SAML

Providing metadata with the UI

To log in to your applications from the IBM Cloud UI, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the SAML 2.0 tab of the App ID dashboard.

2. Add the Provider name. The default name is SAML.

3. Enter the following metadata that you obtained from the identity provider in the Provide Metadata from SAML IdP section.

   The information that must be provided to App ID

   Variable	Description
   Sign-in URL	The URL that the user is redirected to for authentication. It is hosted by your SAML identity provider.
   Entity ID	The globally unique name for a SAML identity provider.
   Primary certificate	The certificate issued by your SAML identity provider. It is used for signing and validating SAML assertions. All providers are different, but you might be able to download the signing certificate from your identity provider. The certificate must be in .pem format.

4. Optional: Provide a Secondary certificate that is used if signature validation fails on the primary certificate. If the signing key remains the same, App ID does not block authentication for expired certificates.

5. Click Save.

Want to set an authentication context? You can do so through the API.

Configuring IdP-initiated login with the UI

Optionally, if you want to log in to your applications on IBM Cloud from your identity provider's UI, you can enable IdP-initiated login.

Follow steps 1 - 4 in the Providing metadata with the UI section. Then, complete the following process.

5. Enable the IdP initiated login.
6. Enter the IdP redirect URL.
7. Click Save.

Providing metadata with the API

1. View your current SAML configuration, including your authentication context and certificates, by making a GET request to the /saml API endpoint.

   Example code:

   curl --request GET \
   https://us-south.appid.cloud.ibm.com/management/v4/<tenantID>/config/idps/saml \
   --header `Accept: application/json`
   

   Example output:

   {
      "isActive": true,
      "config": {
      "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
      "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
      "certificates": [
         "certificate-example-pem-format"
      ],
      "displayName": "my saml example",
      "authnContext": {
         "class": [
            "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport"
         ],
         "comparison": "exact"
      }
      }
   }
   

2. Create your SAML configuration by replacing the values in the following example with the information from your provider. The values that are shown in the example are required, but you can choose to include more information as shown in the table.

   "config": {
      "authnContext": {
      "class": [
         "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourChosenClassValue",
         "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourOtherChosenClassValue"
      ],
      "comparison": "sampleComparisonValue"}
      "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
      "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
      "certificates": [
      "primary-certificate-example-pem-format"
      "secondary-certificate-example-pem-format"
      ],
      "displayName": "my saml example",
      "signRequest": true ,
      "encryptResponse": true
   }
   

   SAML configuration variables

   Variable	Description
   signInUrl	The URL that the user is redirected to for authentication. It is hosted by your SAML identity provider.
   entityID	The globally unique name for a SAML identity provider.
   displayName	The name that you assign to your SAML configuration.
   primary-certificate-example-pem-format	The certificate that is issued by your SAML identity provider. It is used for signing and validating SAML assertions. All providers are different, but you might be able to download the signing certificate from your identity provider. The certificate must be in .pem format.
   Optional: secondary-certificate-example-pem-format	The backup certificate that is issued by your SAML identity provider. It is used if signature validation fails with the primary certificate. Note: If the signing key remains the same, App ID does not block authentication for expired certificates.
   Optional: authnContext	The authentication context is used to verify the quality of the authentication and SAML assertions. You can add an authentication context by adding a class array and comparison string to your code. BE sure to update both the class and comparison parameters with your values. For example, a class parameter might look similar to urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourChosenClassValue.
   Optional: signRequest	The signRequest flag provides the capability to send a signed SAML request to an identity provider that is signed by using the tenant's SAML signing private key. To configure your SAML identity provider to receive a signed request, you need the signing certificate from the metadata file that you can download in the KeyDescriptor use="signing" field. By default, request signing is set to off.
   Optional: encryptResponse	The encryptResponse flag allows for you to receive an encrypted response from your identity provider as part of the authentication request. To configure your SAML identity provider to send an encrypted response, you need the encryption certificate that can be found in the metadata file in the KeyDescriptor use="encryption" field. By default, response encryption is set to off.

3. Make a PUT request to the /saml API endpoint to provide the configuration that you created in step 2 to App ID. Check out the following example to see what your request might look like.

   curl --request PUT \
   https://us-south.appid.cloud.ibm.com/management/v4/<tenantID>/config/idps/saml \
   --header `Accept: application/json` \
   --data \
   {
      "isActive": true,
      "config": {
      "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
      "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
      "certificates": [
         "primary-certificate-example-pem-format"
      ],
      "displayName": "my saml example",
      }
   }
   

Configuring IdP-initiated login with the API

To configure IdP-initiated login, complete the following steps.

