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Enable Login for a WS-Federation Web Application

This page guides you through enabling login for a WS-Federation-based web application.

Info

WSO2 Identity Server's passive security token service (Passive STS) is used as the WS-Federation implementation. The Passive STS is capable of issuing SAML 1.1 and 2.0 security tokens. To request a SAML 2.0 security token, the Request Security Token (RST) should be sent to the passive STS endpoint with the TokenType SAMLV2.0 when sending the token request. If no RST is specified, WSO2 Identity Server will issue a SAML 1.1 token by default.


Prerequisites

  • Download Apache Tomcat 8.x and install it. Tomcat server installation location will later be referred to as <TOMCAT_HOME> in this guide.

  • It is recommended that you use a hostname that is not localhost to avoid browser errors. Modify your machine's /etc/hosts entry to reflect this.

    Info

    Note that wso2is.local is used in this documentation as an example, but you must modify this when configuring the authenticators or connectors with this sample application.

  • Download the PassiveSTSSample application from the latest release assets.

Deploy the sample app

To deploy the sample web app on a web container:

  1. Copy the application's downloaded .war file into the webapps directory of the Tomcat folder.

  2. Start the Tomcat server.

Configure sample properties

To configure additional properties for the sample application:

  1. Add the following configurations to the web.xml file in <TOMCAT_HOME>/apache-tomcat-<version>/webapps/PassiveSTSSampleApp/WEB-INF.

    • Specify idpUrl as the Identity Server's Passive STS URL.

      <init-param>
              <param-name>idpUrl</param-name>
              <param-value>https://localhost:9443/passivests</param-value>
      </init-param> 

    • Specify the replyURL as the URL of the web app.

      <init-param>
              <param-name>replyUrl</param-name>
              <param-value>http://localhost:8080/PassiveSTSSampleApp/index.jsp</param-value>
      </init-param>

    • Specify the realm as a unique identifier for the web app.

      <init-param>
              <param-name>realm</param-name>
              <param-value>PassiveSTSSampleApp</param-value>
      </init-param> 

    • Specify the tenantDomain for tenant user logins.

      <init-param>
              <param-name>requestParams</param-name>
              <param-value>tenantDomain=tenant4.com</param-value>
      </init-param>

  2. Restart the tomcat server.

Configure the service provider

  1. On the Management Console, go to Main > Identity > Service Providers and click Add.

  2. Enter PassiveSTSSampleApp as the Service Provider Name, and click Register.

  3. Expand the Inbound Authentication Configuration > WS-Federation (Passive) Configuration section, and enter the following values in the fields mentioned.

    Field name Value Description
    Passive STS Realm PassiveSTSSampleApp This should be a unique identifier for the web app. Provide the same realm name given to the web app you are configuring WS-Federation for.
    Passive STS WReply URL http://localhost:8080/PassiveSTSSampleApp/index.jsp Provide the URL of the web app you are configuring WS-Federation for. This endpoint URL will handle the token response.
  4. Expand Claim Configuration and click Add Claim URI next to Requested Claims, and add the following claims:

    • http://wso2.org/claims/username
    • http://wso2.org/claims/emailaddress
  5. Select http://wso2.org/claims/emailaddress as the Subject Claim URI.

  6. Click Update to save your configurations.

Tip

Currently, the signing algorithm used for passive STS by default is rsa-sha1, and the digest algorithm used is sha1. To change the default algorithms, add the following configuration in the deployment.toml file found in the <IS_HOME>/repository/conf directory. The example given below sets the signing algorithm to rsa-sha256 and the digest algorithm to sha256.

[sts]
signature_algorithm = "http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmldsig-more#rsa-sha256"
digest_algorithm = "http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#sha256"

Try it out

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When redirecting your users to WSO2 IS Passive STS endpoint, the following (optional) parameters are sent in the request from the sample application.

  • wa=wsignin1.0: specifies whether WSO2 IS should issue a token for the relying party (this is the default action).
  • wa=wsignout1.0: specifies whether WSO2 IS should log the user out.
  • wreply={replyUrl}: specifies where the response should be sent.

Using a Network tracer such as a SAML tracer is recommended to analyze the HTTP request and responses in this scenario. With a tracer, you will be able to view the parameters mentioned above and also see the SAML token that is issued from WSO2 IS.

  1. Access one of the following links on your browser and click Login.

  2. Login using your credentials.

  3. Provide the required consent. You will be redirected to the WSO2 IS Passive STS Service and then redirected back to the configured replyUrl.

You will see the passive STS response with the requested claims on the screen.

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