Home > CiraHub Support > How to Perform Two-Way GAL Sync with CiraHub

This article will outline how to sync the Global Address List (GAL) to another GAL with CiraHub. To sync GAL-to-GAL with CiraHub, each tenant will need to set up an Microsoft 365 Global Admin Account and a Dedicated Service Account.

Instructions:

  1. First, Log in to CiraHub. You will be taken to the onboarding wizard. (See figure below.) Next, select the object you want to sync. In this example, contacts has been selected.
  2. Next start the Hub and Spoke setup. Click on “Microsoft 365 in my tenant”, then Select Global Address List as the source type for your contact spoke. You will need to have an Microsoft 365 account in each tenant with the Global Admin role assigned to it.
    Select Global Address List
  3. There are two authentication methods – Credentials and Certificate based:
3.1.1 Select Credentials and Sign in with your Microsoft Admin Account’s Login and Password Information for the GAL Connection. “Select” Credentials and Re-Enter your Microsoft Account

3.1.2 Next the Microsoft sign-in page will appear. Provide the Email and Password to your account. Sign in with Microsoft

3.1.3 Click Accept to give CiraHub access to your Microsoft Account. You should always leave the “Consent on behalf of your organization” box unchecked when you sign in for the first time. This option lets other users under the same domain access this Hub if they login with their company email address. This user would not have access to this specific Hub, but the user would be able to login and create their own hub. Give CiraHub Permission to Microsoft

3.1.4 Select Credentials and Re-Enter your Microsoft Account Login and Password Information for the GAL Connection. Validate GAL

3.1.5 Wait for CiraHub to validate the connection to the Global Address List after entering the Microsoft Login and Password.

3.2.1 With the Certificate Authentication method, you will be prompted to either “Automatically Generate a Certificate” or you can choose to Import a PFX Certificate File and enter your password.

3.2.2 Next the user will need to enter in their Microsoft Global Admin email address. CiraHub will then store the users’ account information in the Microsoft Azure Vault when it is synced from Powershell.

3.2.3 Lastly the user will need to wait for CiraHub to Install Certificate Based Authentication for the GAL connection and then click Next.

  1. Type in a Spoke Name and click Next.
    Add Gal spoke name
  2. Next type in the Hub Name and click Create.
    Add Gal Hub Name
  3. Click +Add Spoke at the top-right corner of the CiraHub dashboard.
    ADD SPOKE
  4. Select Microsoft 365 In another tenant and Select Global Address List as the source type of your contact spoke. Each tenant will need a Dedicated Service Account with the following roles: access to Address Lists, Mail Recipient Creation, Mail Recipients permissions. You can learn more about the permissions and settings required for a CiraHub GAL Connection by clicking here.
    Add spoke and select Gal
  5. Click “GRANT ACCESS” or select any existing credentials that have already been saved. You can also choose to invite users from another tenant by entering their email address or Click “CONFIGURE” to grant CiraHub access through Certificate Based Authorization.
    Click Grant Access
  6. Next you can sync your Microsoft Service account to the GAL connect by choosing an Authentication Method. In this example we selected credentials and entered the login and password.
    Gal Authentication Method
  7. Wait for CiraHub to validate the connection to the Global Address List after entering the Microsoft Login and Password.
    G-G Validate
  8. Type in a Spoke Name and click Next.
  9. Type in a Hub Name and click Create.
    GAL Hub Name
  10. Click the Spoke that was just created. Click Turn On under the Synced tile.
  11. The Spoke Sync Options will open. (See figure below.) Click the Allow Hub to create and sync items in this spoke checkbox to enable two-way sync.
  12. Users can customize sync settings by expanding the Advanced Tab and adding sync filters to the Spoke. This would enable a user to synchronize and create Hub items based on specific criteria. Find out more about Contact Filtering here. Then Click Save.
  13. Click on the GAL Tab to set up GAL Read Option Settings.
  14. Here you can choose which Global Address List Objects (Mailboxes, Contacts, and Groups) you would like to populate this Hub with.
  15. Click on the Hub and then click Sync Now to enable the two way GAL-to-GAL sync.

Learn More About CiraHub!

CiraHub is a two-way sync platform for shared contacts and calendars for Microsoft 365, Exchange Server, and other Microsoft Enterprise Applications users. The software is designed to make it easy for people lacking IT expertise to set up shared contact and calendar sync for their company. For more information check out FAQ page and our CiraHub Onboarding Guide.