Configuring WS-Federation

WS-Federation (Web Services Federation) describes the management and brokering of trust relationships and security token exchange across Web services and organizational boundaries. WS-Federation is a part of the larger WS-Security framework. For example, WS-Federation builds on the Security Token Service (STS) by providing mechanisms that facilitate interactions. In the WS-Federation Model, an Identity Provider is a Security Token Service (STS). Service Providers depend on an Identity Provider or Security Token Service to do the user authentication. OAuth is an important protocol for IdP services as most major Web services are also identity providers, mainly through the use of OAuth. These Web services include Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, PayPal, MySpace, and Flickr among much more. Furthermore, all major email providers offer OAuth IdP services.

In most instances it is necessary to secure the Security Token Service. According to the Trust Brokering model defined in the WS-Trust specification, the subject (user) should authenticate himself to the STS before obtaining a token. STS may use this authentication information when constructing the security token. For example, STS may populate the required claims based on the user name provided by the subject.

1. Expand the WS-Federation (Passive) Configuration form.

2. Fill in the following fields where relevant.