Okta is usually used for SSO to many external applications, or used for provisioning users and groups to/from those applications. Okta preview tenants will often connect to those applications’ sandbox environments, while the Okta production tenant will interact with the applications’ production environments. This leads to inherent configuration differences such as Audience URLs or domains, where the sandbox domain looks like dev.your_app.com and the production domain is prod.your_app.com.

Traditionally, addressing these discrepancies clutters the deployment process and requires manual adjustments, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.

Why use Environment Variables?

Salto’s Environment Variables simplify the management of Okta configurations by automating environment-specific adjustments. This ensures that your configurations align correctly across environments and that comparing environments becomes less cluttered, reducing manual effort and the risk of errors.

Key benefits include:

• Eliminating manual work: Automatically replace values like URLs and credentials during deployments.
• Simplifying comparisons: Help you understand which differences are caused by environment-specific values, so you can focus on meaningful changes.
• Centralized control: Manage all environment-specific rules in a single, user-friendly interface.

How it works

Define the scope

Environment Variables use Salto Selectors to target specific fields that require adjustment. For example - managing the Salesforce integration:

• Replace Login URLs: okta.Application.instance.salesforce.settings.app.loginUrl.
• Adjust custom domain: okta.Application.instance.salesforce.settings.app.customDomain.

Set environment-specific values

Assign the appropriate value for each environment:

• Preview: https://dev.salesforce.com/login
• Production: https://prod.salesforce.com/login

Streamline comparisons

Differences accounted for by Environment Variables are annotated, allowing you to focus on significant changes. Deployment previews automatically display replaced values and the Environment Variables responsible, providing full visibility.

Automate deployments

Salto applies these rules automatically during deployments, ensuring that every configuration element is accurate for its target environment.

Example use case: Managing SAML integrations in Okta

The challenge

When testing SAML integrations, your integration in preview might be connected to the sandbox application, while the integration in production will be connected to the production application. This difference may be reflected in Salto by login url, logout url, domain name, and more.

The solution

With Salto, create an Environment Variable:

• Scope: okta.app.instance.salesforce.settings.app.loginUrl.
• Preview Value: https://salto94-dev-ed.develop.my.salesforce.com.
• Production Value: https://salto94-production.develop.my.salesforce.com.

Salto ensures these values are replaced automatically during deployments, removing the need for manual intervention.

Learn more about deploying Okta applications using Salto here.

Take control of your Okta configurations

Managing Okta environments doesn’t have to be a manual or error-prone process. Salto’s Environment Variables allow you to automate environment-specific adjustments, making deployments more efficient and reliable. Use Environment Variables to streamline recurring changes and maintain consistency - as well as inherent differences - across your environments. Reach out for a 1:1 session to see it in action or explore this feature on your own using Salto’s free trial.