the Login URL from the Set up (YOUR-APP-NAME) section. You'll use this later in this procedure as the SSO_LOGIN_URL in the sidecar deployment parameters.

You've completed the configuration in your IdP. Proceed to the next section, Get your certificate

Get your certificate​

The Cyral sidecar needs a certificate and private key to sign SAML 2.0 messages when interacting with your IdP and Snowflake to authenticate users.

Generate a new certificate (CSR) now, and have it signed by your usual certificate authority (CA).

note

For testing, you may elect to generate and self-sign a certificate key pair for your sidecar-Snowflake SSO configuration. This is not recommended for a production deployment! For example: 

openssl req -x509 -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -subj '/C=US/ST=California/L=San Francisco/O=Cyral/CN=Cyral Identity Provider' -keyout cyral-idp-private-key.pem -out cyral-idp-public-cert.pem -days 7300`

For the SSO configuration, you'll need:

  • The x509 certificate, which we'll call SIDECAR_X509_CERT in these instructions. (For example, using the self-signed instructions above would result in a public cert file called, cyral-idp-public-cert.pem.)
  • The private key, which we'll call SIDECAR_PRIVATE_KEY. (For example, using the self-signed instructions above would result in a private key file called, cyral-idp-private-key.pem.)

Redeploy the sidecar with configuration information​

Follow the instructions for your environment:

Redeploy with an env file​

Create an .env file as shown below. Place this file in the same directory as your sidecar.compose.yaml file.

In the .env file, include:

  • SSO_LOGIN_URL: the IDP_SSO_LOGIN_URL you copied earlier
  • IDP_CERTIFICATE: the IDP_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • SIDECAR_IDP_PRIVATE_KEY: the SIDECAR_PRIVATE_KEY you saved earlier
  • SIDECAR_IDP_PUBLIC_CERT: the SIDECAR_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • SIDECAR_ENDPOINT: the CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN (also known as the sidecar hostname) that is used by data users to connect to the sidecar

Certificate formatting guidelines:

  • For certificates, include the header and footer, -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE------ and -----END CERTIFICATE------, respectively.
  • For keys, include the header and footer, -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END PRIVATE KEY-----, respectively.
  • Pass the certificates and keys exactly as they are written in Okta or on the files you generated, including the newline characters.

The .env file uses this format:

# Okta SAML vars
SSO_LOGIN_URL=<IDP_SSO_LOGIN_URL>
IDP_CERTIFICATE=<IDP_X509_CERT>

# Sidecar SAML vars 
SIDECAR_IDP_PRIVATE_KEY=<SIDECAR_PRIVATE_KEY>
SIDECAR_IDP_PUBLIC_CERT=<SIDECAR_X509_CERT>
SIDECAR_ENDPOINT=<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>

Once the sidecar has been deployed, proceed to Configure your Cyral sidecar as the IdP in Snowflake, below.

Redeploy on AWS​

Using CloudFormation​

Pass the environment variables displayed below to the sidecar via the AWS parameters:

  • IdPSSOLoginURL: the IDP_SSO_LOGIN_URL you copied earlier
  • IdPCertificate: the IDP_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • SidecarPrivateIdPKey: the SIDECAR_PRIVATE_KEY you saved earlier
  • SidecarPublicIdPCertificate: the SIDECAR_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • SidecarDNSName: the CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN (also known as the sidecar hostname) that is used by data users to connect to the sidecar

Using Terraform​

Pass the Terraform variables displayed below to the sidecar:

  • idp_sso_login_url: the IDP_SSO_LOGIN_URL you copied earlier
  • idp_certificate: the IDP_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • sidecar_private_idp_key: the SIDECAR_PRIVATE_KEY you saved earlier
  • sidecar_public_idp_certificate: the SIDECAR_X509_CERT you saved earlier
  • sidecar_dns_name: the CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN (also known as the sidecar hostname) that is used by data users to connect to the sidecar

Certificate formatting guidelines​

  • For certificates, include the header and footer, -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE------ and -----END CERTIFICATE------, respectively.
  • For keys, include the header and footer, -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END PRIVATE KEY-----, respectively.
  • Pass the certificates and keys mostly as they are written in Okta or in the files you generated, but replace each newline character with \n. Make sure each certificate is provided in a single line of text.

Once the sidecar has been deployed, proceed to Configure your Cyral sidecar as the IdP in Snowflake, below.

Configure your Cyral sidecar as the IdP in Snowflake​

Check for existing configurations​

Make sure you don't have any other SAML2 Security Integrations configured in Snowflake.

  1. Log into your Snowflake account with a user that has been granted the ACCOUNTADMIN role.
  2. Run the command: 
    show integrations;
  3. Check the output. Find any integrations of type SAML2, and check if they're enabled. Below is an example of an existing SAML2 integration that is enabled:
  4. If you find an enabled integration, run the following command to disable it. In this command, replace INTEGRATION_NAME with the found in the name column of the output from show integrations:
    alter security integration <INTEGRATION_NAME> set ENABLED = false;

Once you've made sure there are no active SAML2 integrations, proceed to Create a new SAML2 security integration, below.

Create a new SAML2 security integration.​

  1. Make sure you're logged in to your Snowflake account with a user that has been granted the ACCOUNTADMIN role.

  2. Create a new SAML2 Security Integration by running the following SQL query in Snowflake: 

    create security integration my_idp
      TYPE = saml2
      ENABLED = true
      SAML2_ISSUER = 'https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>'
      SAML2_SSO_URL = 'https://<CYRAL_SIDECAR_DOMAIN>/session/v1/CyralSSOLogin'
      SAML2_PROVIDER = '<YOUR_IDP_PLATFORM>'
      SAML2_ENABLE_SP_INITIATED = true
      SAML2_SP_INITIATED_LOGIN_PAGE_LABEL = '<DISPLAY_NAME>'
      SAML2_X509_CERT = '<SIDECAR_X509_CERT>';
    note
    • If the Snowflake account is restricted to connect through AWS PrivateLink, you also need to update SAML2_SNOWFLAKE_ACS_URL and SAML2_SNOWFLAKE_ISSUER_URL in the security integration. Check Snowflake docs for details.
    • Do not add a trailing slash to any URLs. Doing so may lead you to encounter the error "SAML response invalid or matching user not found."
    • Replace YOUR_IDP_PLATFORM with OKTA or ADFS to match your IdP type.
    • Whatever you pass as the DISPLAY_NAME above will appear as the SSO login option on the Snowflake login page.
    • When passing the sidecar certificate to Snowflake, follow these formatting rules:
      • Omit the header and footer when you pass the <SIDECAR_X509_CERT>. In other words, pass the certificate without the the header -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE------ and footer -----END CERTIFICATE------.
      • Format the certificate on a single line without line breaks. An easy way to do this is to copy the certificate into a search bar, and then re-copy it from there. There is no need to worry about the newline characters or spaces.

Your Snowflake installation is now configured to rely on Cyral and your IdP for SSO. Finally, you should Enable SCIM between Cyral and your IdP.