Get the basics on Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) concepts and steps for achieving single sign-on (SSO) with the Sun JavaTM System Access Manager 7.1 and the SAML 1.x Web Browser Artifact Profile in a SunSM Developer Network article written by Vasanth Bhat and Marina Sum.

SAML effects the exchanges of authentication and authorization data between an identity provider (IdP) and a service provider (SP). In this article, the Sun Java System Access Manager is the IdP and the SP is SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal 2004s deployed on SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java or the SAP JavaTM 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EETM) Engine.

The two key concepts of SAML outlined by Bhat and Sum are:

• Assertion: a declaration of facts that contain information on the authentication, authorization or attributes of a principal (user)

• Profile: a set of rules that define how to embed and extract assertions. A profile describes how the assertions are combined with other objects by an authority, transported from the authority and subsequently processed at the trusted partner site.

Profiles are further defined by SAML as the Web Browser Artifact Profile, which includes a pointer to the SAML assertion called an artifact in the query string of an HTTP redirect to the SP, and the Web Browser POST Profile, which includes a SAML assertion in the response that is sent to the SP by the IdP as part of an HTML form. These profiles can vary depending on how the assertion is exchanged between the IdP and the SP.

Bhat and Sum proceed through a 12-step process flow of SSO authentication and authorization; configuring the Sun Java System Access Manager with SAP J2EE Engine; configuring SAP NetWeaver Application Server for SAML authentication; and then testing the SSO mode in SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal 2004s with SAML assertions.

Figures displaying the resulting outcomes of each step in the process are provided as are references for more detailed resources. See the article on the SDN site. [...read more...]

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