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Configure SimpleSAMLphp

In this topic

  1. Required information
  2. Register SimpleSAMLphp as the SAML IDP with Portal for ArcGIS
  3. Register Portal for ArcGIS as the trusted service provider with SimpleSAMLphp

You can configure SimpleSAMLphp 1.10 and later versions as your identity provider (IDP) for SAML logins in Portal for ArcGIS. The configuration process involves two main steps: registering your SAML IDP with Portal for ArcGIS and registering Portal for ArcGIS with the SAML IDP.

Note:

To ensure that your SAML logins are configured securely, review the best practices for SAML security.

Required information

Portal for ArcGIS requires certain attribute information to be received from the IDP when a user signs in using SAML logins. The NameID attribute is mandatory and must be sent by your IDP in the SAML response to make the federation with Portal for ArcGIS work. Since Portal for ArcGIS uses the value of NameID to uniquely identify a named user, it is recommended that you use a constant value that uniquely identifies the user. When a user from the IDP signs in, a new user with the user name NameID will be created by Portal for ArcGIS in its user store. The allowed characters for the value sent by NameID are alphanumeric, _ (underscore), . (dot), and @ (at sign). Any other characters will be escaped to contain underscores in the user name created by Portal for ArcGIS.

Portal for ArcGIS supports the inflow of a user's email address, group memberships, given name, and surname from the SAML identity provider.

Register SimpleSAMLphp as the SAML IDP with Portal for ArcGIS

  1. Configure an authentication source in the SimpleSAMLphp IdP.
    1. Create an authentication source.

      SimpleSAMLphp supports authenticating users from various authentication sources such as LDAP server, users in an SQL server, Active Directory domain, and so on. The example below shows how to configure an Apache Directory Server as an authentication source in SimpleSAMLphp IdP.

      Authentication sources can be configured in the <SimpleSAML_HOME>/config/authsources.php file. To configure the LDAP server, open the config/authsources.php file and add an LDAP-based authentication source in the following format:

      'example-ldapApacheDS' => array(
		'ldap:LDAP',

		/* The hostname of the LDAP server. */
		'hostname' => 'host:port',

		/* Whether TLS should be used when contacting the LDAP server. */
		'enable_tls' => TRUE,

		/*
		 * Which attributes should be retrieved from the LDAP server.
		 * This can be an array of attribute names, or NULL, in which case
		 * all attributes are fetched.
		 */
		'attributes' => NULL,

		/*
		 * The pattern that should be used to create the users DN given the username.
		 * %username% in this pattern will be replaced with the user's username.
		 *
		 * This option is not used if the search.enable option is set to TRUE.
		 */
		'dnpattern' => 'uid=%username%,ou=users,ou=system',

		/*
		 * As an alternative to specifying a pattern for the users DN, it is possible to
		 * search for the username in a set of attributes. This is enabled by this option.
		 */
		'search.enable' => FALSE,

		/*
		 * The DN that will be used as a base for the search.
		 * This can be a single string, in which case only that DN is searched, or an
		 * array of strings, in which case they will be searched in the order given.
		 */
		'search.base' => 'ou=users,ou=system',

		/*
		 * The attribute(s) the username should match against.
		 *
		 * This is an array with one or more attribute names. Any of the attributes in
		 * the array may match the value the username.
		 */
		'search.attributes' => array('uid', 'mail'),

		/*
		 * The username & password the simpleSAMLphp should bind to before searching. If
		 * this is left as NULL, no bind will be performed before searching.
		 */
		'search.username' => 'uid=admin,ou=system',
		'search.password' => 'password',
	),
    2. Configure the authentication source you created above as an authentication module in the SimpleSAMLphp IdP. Open the metadata/ saml20-idp-hosted.php file and add the authentication source to use.
      /*
	 * Authentication source to use. Must be one that is configured in
	 * 'config/authsources.php'.
	 */
	'auth' => 'example-ldapApacheDS',
  2. Configure the name identifier format supported by the SimpleSAMLphp IDP. Open the < SimpleSAML_HOME >/metadata/saml20-idp-hosted.php file and add the snippet below. In the following example, uid will be passed as NameID by the SimpleSAMLphp IDP to Portal for ArcGIS after authenticating the user.
    'NameIDFormat' => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent',
		'authproc' => array(

			  3 => array(

			  'class' => 'saml:AttributeNameID',
			  'attribute' => 'uid',
	              'Format' => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent',
				  ),
			),
  3. Register SimpleSAMLphp as the IDP for your Portal for ArcGIS organization.
    1. Verify that you are signed in as an administrator of your organization.
    2. At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Settings tab.
    3. Click Security on the left side of the page.
    4. In the Logins section, click the New SAML login button, and select the One identity provider option. On the Specify properties page, type your organization's name (for example, City of Redlands). When users access the portal website, this text displays as part of the SAML sign-in option (for example, Using your City of Redlands account).
      Note:

      You can only register one SAML IDP, or one federation of IDPs, for your portal.

    5. Choose if your users will be able to join the organization Automatically or Upon invitation from an administrator. Selecting the first option enables users to sign in to the organization with their SAML login without any intervention from an administrator. Their account is registered with the organization automatically the first time they sign in. The second option requires the administrator to register the necessary accounts with the organization using a command line utility or sample Python script. Once the accounts have been registered, users will be able to sign in to the organization.
      Tip:

      It's recommended that you designate at least one SAML account as an administrator of your portal and demote or delete the initial administrator account. It is also recommended you disable the Create an account button in the portal website so people cannot create their own accounts. For full instructions, see Configuring a SAML-compliant identity provider with your portal.

    6. Provide metadata information for the IDP using one of the three options below:

      URL—Choose this option if the URL of the SimpleSAMLphp federation metadata is accessible. This is usually https://<simpleSAML-server>/<saml-app-name>/saml2/idp/metadata.php.

