Shibboleth at Cardiff University Lindsay Roberts Project Manager – Shibboleth Implementation Phase 2
Outline Whats the problem? What is Shibboleth? What have we done in Cardiff? Where are we now? For the future…
What's the problem? Users accessing many different systems/resources : User problems Lots of usernames/passwords to remember! Admin Problems Account creation and administration overhead Forgotten passwords Security Problems Security & Integrity compromised (e.g. abc123)
What is Shibboleth? Shibboleth: Offers single sign-on access to multiple web- based services Usernames and password at our end – standard network username/password Based on trust (and legal documents) within a federation
Shibboleth and Federations Federation... WAYF
Shibboleth-Athens Athens Resources Shib- Athens Federation... WAYF
How does Shibboleth work? WAYF AA User DB AA SSO Resource ACS AR Resource Manager I dont know who you are or where you are from… redirecting you to the home locator 1 2 So, where are you from? 3 4 CFU 5 Ok, redirecting you to your organisation 6 Dont know who you are: please login 7 Credentials 9 Handle I need to know attributes... Ask AA 8 Handle Ok, I know you! Redirecting you to the resource, with a handle Handle Service Provider Identity Provider Attributes 10 These are the attributes youre allowed to see: 11 Ok, youre allowed to see this. Here you go! Athens
What have we done in Cardiff? Early adopter funded by JISC Phase 1 – complete Led to entitlements group Phase 2 – in progress Extensive testing on resources Still 4 resources not Shibboleth compliant In the process of rewriting relevant documentation
Where are we now? Going live 1 st August for: New training grade doctors 1 st year undergrads, postgrads, new staff Existing users with expired passwords and problems
For the future Next summer Rest of Athens users in University 2008 Athens accounts turned off before we have to pay
Conclusion For users Shibboleth offers easier access to resources – dont have to remember yet another username/password This isnt the end Native Shibboleth…
an aside: Shibboleth? old testament (judges 12:1-6). ephraimites lived to the west of river jordan invaded gilead over river, defeated retreating, way blocked by the gileadites ephraimites/gileadites had different accents pronounced the sh sound as sh/si those crossing river asked to pronounce shibboleth (it means an ear of corn) 42,000 who pronounced it sibboleth were killed