JPA - SAML2 Metadata Management

Metadata documents may also be stored in and fetched from a relational database instance. This may specially be used to avoid copying metadata files across CAS nodes in a cluster, particularly where one needs to deal with more than a few bilateral SAML integrations. Metadata documents are stored in and fetched from a single pre-defined table (i.e. SamlMetadataDocument) whose connection information is taught to CAS via settings and is automatically generated. The outline of the table is as follows:

Field Description
id The identifier of the record.
name Indexed field which describes and names the metadata briefly.
value The XML document representing the metadata for the service provider.
signature The contents of the signing certificate to validate metadata, if any.

Support is enabled by including the following module in the overlay:

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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apereo.cas</groupId>
    <artifactId>cas-server-support-saml-idp-metadata-jpa</artifactId>
    <version>${cas.version}</version>
</dependency>
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implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-saml-idp-metadata-jpa:${project.'cas.version'}"
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dependencyManagement {
    imports {
        mavenBom "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}"
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-saml-idp-metadata-jpa"
}
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dependencies {
    /*
    The following platform references should be included automatically and are listed here for reference only.
            
    implementation enforcedPlatform("org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}")
    implementation platform(org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin.SpringBootPlugin.BOM_COORDINATES)
    */

    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-saml-idp-metadata-jpa"
}

SAML service definitions must then be designed as follows to allow CAS to fetch metadata documents from database instances:

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{
  "@class" : "org.apereo.cas.support.saml.services.SamlRegisteredService",
  "serviceId" : "the-entity-id-of-the-sp",
  "name" : "SAMLService",
  "id" : 10000003,
  "description" : "A relational-db-based metadata resolver",
  "metadataLocation" : "jdbc://"
}
:information_source: Metadata Location

The metadata location in the registration record above needs to be specified as jdbc:// to signal to CAS that SAML metadata for registered service provider must be fetched from JDBC data sources defined in CAS configuration.

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key is a JWT whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.driver-class=org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver
  • The JDBC driver used to connect to the database.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.password=
  • The database connection password.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.url=jdbc:hsqldb:mem:cas-hsql-database
  • The database connection URL.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.user=sa
  • The database user.

    The database user must have sufficient permissions to be able to handle schema changes and updates, when needed.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.alg=
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.encryption.key-size=512
  • The encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.strategy-type=ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN
  • Control the cipher sequence of operations. The accepted values are:

    • ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN: Encrypt the value first, and then sign.
    • SIGN_AND_ENCRYPT: Sign the value first, and then encrypt.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.keep-alive-time=0
  • This property controls the keepalive interval for a connection in the pool. An in-use connection will never be tested by the keepalive thread, only when it is idle will it be tested. Default is zero, which disables this feature.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.max-size=18
  • Controls the maximum number of connections to keep in the pool, including both idle and in-use connections.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.max-wait=PT2S
  • Sets the maximum time in seconds that this data source will wait while attempting to connect to a database.

    A value of zero specifies that the timeout is the default system timeout if there is one; otherwise, it specifies that there is no timeout.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.maximum-lifetime=PT10M
  • This property controls the maximum lifetime of a connection in the pool. When a connection reaches this timeout, even if recently used, it will be retired from the pool. An in-use connection will never be retired, only when it is idle will it be removed.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.min-size=6
  • Controls the minimum size that the pool is allowed to reach, including both idle and in-use connections.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.name=
  • Set the name of the connection pool. This is primarily used for the MBean to uniquely identify the pool configuration.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.suspension=false
  • Whether or not pool suspension is allowed.

    There is a performance impact when pool suspension is enabled. Unless you need it (for a redundancy system for example) do not enable it.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.pool.timeout-millis=1000
  • The maximum number of milliseconds that the pool will wait for a connection to be validated as alive.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.ConnectionPoolingProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.autocommit=false
  • The default auto-commit behavior of connections in the pool. Determined whether queries such as update/insert should be immediately executed without waiting for an underlying transaction.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.batch-size=100
  • A non-zero value enables use of JDBC2 batch updates by Hibernate. e.g. recommended values between 5 and 30.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.data-source-name=
  • Attempts to do a JNDI data source look up for the data source name specified. Will attempt to locate the data source object as is.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.ddl-auto=update
  • Hibernate feature to automatically validate and exports DDL to the schema. By default, creates and drops the schema automatically when a session is starts and ends. Setting the value to validate or none may be more desirable for production, but any of the following options can be used:

    • validate: Validate the schema, but make no changes to the database.
    • update: Update the schema.
    • create: Create the schema, destroying previous data.
    • create-drop: Drop the schema at the end of the session.
    • none: Do nothing.

    Note that during a version migration where any schema has changed create-drop will result in the loss of all data as soon as CAS is started. For transient data like tickets this is probably not an issue, but in cases like the audit table important data could be lost. Using `update`, while safe for data, is confirmed to result in invalid database state. validate or none settings are likely the only safe options for production use.

    For more info, see this.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.default-catalog=
  • Qualifies unqualified table names with the given catalog in generated SQL.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.default-schema=
  • Qualify unqualified table names with the given schema/tablespace in generated SQL.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect
  • The database dialect is a configuration setting for platform independent software (JPA, Hibernate, etc) which allows such software to translate its generic SQL statements into vendor specific DDL, DML.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.fail-fast-timeout=1
  • Set the pool initialization failure timeout.