      Note:

      If your SAML IDP includes a self-signed certificate, you may encounter an error when attempting to specify the HTTPS URL of the metadata. This error occurs because Portal for ArcGIS cannot verify the IDP's self-signed certificate. Alternatively, use HTTP in the URL, use one of the other options below, or configure your IDP with a trusted certificate.

      File—Choose this option if the URL is not accessible. Save the metadata from the URL as an XML file and upload the file to Portal for ArcGIS using the File option.

      Parameters specified here—Choose this option if the URL or federation metadata file is not accessible. Enter the values manually and supply the requested parameters: the login URL and the certificate, encoded in the BASE 64 format. Contact your SimpleSAMLphp administrator to obtain these.

  4. Configure the advanced settings as applicable:
    • Encrypt Assertion—Enable this option if SimpleSAMLphp will be configured to encrypt SAML assertion responses.
    • Enable signed request—Enable this option to have Portal for ArcGIS sign the SAML authentication request sent to SimpleSAMLphp.
    • Entity ID—Update this value to use a new entity ID to uniquely identify your portal to SimpleSAMLphp.
    • Propagate logout to Identity Provider—Enable this option to have Portal for ArcGIS use a Logout URL to sign out the user from SimpleSAMLphp. Enter the URL to use in the Logout URL setting. If the IDP requires the Logout URL to be signed, Enable signed request needs to be turned on.
    • Update profiles on sign in—Enable this option to have ArcGIS Enterprise update users' givenName and email address attributes if they have changed since they last signed in.
    • Enable SAML based group membership—Enable this option to allow organization members to link specified SAML-based enterprise groups to ArcGIS Enterprise groups during the group creation process.
    • Logout URL—The IDP URL to use to sign out the currently signed in user. The logout URL is usually https://idphost.domain.com/simplesaml/saml2/idp/SingleLogoutService.php. This URL is defined in the SingleLogoutService element in the IDP's metadata file. The metadata file URL is usually https://[simpleSAML-server]/simplesaml/saml2/idp/metadata.php.

    The Encrypt Assertion and Enable signed request settings use the certificate samlcert in the portal keystore. To use a new certificate, delete the samlcert certificate, create a certificate with the same alias (samlcert) following the steps in Import a certificate into the portal, and restart the portal.

  5. Click Save.

Register Portal for ArcGIS as the trusted service provider with SimpleSAMLphp

  1. Configure Portal for ArcGIS as a trusted service provider with SimpleSAMLphp by configuring the <SimpleSAMLphp_HOME>/metatadata/saml20-sp-remote.php file.
    1. Obtain the metadata XML file of your Portal for ArcGIS organization.

      To get the metadata file, sign in as an administrator of your organization and open your organization page. Click the Settings tab and click Security on the left side of the page. In the Logins section, under SAML login, click the Download service provider metadata button.

    2. Convert the XML file you obtained in the previous substep to PHP format.

      SimpleSAMLphp expects the service provider’s metadata information to be provided in PHP format. SimpleSAMLphp provides a built-in XML-to-PHP metadata converter which, by default, is available as https://<simpleSAML-server>/<saml-app-name>/admin/metadata-converter.php in your SimpleSAMLphp installation. Use the converter to convert the XML to PHP.

    3. Open the metatadata/saml20-sp-remote.php file and add the configuration of the service provider in PHP format created in step 1.b above.

      Below is an example of the added service provider's configuration in the metadata file.

      /* The following is a Portal for ArcGIS organization service provider */
$metadata['webadaptorhost.domain.com.webadaptorname'] = array (
  'entityid' => ' webadaptorhost.domain.com.webadaptorname',
  'name' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'portal ',
  ),
  'description' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'portal ',
  ),
  'OrganizationName' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'portal ',
  ),
  'OrganizationDisplayName' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'portal ',
  ),
  'url' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname',
  ),
  'OrganizationURL' =>
  array (
    'en' => 'https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname',
  ),
  'contacts' =>
  array (
  ),
  'metadata-set' => 'saml20-sp-remote',
  'AssertionConsumerService' =>
  array (
    0 =>
    array (
      'Binding' => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST',
      'Location' => 'https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/sharing/rest/oauth2/saml/signin',
      'index' => 1,
    ),
    1 =>
    array (
      'Binding' => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-Redirect',
      'Location' => 'https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/sharing/rest/oauth2/saml/signin',
      'index' => 2,
    ),
  ),
  'SingleLogoutService' =>
  array (
  ),
);
  2. Configure the attribute that gets passed as NameID to Portal for ArcGIS from the SimpleSAMLphp IdP after authenticating the user. To do this, add the attribute at the end of the service provider’s configuration you added in the previous step.

    In the following example, uid is passed as NameID by the SimpleSAMLphp IdP to Portal for ArcGIS after authenticating the user. (Replace webadaptorhost.domain.com.webadaptorname with the URL of your portal.)

    'NameIDFormat'               => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent',
'simplesaml.nameidattribute' => 'uid',

/* The following indicates whether or not to send all the attributes received from the authentication source to the service provider.
  If true, it will send, otherwise it will not send all the attributes*/

  'simplesaml.attributes'      => true,
);
  3. If you chose the advanced setting Encrypt Assertion when registering SimpleSAMLphp as the SAML IDP, add the attribute below to the end of the service provider’s configuration you added in step 1.
    /*
  Whether assertions sent to this SP should be encrypted. The default value is FALSE.
  */
  'assertion.encryption' => true,
);

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In this topic
  1. Required information
  2. Register SimpleSAMLphp as the SAML IDP with Portal for ArcGIS
  3. Register Portal for ArcGIS as the trusted service provider with SimpleSAMLphp