Dec 19, 2015
Agenda
• Project beginnings and funding.
• Purpose of the federation.
• Federation members.
• Federation protocols.
• Special features in our federation.
• Pilot project
• Inter-federation prospects
Question
• Q: How do you enable access to your services for users registered at other institutions ?
A: Central directory of users B: Issue accounts for remote user C: OpenID D: Federated Access
Question
• Q: What is federated access? A: A way to authenticate users without having
to know the users username/password B: A way to authenticate yourself using the
same credentials you use at your institution. C: A way to authorize users based on their
role at the remote institution... ... or based on your own rules..
Project beginnings and funding
• Forfás report -short term infrastructure
• National Development Plan (PRTLI)
• Application for SIF-II funding of mini-grants for IdP's and SP's approved (but paused)
• Other revenue streams under consideration.
Federation Purpose• Initially...
– Foster cross institutional collaboration
• Now...– Enable shared services (e.g. NDLR)– Enable SaaS (e.g. Google Apps)– Supplement GRID/HPC– Validate student identity (e-commerce)– Potential alternative to Athens AM
Federation Members• IdP's
– Any entity within Ireland with a student body
• SP's...– Any entity providing services to institutions – Any entity providing services to students
Notable Members• IdP's
– Open to primary/second level schools (single IdP)
• SP's...– Commercial entities offering a 'student discount'– GRID to supplement existing authorisation
Potential Members• SP's...
– Institutional libraries– Elsvier, EBSCO, Thomson Reuters– Any member of the UK Federation– National Library– National Digital Learning Repository– Exptertise Ireland– IReL
Potential Members• IdP's...
– Universities– Institutes of Technology– Schools– Research agencies (ESRI, EPA etc.)– Athens AM (or similar)
Federation Protocol
• Initially...– SAML1/SAML2/ADFS/Shibboleth 1.3 and 2.0
• Now– SAML2 with specific binding/protocol
• Interoperability between SAML implementations...• ...allowing commercial SAML products...• ...alongside open-source
Options for IdP's
• Self-managed IdP– No fee (for HEA funded institutions)– Small fee (for non HEA-funded)
• Managed or Hosted IdP.– Additional fee– Shibboleth 2.1
Options for SP's
• Self-managed SP– No fee for HEA funded institutions– Membership fee for non HEA-funded
• Managed or Hosted SP.– Additional fee– Shibboleth 2.1 and simpleSAMLphp
Special features
• Collaboration and access to resources– Federation established for cross-institutional
access to protected content– Virtual Learning Environments– Digital Libraries– Centralised, pooled, or shared services– Intra-library loans
Special features
• Shibboleth web-based administration– Config. can be difficult for those new to Shibb.– Web-based interface is designed to make
configuration easier.– Wizard outputs downloadable configuration files– The wizards are based on SWITCH RR*
Pilot Project
• Call for participation.
• Response from GRID and one institution
• Workshops.
• Another call for participation;– Response from small group of IdP and SP's
including HPC.
• Technical trial commenced
Pilot Project
• Pilot project will continue in parallel to;– Call to libraries– Further workshops– Additional pilot participants
Pilot Project• Expected Outcomes;
– Technical• Agreed Attribute Schema• Agreed Protocol
– Policy• Agreed Rules of Membership• Agreed Membership criteria• Agreed model to steer the federation in the future• Agreed production launch date.
Inter-federation
• Bilaterally– Attribute schema based on UK Federation Schema
to ease bilateral federation.– UK Federation will be ready for SAML2 in the
future
Inter-federation
• Multilaterally.– As number of Bilateral agreements grow an inter-
federation agreement will emerge.– Technical solution may be based on SAML2
metadata mergers where possible– eduGAIN where not possible
Summary• Project beginnings and funding.
• Purpose of the federation.
• Federation members.
• Federation protocols.
• Special features
• Pilot project
• Inter-federation prospects
• Some final words...