Azure Cloud

Configure and manage Microsoft Azure cloud resources in StrongDM.

Overview

This guide explains what capabilities StrongDM can provide for managing command line access to the Azure cloud. It also provides setup and configuration instructions to add Azure as a resource in StrongDM and begin using StrongDM to control access for users who wish to access your cloud via the Azure CLI. StrongDM users are authenticated with Azure and granted the level of access that you configure on the Azure side.

In addition to access control and auditing, Azure access through StrongDM can be a part of a variety of use cases and access control methodologies:

• Least Privilege: For Azure clouds, least privilege can be accomplished by setting up multiple instances of the console as StrongDM resources. Each resource would connect to Azure using a different set of credentials with different permissions granted to it.

• Just-in-Time Access: StrongDM users are able to use any access workflows you set up to request access to Azure, allowing you the choice between granting Just-in-Time (JIT) access with requests, or providing standing access to particular users or roles within your StrongDM organization. For more details, see the Access Workflows section.

To avoid confusion during access requests, if there are multiple Azure cloud resources in StrongDM, it may be useful to name them in such a way that indicates the level of access, so that users know the name of the resource to request.

• Context-Based Policy: StrongDM policies that restrict or enable users' ability to connect to Azure cloud resources based on their context can be used to limit availability of your Azure CLI to users in particular geographic locations or with good device trust scores. Policies can also be used to provide an MFA challenge prior to connection, and help solve for many more use cases. For more details, see the Policies section.

Note that this is the method by which to set up your Azure cloud as a resource in StrongDM, and manage it with the Azure CLI utility. If you intend to connect to a specific Azure-hosted resource, that resource needs to be set up separately in the appropriate areas of the Admin UI.

Limitations

The Azure driver does nothing to limit privilege escalation. It is the responsibility of the resource creator not to provide credentials that can be used to create more credentials.

Azure Cloud Properties

Azure resources support the Azure CLI (az).

In StrongDM, there are two types of Azure cloud resources: Azure, which is configured to accept a password; and AzureCertificate, which is configured to accept a certificate file.

Both Azure and AzureCertificate cloud types always bind to port 65113.

Prerequisites

• In StrongDM, you must have the Admin permission level.

• You must have administrator access to your Azure cloud environment and be familiar with the Azure CLI (az).

• Your Azure Active Directory account must have permission to create a service principal.

• You must have the Azure CLI downloaded and installed.

Resource Configuration in Azure

Generate credentials

1. Log in to Azure (az login).

2. In the Azure CLI, create an Azure service principal with the az ad sp create-for-rbac command.

3. Decide which type of sign-in authentication the service principal should use (password-based or certificate-based authentication), and follow the instructions provided.

Create a service principal with a password

1. Use the following command, being sure to replace the placeholders with the actual values:

   az ad sp create-for-rbac --name $<SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME> --role $<ROLE_NAME> --scopes $SCOPES

   For example, your command may look like this:

   az ad sp create-for-rbac --name ExampleName --role Contributor --scopes /subscriptions/jynb88ey-kqrd-8wqv-fh24-9m9sb05jmb9b

2. From the output, copy the appId, tenant, and password values. You need them later when setting up the Azure cloud type in StrongDM. Note that you can reset the password key if you forget it, but you cannot retrieve it later.

   Your example output may look similar to this:

   {
   "appId": "myAppId",
   "displayName": "myDisplayName",
   "name": "http://myName",
   "password": "generatedPassword",
   "tenant": "myTenantId"
   }

Create a service principal with a self-signed certificate

1. Use the following command with the --create-cert argument, being sure to replace the placeholders with the actual values:

   az ad sp create-for-rbac --name $<SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME> --role $<ROLE_NAME> --create-cert

   For example, your command may look like this:

   az ad sp create-for-rbac --name ExampleName --role Contributor --create-cert

2. From the output, copy the appId and tenant. From the PEM file, copy the entirety of the file, which includes the private key and certificate values. You need them later when setting up the AzureCertificate cloud type in StrongDM.

   Your example output may look similar to this:

   {
   "appId": "myAppId",
   "displayName": "myDisplayName",
   "name": "http://myName",
   "fileWithCertAndPrivateKey": "C:\\myPath\\myNewFile.pem",
   "password": null,
   "tenant": "myTenantId"
   }

   Example contents of the new PEM file:

   -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
   MIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKgwggSkAgEAAoIBAQD0l6E0MVSYnEXD...
   -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   MIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKgwggSkAgEAAoIBAQD0l6E0MVSYnEXD...
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----

Resource Configuration in StrongDM

This section provides instructions for adding the resource in either the StrongDM Admin UI, CLI, Terraform provider, or SDKs.

Admin UI

Set up and Manage With the Admin UI

If using the Admin UI to add the resource to StrongDM, use the following steps.

1. Log in to the Admin UI and go to Resources > Clouds.

2. Click Add cloud.

3. For Cloud Type, set either Azure (Password) (if you are using password-based authentication) or Azure (Certificate) (if you are using certificate-based authentication).

