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How to access Office 365 resources without an account

Certificate-based authentication to Office 365 with Promodag Reports

The most fundamental new feature of v.14 is how you connect to Office 365. Until now, a user account with certain permissions and a mailbox were required to access Exchange Online resources: the directory, traffic data, object size and the contents of mailboxes and public folders. However, this method of delegated permissions was by definition incompatible with multi-factor authentication (MFA). We now also offer a new method called certificate-based authentication.

The certificate-based authentication mode

Promodag Reports is a product designed to work mainly in batch mode - so without any human intervention - and MFA cannot work in this context. The alternative is to use the Certificate-Based authentication mode, which means granting permissions directly to the Promodag Reports application in Azure AD. With this mode, no specific user account and mailbox are required, which completely eliminates the problems of password expiration and MFA compatibility. The Exchange Online Management v.3 PowerShell module is now delivered with the application.

Certificate-based authentication in Promodag Reports

Create the Promodag Reports application in Azure

Update: the certificate authentication configuration method has been changed as of v.14.0.0101, see this Knowledge Base article: Configure certificate-based authentication to Office 365. Please follow these instructions and then directly go to the last step.

The first step is to create the Promodag Reports application in Azure AD. This process is automated. Select Certificate-based authentication, enter the Office 365 tenant name and UPN of an Office 365 user account. Then simply click the Check Connection link on the Office 365 configuration tab of Tools > Options, and then click the Administrative Consent link that appears. One will then log into Office 365 as a Global Administrator to approve Promodag Reports in Azure AD.

Grant the required authorizations to the Promodag Reports app

Please follow this procedure: How to assign the Global Reader role to the Promodag app in Azure AD.

Conclusion

The certificate-based authentication mode represents an important step in the evolution of Promodag Reports and its integration into increasingly secure hosted environments. If you are not yet a customer, feel free to download it for a free 45-day evaluation. You can send us any business question or support request using our contact form.

 

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Promodag

Our flagship reporting tool, Promodag Reports, is an innovative and constantly improving email reporting product that brings together all the key elements from Office 365, hybrid and on-premise Exchange messaging environments.

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