Change Authentication method from Basic Auth to OAuth2 while accessing Business Central Webservice / APIs.

27 February 2023

Change Authentication method from Basic Auth to OAuth2 while accessing Business Central Webservice / APIs.

Hello Reader,

Why we need OAuth option?

Microsoft has stated a long time ago that Web Service Access Key (Basic Authentication) will not be supported. They have deprecated capability to access web services using Basic Auth for SaaS. So, now OAuth2 will be the only Authentication option available. This change will not affect on how Business Central connects to external applications.
For on-premises, web service key will work for the time being.

How to Configure/Use OAuth?

Step 1: Login into the Microsoft Azure Portal. [https://portal.azure.com/#home]

Step 2: Search/Navigate to App Registrations.

Click on New Registration to create new app registration.

Fill the mandatory information, Name, Account Type and click on Register.

User will be able to see the important information after the application is successfully created.

Step 3: Choose API Permission and click on the add a permission button after that we need to select Business Central Application because we’re requesting Authorization for BC API permission.

You can choose what permissions are required depending on your situation. In this case, we chose Application Permission.

Now, Admin user will grant the permission by clicking Grant admin consent

Step 4: Navigate to the Certificates & Secrets to generate token, click on the New Client Secret. Add description and select expires and then click on Add.

As you can see now, we have Token value. Configuration in azure portal is completed.

The following detail you can get.
Application Client ID
Certificates & Secrets Value
Directory Tenant ID

Step 5: Now, we need to configure the Azure active directory Applications in Business Central environment.

Create a new record and enter the Client ID, Description, and then assign permissions. Once you fill in all the information, then change the state to enabled.

Note:

Step 6: Testing

In our case we have used postman application to call web service using OAuth Token. Choose Authorization Type as OAuth 2.0 and select Request Headers in Add Authorization data to.
Add Token Name and select Client Credentials in Grant Type.
Access Token URL: https://login.microsoftonline.com/User Your Token/oauth2/v2.0/token
Scope: https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/.default
Client Authentication: Send client credentials in body.
Now, Choose Get New Access Token.