4. Set all other required resource properties.

5. Click create to save the resource.

6. Click the resource name to view status, diagnostic information, and setting details. After the server is created, the Admin UI displays that resource as unhealthy until the health checks run successfully. When the resource is ready, the Health icon indicates a positive, green status.

CLI

Terraform

SDKs

Resource Properties

Azure (Password)

The Azure (Password) cloud type has the following properties.

Property	Requirement	Description
Display Name	Required	Enter a meaningful name for this resource; this name displays throughout StrongDM; do not include special characters like quotes (") or angle brackets (< or >)
Cloud Type	Required	Azure (Password)
Proxy Cluster	Required	Defaults to "None (use gateways)"; if using proxy clusters, select the appropriate cluster to proxy traffic to this resource
Connectivity Mode	Required	Select either Virtual Networking Mode, which lets users connect to the resource with a software-defined, IP-based network; or Loopback Mode, which allows users to connect to the resource using the local loopback adapter in their operating system; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode enabled for your organization
IP Address	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Virtual Networking Mode subnet in the organization network settings; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Loopback IP range in the organization network settings (by default, 127.0.0.1); if not specified, an available IP address in the configured IP address space for the selected connectivity mode will be automatically assigned; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode and/or multi-loopback mode is enabled for your organization
Port Override	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1 and 65535 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1024 to 64999 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; when left empty with Virtual Networking Mode, the system assigns the default port to this resource; when left empty for Loopback Mode, an available port that is not already in use by another resource is assigned; preferred port also can be modified later from the Port Overrides settings
DNS	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a unique hostname alias for this resource; when set, causes the desktop app to display this resource's human-readable DNS name (for example, k8s.my-organization-name) instead of the bind address that includes IP address and port (for example, 100.64.100.100:5432)
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to none (credentials are stored in StrongDM resource configuration)
App ID	Required	Set the appID copied from the password-based service principal output
Password	Required	Set the password key copied from the password-based service principal output
TenantID	Required	Set the tenant copied from the service principal output

Azure (Certificate)

Logs

For logs of access to an Azure cloud resource, in the Cloud logs section of the Admin UI (Logs > Cloud), you can find all of the activities of users connected through StrongDM. Note that StrongDM makes an attempt to drop the Authorization header of logs for display in the Admin UI. Note that any secrets displayed in the cloud logs are placeholder values. No actual keys or secrets are ever exposed in plaintext in the Admin UI.

CLI Usage

When the resource is created and configured, you are ready for users to connect to the resource. In order for your organization's users to access the Azure cloud resource via StrongDM, users need to install the following:

• The StrongDM Desktop application

• The latest version of the StrongDM CLI. If the CLI is already installed, you can run sdm update in the CLI to update it. Alternatively, if any updates are available, you can open the desktop app and click the Upgrade button.

• The gcloud command-line tool

After installation, users must exit and restart the desktop app, and then select the Azure cloud resource to connect to.

Click to connect to the resource in the desktop app, or run sdm connect <RESOURCE> in the CLI. Once connected, users can use the Azure CLI through StrongDM at their terminal, with the base syntax of sdm az cli or sdm azure cli.

You can use sdm az --help (or sdm azure --help) to view example usage and command options:

NAME:
   sdm azure - azure commands

USAGE:
   sdm azure command [command options] [arguments...]

COMMANDS:
   cli  Execute an Azure CLI Command.
   env  Print environment variables required to access an Azure resource.
   run  Execute an external command with environment variables configured to access an Azure resource.

OPTIONS:
   --name value     The name of the Azure resource to access. By default if there is only one connected Azure resource, that resource is used. [$SDM_AZURE_NAME]
   --help, -h  show help

az cli

The az cli command is followed by an Azure CLI command that you wish to run against your connected Azure resource. For more information about Azure CLI commands, see the Azure CLI documentation.

az env

The az env command outputs the environment variables that are required in order to access a Azure resource. This output is a similar format of the output of the standard env command, but only contains the relevant environment variables for connecting to Azure.

az run

The az run command is followed by a command that you wish to run against the connected resource, which is sent along with the necessary environment variables. An example of a use for az run would be if you have a pre-existing script for managing Azure resources that uses az commands. Instead of altering the script to work with StrongDM, you could use az run shellscript.sh and run the script.

--name

If your organization has multiple Azure cloud resources, and you are connected to more than one at once, you may specify a --name value in commands in order to specify which you intend to execute the command on. For example, sdm az --name <RESOURCE_NAME> cli. The flag must come before the cli portion of the command in order to preserve the ability to use the command as normal with a single Azure cloud resource connected.

Configuration directories

You should use a unique configuration directory for each Azure resource ($SDM_HOME/azure-config/<resource-id> instead of $SDM_HOME/azure-config), to isolate the configuration for different resources (and the default configuration), allowing commands against different resources to be safely run concurrently.

Error Cases

Should you attempt to use a cloud resource when you are not connected to it, StrongDM's CLI commands warn you. You can get around this warning in some contexts (for example, by setting environment variables in your terminal). In these cases, you may encounter SSL errors, and nothing happens when you run commands.