This guide walks an administrator through the end-to-end setup for managing Anaconda via ESSO (Enterprise SSO): defining policies, requesting a configured installer, distributing it to users, and handling the ongoing user lifecycle through your standard IT processes.
This is a PDF diagram available for reference: ESSO Setup Flow.pdf
Step 1 — Policies and channel setup
See pages 51 and 67 of the Onboarding Guide.
The admin works with Legal and SecOps to identify the policies that should govern package access, then applies those policies to the Anaconda Main Channels.
Step 2 — Send a Setup Request to Anaconda Support
Send the setup request to support@anaconda.com. Anaconda will use your admin credentials to create a secondary account and build a configured installer with a unique URL. The admin will receive the install URL by email.
Step 3 — Create Instructions for Users
The local admin at your company creates a template containing the install URL and <CHANNEL_PATH> to share with users. These instructions can live in an employee handbook or any internal documentation portal your IT team maintains.
Step 4 — Ongoing user lifecycle (IT Admin via ESSO or ESSO SCIM)
See page 7 of the Onboarding Guide.
Trigger: a new hire joins, or an employee leaves. This loop is driven by your standard IT processes for new hire onboarding and offboarding.
Add user
- Manually add the new user in the Admin Portal
- Assign a seat
- Send the installer URL
User onboards
- The internal document hosting the install URL and channel paths is made available to the new user
- The user begins at Step 5 below
Remove user
- Manually remove the user in the Admin Portal
- Revoke the seat
- Token access is removed
Note: This loop repeats for every hire or departure and is triggered through your standard IT process for new hires and offboarding.
Step 5 — Run the installer
The steps here differ depending on whether the user has ever used conda before.
New user — never used conda
Run the configured installer from the URL provided by the admin.
Existing user — previously installed conda
Export environments. Use the Conda Cheatsheet to export any local environments you want to carry over into the new installation.
Run the installer. Copy and paste the code snippet from the admin email into your IDE or CLI.
Note: Running the installer deletes the previous install and then completes a fresh installation. Make sure you have exported any environments you want to keep before continuing.
Step 6 — Anaconda login from IDE or CLI
Run anaconda login from your IDE or terminal to complete authentication. The prompt will look like this:
anaconda login choose destination: * anaconda.com [default] anaconda.org You are already logged into Anaconda (anaconda.com). Would you like to force a new login? [y/n] (n): y conda config --prepend channels <CHANNEL_PATH>
Important: This login launches a web browser where each user creates or signs into their Anaconda.com account. This step is critical — it binds the user's individual API token to the installation and authenticates them to your organization's channel.
<CHANNEL_PATH> should be replaced with the URL provided by your administrator in the email containing the installation link.