    • Any value greater than zero will be treated as a timeout for pool initialization. The calling thread will be blocked from continuing until a successful connection to the database, or until the timeout is reached. If the timeout is reached, then a PoolInitializationException will be thrown.
    • A value of zero will not prevent the pool from starting in the case that a connection cannot be obtained. However, upon start the pool will attempt to obtain a connection and validate that the connectionTestQuery and connectionInitSql are valid. If those validations fail, an exception will be thrown. If a connection cannot be obtained, the validation is skipped and the the pool will start and continue to try to obtain connections in the background. This can mean that callers to DataSource#getConnection() may encounter exceptions.
    • A value less than zero will not bypass any connection attempt and validation during startup, and therefore the pool will start immediately. The pool will continue to try to obtain connections in the background. This can mean that callers to DataSource#getConnection() may encounter exceptions.
    Note that if this timeout value is greater than or equal to zero (0), and therefore an initial connection validation is performed, this timeout does not override the connectionTimeout or validationTimeout; they will be honored before this timeout is applied. The default value is one millisecond.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.fetch-size=100
  • Used to specify number of rows to be fetched in a select query.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.generate-statistics=false
  • Allow hibernate to generate query statistics.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.health-query=
  • The SQL query to be executed to test the validity of connections. This is for "legacy" databases that do not support the JDBC4 Connection.isValid() API.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.idle-timeout=PT10M
  • Controls the maximum amount of time that a connection is allowed to sit idle in the pool.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.idp-metadata-enabled=false
  • Whether identity provider metadata artifacts are expected to be found in the database.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.isolate-internal-queries=false
  • This property determines whether data source isolates internal pool queries, such as the connection alive test, in their own transaction.

    Since these are typically read-only queries, it is rarely necessary to encapsulate them in their own transaction. This property only applies if #autocommit is disabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.isolation-level-name=ISOLATION_READ_COMMITTED
  • Defines the isolation level for transactions. @see org.springframework.transaction.TransactionDefinition

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.leak-threshold=PT6S
  • Controls the amount of time that a connection can be out of the pool before a message is logged indicating a possible connection leak.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.physical-naming-strategy-class-name=org.apereo.cas.hibernate.CasHibernatePhysicalNamingStrategy
  • Fully-qualified name of the class that can control the physical naming strategy of hibernate.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.propagation-behavior-name=PROPAGATION_REQUIRED
  • Defines the propagation behavior for transactions. @see org.springframework.transaction.TransactionDefinition

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.properties=
  • Additional settings provided by Hibernate (or the connection provider) in form of key-value pairs.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.read-only=false
  • Configures the Connections to be added to the pool as read-only Connections.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.metadata.JpaSamlMetadataProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key is a JWT whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.alg=
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.encryption.key-size=512
  • The encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.authn.saml-idp.metadata.jpa.crypto.strategy-type=ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN
  • Control the cipher sequence of operations. The accepted values are:

    • ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN: Encrypt the value first, and then sign.
    • SIGN_AND_ENCRYPT: Sign the value first, and then encrypt.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    This CAS feature is able to accept signing and encryption crypto keys. In most scenarios if keys are not provided, CAS will auto-generate them. The following instructions apply if you wish to manually and beforehand create the signing and encryption keys.

    Note that if you are asked to create a JWK of a certain size for the key, you are to use the following set of commands to generate the token:

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    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apereo/cas/master/etc/jwk-gen.jar
    java -jar jwk-gen.jar -t oct -s [size]
    

    The outcome would be similar to:

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    {
      "kty": "oct",
      "kid": "...",
      "k": "..."
    }
    

    The generated value for k needs to be assigned to the relevant CAS settings. Note that keys generated via the above algorithm are processed by CAS using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm which is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.


    Control global properties that are relevant to Hibernate, when CAS attempts to employ and utilize database resources, connections and queries.

  • cas.jdbc.case-insensitive=false
  • When choosing physical table names, determine whether names should be considered case-insensitive.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.jdbc.gen-ddl=true
  • Whether to generate DDL after the EntityManagerFactory has been initialized creating/updating all relevant tables.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.jdbc.physical-table-names=
  • Indicate a physical table name to be used by the hibernate naming strategy in case table names need to be customized for the specific type of database. The key here indicates the CAS-provided table name and the value is the translate physical name for the database. If a match is not found for the CAS-provided table name, then that name will be used by default.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.jdbc.show-sql=false
  • Whether SQL queries should be displayed in the console/logs.

    How can I configure this property?

    Configuration Metadata

    The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

    Be Selective

    This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

    YAGNI

    Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

    Naming Convention

    Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

    :information_source: Note

    When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

    Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

    Validation

    Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

    Indexed Settings

    CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

    Identity Provider Metadata

    Metadata artifacts that belong to CAS as a SAML2 identity provider may also be managed and stored via JPA. Artifacts such as the metadata, signing and encryption keys, etc are kept inside a database table that would have the following structure:

    Field Description
    id The identifier of the record.
    signingCertificate The signing certificate.
    signingKey The signing key.
    encryptionCertificate The encryption certificate.
    encryptionKey The encryption key.
    metadata The SAML2 identity provider metadata.
    appliesTo The owner of the SAML2 identity provider metadata (i.e. CAS).

    Per Service

    Identity provider metadata, certificates and keys can also be defined on a per-service basis to override the global defaults. Metadata documents that would be applicable to a service definition need to adjust the appliesTo column in the metadata document to carry the service definition’s name and numeric identifier using the [service-name]-[service-numeric-identifier] format.