1. View your current SAML configuration, including your authentication context and certificates, by making a GET request to the /saml API endpoint.

   Example code:

   curl --request GET \
   https://us-south.appid.cloud.ibm.com/management/v4/<tenantID>/config/idps/saml \
   --header `Accept: application/json`
   

   Example output:

   {
      "isActive": true,
      "config": {
      "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
      "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
      "certificates": [
         "certificate-example-pem-format"
      ],
      "displayName": "my saml example",
      "authnContext": {
         "class": [
            "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport"
         ],
         "comparison": "exact"
      }
      }
   }
   

2. Create your SAML configuration by replacing the values in the following example with the information from your provider. The values that are shown in the example are required, but you can choose to include more information as shown in the table.

   "config": {
      "authnContext": {
      "class": [
         "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourChosenClassValue",
         "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourOtherChosenClassValue"
      ],
      "comparison": "sampleComparisonValue"
      },
      "idpInitEnabled": true,
      "idpRedirectUrl": "https://example.com/redirect/endpoint",
      "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
      "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
      "certificates": [
      "primary-certificate-example-pem-format"
      "secondary-certificate-example-pem-format"
      ],
      "displayName": "my saml example",
      "signRequest": true ,
      "encryptResponse": true
   }
   

   SAML configuration variables

   Variable	Description
   signInUrl	The URL that the user is redirected to for authentication. It is hosted by your SAML identity provider.
   entityID	The globally unique name for a SAML identity provider.
   displayName	The name that you assign to your SAML configuration.
   primary-certificate-example-pem-format	The certificate that is issued by your SAML identity provider. It is used for signing and validating SAML assertions. All providers are different, but you might be able to download the signing certificate from your identity provider. The certificate must be in .pem format.
   DefaultRelayState	The initial value for RelayState. This variable is configured in your identity provider's settings. This variable can be used for the redirect URL instead of idpRedirectUrl during SAML requests from your identity provider. If you set both variables, the value of DefaultRelayState takes precedence. IdP-initiated login fails if you don't set one of these variables.
   idpInitEnabled	A boolean to indicate whether you want to enable IdP initiated login.
   idpRedirectUrl	This field's value can be null, a string that is empty, or a valid http or https redirect URL. Note: If this field's value is null, then you must set the DefaultRelayState as the redirect URL. If you set both variables, the value of DefaultRelayState takes precedence. IdP-initiated login fails if you don't set one of these variables.
   Optional: secondary-certificate-example-pem-format	The backup certificate that is issued by your SAML identity provider. It is used if signature validation fails with the primary certificate. Note: If the signing key remains the same, App ID does not block authentication for expired certificates.
   Optional: authnContext	The authentication context is used to verify the quality of the authentication and SAML assertions. You can add an authentication context by adding a class array and comparison string to your code. BE sure to update both the class and comparison parameters with your values. For example, a class parameter might look similar to urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:YourChosenClassValue.
   Optional: signRequest	The signRequest flag provides the capability to send a signed SAML request to an identity provider that is signed by using the tenant's SAML signing private key. To configure your SAML identity provider to receive a signed request, you need the signing certificate from the metadata file that you can download in the KeyDescriptor use="signing" field. By default, request signing is set to off.
   Optional: encryptResponse	The encryptResponse flag allows for you to receive an encrypted response from your identity provider as part of the authentication request. To configure your SAML identity provider to send an encrypted response, you need the encryption certificate that can be found in the metadata file in the KeyDescriptor use="encryption" field. By default, response encryption is set to off.

3. Make a PUT request to the /saml API endpoint to provide the configuration that you created in step 2 to App ID. Check out the following example to see what your request might look like.

   curl --request PUT \
   https://us-south.appid.cloud.ibm.com/management/v4/<tenantID>/config/idps/saml \
   --header `Accept: application/json` \
   --data \
      {
        "isActive": true,
        "config": {
            "entityID": "https://example.com/saml2/metadata/706634",
            "signInUrl": "https://example.com/saml2/sso-redirect/706634",
            "certificates": [
            "certificate-example-pem-format"
            ],
            "displayName": "my saml example",
            "authnContext": {
                "class": [
                    "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport"
                ],
            "comparison": "exact"
            },
            "idpInitEnabled": true,
            "idpRedirectUrl": "https://example.com/redirect/endpoint",
        }
   }