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Boston Identity

Single sign-on

SSO and Federation

SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect integrations designed, debugged and rolled out, with MFA policy, across the applications your people already use.

How it works

Federation through an enterprise identity provider

Federation through an enterprise identity providerAn application trusts one enterprise identity provider. A partner's user is sent on to the partner's own identity provider to sign in. The partner's assertion returns to the enterprise identity provider, which maps its attributes and issues the assertion the application accepts.UseragentApplicationEnterpriseIdPPartnerIdPfederation trust1. GET /appno session yet2. Sign-in requestSAML or OIDC3. Realm discoverypartner user, sent on4. Partner loginat the partner's IdP5. Partner assertiontrusted by agreement6. Mapped assertionyour attribute schema
The application integrates once, with the enterprise identity provider. Each partner is a trust relationship there, not another integration.

The problem

  • Each new application arrives with its own integration guide and its own reading of the standard.
  • A federation failure surfaces as a vague login error, and diagnosing it means reading XML or token claims by hand.
  • Partners and acquired companies need access without being given accounts.

What we do

Single sign-on is where most identity programs start, because everyone sees it and the standards are mature. The difficulty is in the details each application gets slightly wrong.

We publish what we know about the protocols in the explainers below, and we built a public test identity provider and service provider, at saml-box.com, for checking an integration before it reaches production.

What you get

  • Integration patterns for SAML, OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect that every application team follows.
  • Applications onboarded and tested against a reference identity provider before they reach production.
  • Federation with partners and subsidiaries, with the trust and attribute mapping written down.
  • MFA policy applied once, at the identity provider.

How it is usually shaped

Often the first engagement and the fastest to show a result.

Platforms

  • Ping Identity
  • ForgeRock
  • Okta
  • Keycloak
  • Spring Security SAML

Talk to us

Tell us where your SSO and Federation work stands, and we will reply within one business day.

Talk to us about SSO and Federation