7.2 Configuring General Provider Options

The following options are global because they affect any identity providers or identity consumers (service providers) that the Identity Server has been configured to trust:

7.2.1 Configuring the General Identity Provider Options

The following options affect all identity providers that the Identity Server has been configured to trust.

  1. In the Administration Console, click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Identity Providers.

  2. To specify identity provider settings, fill in the following fields:

    Show logged out providers: Displays logged-out providers on the identity provider’s logout confirmation page.

    Require Signed Authentication Requests: Specifies that for the Liberty 1.2 and SAML 2.0 protocols, authentication requests from service providers must be signed. When you enable this option for the identity provider, you must also enable the Sign Authentication Requests option under the Identity Consumer heading on this page for the external trusted service provider.

    Use Introductions (Publish Authentications): Enables single sign-on from the service provider to the identity provider. The service provider determines the identity providers that users are already logged into, and then selectively and automatically asks for authentication from one of the identity providers. Introductions are enabled only between service and identity providers that have agreed to a circle of trust, which means that they have agreed upon a common domain name for this purpose.

    After authenticating a user, the identity provider accesses a service at the service domain and writes a cookie to the common part of the service domain, publishing that the authentication has occurred.

    • Service Domain (Local and Common): Enables a service provider to access a service at the service domain prior to authenticating a user. This service reads cookies obtained at this domain and discovers if any identity providers have provided authentication to the user. The service provider determines whether any of these identity providers can authenticate a user without credentials. The service domain must resolve to the same IP address as the base URL domain.

      For example, if an agreed-upon common domain is xyz.com, the service provider can specify a service domain of sp.xyz.com, and the identity provider can specify a service domain of idp.xyz.com. For the identity provider, xyz.com is the common value entered, and idp is the local value.

    • Port: The port to use for identity provider introductions. Port 8445 for HTTPS is the default and must be opened on your firewall. If you specify a different port, you must edit the Tomcat server.xml file.

    SSL Certificate: Displays the Keystore page that you use to locate and replace the test-provider SSL certificate for this configuration.

    The Identity Server comes with a test-provider certificate that you must replace for your production environment. This certificate is used for identity provider introductions. You can replace the test certificate now or after you have configured the Identity Server. If you create the certificate and replace the test-connector now, you can save some time by restarting Tomcat only once. Tomcat must be restarted whenever you assign an Identity Server to a configuration and whenever you update a certificate key store. See Section 1.3.3, Managing the Keys, Certificates, and Trust Stores.

  3. Click OK, then update the Identity Server.

7.2.2 Configuring the General Identity Consumer Options

The following options affect all identity consumers (service providers) that the Identity Server has been configured to trust.

  1. In the Administration Console, click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Identity Consumer.

  2. Specify whether the Identity Server can run as an identity consumer.

    When the Identity Server is configured to run as an identity consumer, the Identity Server can receive (consume) authentication assertions from other identity providers.

    Enable: Enables this site to function as service provider. This setting is enabled by default.

    If this option is disabled, the Identity Server cannot trust or consume authentication assertions from other identity providers. You can create and enable identity providers for the various protocols, but they are not loaded or used until this option is enabled.

    Require Signed Assertions: Specifies that all SAML assertions received by the service provider are signed by the issuing SAML authority. The signing authority uses a key pair to sign SAML data sent to this trusted provider.

    Sign Authentication Requests: Specifies that the service provider signs authentication requests sent to an identity provider when using the Liberty 1.2 and SAML 2.0 protocols.

    Use Introductions (Discover IDP Authentications): Enables a service provider to discover whether a user has authenticated to a trusted identity provider, so the user can use single sign-on without requiring authentication credentials.

    • Service domain: The shared, common domain for all providers in the circle of trust. This domain must resolve to the same IP address as the base URL domain. You must enable the Identity Consumer option to enable this field.

    • Port: The port to use for identity consumer introductions. Port 8446 for HTTPS is the default and must be opened on your firewall. If you specify a different port, you must edit the Tomcat server.xml file.

    IMPORTANT:If you enable the Use Introductions option and you want to allow your users to select which identity provider to use for authentication rather than use single sign-on, you need to configure the Introductions class. See Section 7.2.3, Configuring the Introductions Class.

    SSL Certificate: Displays the Keystore page that you use to locate and replace the test-consumer SSL certificate for this configuration.

    The Identity Server comes with a test-consumer certificate that you must replace for your production environment. This certificate is used for identity consumer introductions. You can replace the test certificate now or after you have configured the Identity Server. If you create the certificate and replace the test-connector now, you can save some time by restarting Tomcat only once. Tomcat must be restarted whenever you assign an Identity Server to a configuration and whenever you update a certificate key store. See Section 1.3.3, Managing the Keys, Certificates, and Trust Stores.

  3. Click OK, then update the Identity Server.

7.2.3 Configuring the Introductions Class

The Introduction class determines whether the user can select an identity provider to trust when the Identity Server is acting as a service provider. The default behavior is for introductions to happen automatically, thus allowing single sign-on. The Identity Server passively checks with the identity providers, one at time, to see if they can authenticate the service provider. If the identity provider can authenticate the user and the Introductions class is enabled, the user is presented with one or more cards that look similar to the following:

The small check mark indicates to the user that this is a possible card. When the user mouses over the card, the description appears. If the user selects one of these cards, the user is automatically authenticated.

To configure the Introductions class:

  1. In the Administration Console, click Devices > Identity Server > Servers > Edit > Local > Classes > Introductions.

  2. Click Properties > New, then specify the following values.

    Property Name: Specify ShowUser.

    Property Value: Specify true.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Return to the Servers page, then update the Identity Server.

  5. When you configure this class, you need to also enable the Use Introductions option. Continue with Section 7.2.2, Configuring the General Identity Consumer Options.

7.2.4 Configuring the Trust Levels Class

The Trust Levels class allows you to specify an authentication level or rank for class types that do not appear on the Defaults page and for which you have not defined a contract. The level is used to rank the requested type. Using the authentication level and the comparison context, the Identity Server can determine whether any contracts meet the requirements of the request. If one or more contracts match the request, the user is presented with the appropriate authentication prompts. For more information and other configuration options, see Section 3.5, Specifying Authentication Defaults and Section 3.5.1, Specifying Authentication Types

  1. In the Administration Console, click Devices > Identity Server > Servers > Edit > Local > Classes > Trust Levels.

  2. Click Properties > New, then specify the following values.

    Property Name: Specify SetClassTrustLevels.

    Property Value: Specify true.

  3. For each class type for which you want to set a level, create a property for that class.

    1. Set the Property Name to the name of the class. For example, use one of the following: 

      urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PreviousSession
urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:InternetProtocol

      For additional values, refer to the SAML2 and Liberty Authentication Context Specifications.

    2. Set the Property Value to the security level or rank you want for the class. A level of 2 is higher than a level of 1.

  4. Click OK, then update the Identity Server.