SAML2 Delegated Authentication - Metadata Management

In the event that CAS is configured to delegate authentication to an external identity provider, the service provider (CAS) metadata as well as the identity provider metadata automatically become available at the following endpoints:

Note that you can use more than one external identity provider with CAS, where each integration may be done with a different set of metadata and keys for CAS acting as the service provider. Each integration (referred to as a client, since CAS itself becomes a client of the identity provider) may be given a name optionally.

Remember that the service provider (CAS) metadata is automatically generated once you access the above endpoints or view the CAS login screen. This is required because today, generating the metadata requires access to the HTTP request/response. In the event that metadata cannot be resolved, a status code of 406 - Not Acceptable is returned.

Strategies

SAML2 metadata for both the delegated identity provider as well as the (CAS) service provider can managed via the following settings.

• Identity Provider
• Service Provider

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

  • Required
  • Optional
  • Signing & Encryption
  • Hibernate & JDBC
  • Email Servers
  • Groovy Scripting
  • LDAP & Active Directory
  • Authentication
  • Password Encoding
  • Principal Transformation
  • Password Policy
  • Notes
  _{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.pac4j.saml[0].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path= The metadata location of the identity provider that is to handle authentications. The location can be specified as a direct absolute path to the metadata file or it may also be a URL to the identity provider's metadata endpoint. org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.pac4j.saml.Pac4jSamlClientMetadataProperties. How can I configure this property? CAS Property: cas.authn.pac4j.saml[].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies. 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. Java Property YAML Property System Property Environment Variable Command-line Argument CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files: 1 cas.authn.pac4j.saml[0].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path=... This is the most common form of property configuration that is recognized by CAS, regardless of the actual property source, which might in fact be managed separately outside the CAS environment, by another system or cloud framework. CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax: 1 cas: authn: pac4j: saml[0]: metadata: identity-provider-metadata-path: "..." Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice. CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched: 1 java -Dcas.authn.pac4j.saml[0].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path="..." -jar build/libs/cas.war The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory. Note the placement of the system property which must be specified before the CAS web application is launched. CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched: 1 2 3 export CAS_AUTHN_PAC4J_SAML[0]_METADATA_IDENTITY_PROVIDER_METADATA_PATH="..." java -jar build/libs/cas.war The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory. CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched: 1 java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.authn.pac4j.saml[0].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path="..." The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

  # The metadata location of the identity provider that is to handle authentications. # cas.authn.pac4j.saml[0].metadata.identity-provider-metadata-path=

  _{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.}
  

  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.

  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.

• SAML2 metadata for CAS as the service provider can be managed via the following strategies.

  Option	Reference
  File System	See this guide.
  JDBC	See this guide.
  MongoDb	See this guide.
  Amazon S3	See this guide.