Identity continuity is a critically important security measure for many global enterprises, from businesses, to governments, and more. Outages affecting cloud identity providers can disrupt mission-critical access by preventing user credentials from working, disrupting business operations. In this article, we’ll cover how IDP failover works to prevent such outages, why it matters, and how to set it up step-by-step.
What Is an Okta-to-Entra ID Failover?
Okta-to-Entra ID Failover is the process of securing critical identity data and functionality by migrating existing users, credentials, and policies from the Okta suite of IAM products to those operated by Microsoft Entra ID. The primary goals of establishing such failover is to preserve identity continuity and to keep IAM systems running.
Core Concept: Identity Continuity
The primary goal of failing over from Okta to Entra ID is identity continuity. Indemnity continuity is a concept in IAM where a system ensures that users can continue logging in to critical apps without interruption. In the event of a disruption, outage, or cyberattack, failover protocols allow users to retain privileged access to systems even as malfunctions occur and are remediated.
Why It Matters
Creating failover between Okta and Entra ID is important because it adds a necessary layer of security and operational assurance to the IAM system. With adequate failover protocols, enterprises can feel confident that their users will have a backup access system in place to preserve their access in the event of a system issue. This permits users to continue critical business operations during an outage, preventing consequences like revenue loss or operational disruption.
How IDP Failover Works (Technical Overview)
Identity Orchestration Layer
The primary method by which IDP failover functions is an identity orchestration layer. This is a digital, centralized control plane that coordinates identities and access across multiple applications. Orchestration layers are created by orchestration providers like Strata Identity’s Maverics, require no coding, and act as regulators to effectively route logins, execute security policies, and blend diverse application functions into a seamless user experience.
Failover Flow Summary
Failover protocols established between Okta and Entra ID allow for a seamless transition between the two applications during an outage. During normal operations, users will use Okta to authenticate their identities and give them access to apps. In the event of an Okta outage, Maverics detects a failure and immediately triggers a redirection to Microsoft Entra ID, compensating for Okta’s failure. Users, meanwhile, see the same login experience, as the redirection is totally invisible.
Step-by-Step Setup Guide
Step 1 – Deploy Your Orchestration or Middleware Platform
To begin setting up failover between Okta and Entra ID, first deploy your orchestration or middleware platform. This may be an orchestration provider such as Strata Identity’s Maverics or even a system integrated into Okta or Entra. The orchestration platform will begin establishing your orchestration layer, starting the process of integrating Okta with Entra and creating failover.
Step 2 – Configure Identity Continuity
After deploying your orchestration or middleware platform, you must create identity continuity. Once your abstraction layer is created, your orchestration platform will work with Okta and Entra to configure continuity policies and create redirection pathways from Okta to Entra ID in the event of an Okta outage.
Step 3 – Map Identity Attributes
The next step of the failover process is identity attribute mapping. In this stage, your orchestration platform and IDP applications will detect and log every identity attribute in your system. This includes users, credentials, access privileges, and admin functions. Once these identity attributes are mapped, they will be migrated from Okta to Entra, establishing continuity between both systems.
Step 4 – Test and Validate
Once your identity attributes are mapped, you must test and validate failover success. Simulate a scenario in which Okta goes offline and check to see if your users’ login privileges are affected. If they are, there was an error in the migration. If the system works, failover has been established.
Step 5 – Configure Failback
The final step of the process is to configure your failback process. This is the process of restoring user access functions to Okta from Entra after an outage ends. Failback involves synchronizing data changes, reconfiguring networks, and testing to ensure that restored Okta systems are once again in order.
User and Admin Experience
What Users See
If Okta to Entra failover is successful, users should see their familiar Okta login platform (now backed up by Entra), follow the same login process they are used to, be redirected invisibly by Maverics behind the scenes, and quickly receive authentication and access to a system that looks identical to their normal dashboard.
What Admins Manage
To manage failover between Okta and Entra, admins must set Okta as their primary IDP and Entra as their secondary IDP in Maverics or another orchestration provider. Admins must set up their failover strategy in their Identity Fabric, define attributes in their abstraction layer, map them between Okta and Entra, establish health check parameters to guide failover, and then execute frequent tests of the system while alerting users to possible continuity scenarios.
Common Failover Scenarios
There are various failover scenarios that may occur in the event of an outage. A system may experience Cloud-to-Cloud Failover (e.g., from Provider A to Provider B), Cloud-to-On-Prem Failover (e.g., from a Cloud IDP to an Active Directory), or Cross-Vendor or Hybrid Failover, with failover from one vendor to another.
Conclusion
IDP failover is a simple but vital security process that provides seamless user access in the event of outages and ensures the continuity of business operations. Continuity is a core part of modern identity strategy, and needs to be prioritized as new threats to digital security arise.
