the uk federation

Copyright JNT Association 2005 1Optionalwww.ukfederation.org.ukCopyright JNT Association 2007 1

The UK federation

TNC - 22nd May 2007

Mark Tysom, UKERNA


Overview• Life before the federation• Federated v Non-Federated• Technology trials• Cross sector approach• The federation service• Policy framework• Scaling challenges: discovery (WAYF)• Membership statistics• Development roadmap


Before the federation: schools

• IP address based checks• Ad-hoc bilateral arrangements between IdP and SP• Multiple usernames and passwords• Multiple copies of personal data held by third

parties• Duplication of effort across multiple institutions• Publishers and network providers having to interface

with multiple systems• Difficulty in sharing resources between institutions

• IP address based checks• Ad-hoc bilateral arrangements between IdP and SP• Multiple usernames and passwords• Multiple copies of personal data held by third

parties• Duplication of effort across multiple institutions• Publishers and network providers having to interface

with multiple systems• Difficulty in sharing resources between institutions


Before the federation: HE/FE

• Ad-hoc bilateral arrangements & Athens• Classic Athens - a centralised service:

– Institution provides identity info about users to Athens.

– Athens brokers both authentication and authorisation with service providers on behalf of the organisation.

– Info can only be managed by site Athens Administrators.

• Athens database contains a lot of information about users and about the services to which institutions have subscribed


Legacy access management

• User’s identity and personal data are known to all• Publisher knows more than it wants and less than it needs

• Organisation’s precious credentials given to all publishers

I’m “AJones/T,t<*?I1”

Site Licence

Are you a licensed user?

?Service Provider (SP)Identity Provider (IdP)


Site Licence

I’m “AJones/T,t<*?I1”, am I?

Federated access management

• User’s identity and personal data are protected• Publisher knows exactly what it needs• Distribution of credentials is reduced

Are you a licensed user?

They say I’m licensedYes, you’re licensed

OK!Identity Provider (IdP) Service Provider (SP)


Technology trials: schools

• Becta: Workshops, strategy paper & laboratory test 2003 - 2004

• 2 pilots: WMnet & LGfL 2004 - 2005


Technology trials: HE/FE

• JISC Core Middleware Development Programme selected Shibboleth and started in April 2004

• Established Shibboleth Development and Support Service (SDSS) federation

• JISC early adopters (MATU)


Shibboleth selected

• Individually chosen by JISC and Becta as most suitable option

• Government steer towards collaborative services to avoid duplication of resources

• Agreement for UKERNA to proceed with a joint approach March 2006

• Aim for one federation…


The benefits

• Provides consistency across the whole of education for AuthN & AuthZ

• Improves the user experience • Pooling of experience and expertise• Economies of scale for both sectors• Facilitates sharing of content and

collaboration across sectors


What is the UK federation?

• A set of Rules that binds members:– Make accurate statements to other members– Keep federation systems and data secure– Use personal data correctly (inc. DPA1998)– Resolve problems within the federation

• Not by legal action

– Assist federation operator and other members


The UK federation

• Launched November 2006.

• For UK research, FE, HE and schools.

• Organisations and institutions providing services to these sectors.


Organisational Structure

• Joint funded by Becta & JISC

• Operational management by UKERNA

• Policy & Governance Board

- Rules of Membership

• Technical Advisory Group- Technical specifications & recommendations


Federation infrastructure

• Discovery Service- Resilient WAYF

• Hosting of metadata• Monitoring of SPs and IdPs • Test environment • Federation web site

- www.ukfederation.org.uk


Guidance, examples, support

• How to comply with the Rules

• How to interoperate with other members- Common definitions, etc.

• Help in planning the transition

• Experiences of early adopters

• Reference software downloads


Support

• Guidance and advice to IdPs & SPs

• Configuration guides

• Training courses

• Workshops to help organisations join the UK federation

• FAQs


Policy framework

1. Rules of membership: Mandatory

2. Recommendations for use of personal data

3. Technical recommendations } Advisory

4. Technical specifications

5. Federation operator procedures


1. Rules of Membership

– Definitions– Rules for all members– Specific rules for IdPs and

SPs– Data Protection and

Privacy– User Accountability– Liability

– Audit and Compliance

– Termination

– Membership Cessation

– Changes to Rules

– Dispute Resolution

•The basic contractual framework for trust


2. Recommendations for Use of Personal Data • Suggests how to satisfy legal requirements • UK Data Protection Act, 1998: eight data protection principles• Responsibility of those collecting or using data concerning children

to inform responsible adults, obtain valid consent or prevent inappropriate use of data by those handling it

• Not the responsibility of the UK federation• Recommends a core set of attributes


Four Core Attributes

– eduPersonScopedAffiliation: represents the least intrusion into the user’s privacy and is likely to be sufficient for many access control decisions.

– eduPersonTargetedID: designed to satisfy applications where the service provider needs to be able to recognise a returning user without revealing real identity.

– eduPersonPrincipalName: comes under the personal data guidelines of UK Data Protection Act.

– eduPersonEntitlement: may be possible to determine Identity from entitlement, so governed b UK Data Protection Act.

“For most applications a combination of eduPersonScopedAffiliation and eduPersonTargetedID will be sufficient. A requirement to provide other attributes should be regarded as exceptional by both Identity and Service Providers and will involve considerable additional responsibilities for both.”


3. Technical Recommendations for Participants

• Specifies the technical architecture for federation and participants

• Contains choices of IdP/SP software (UK is neutral but must be SAML compliant and tested by federation)

• Authentication response profiles• Metadata processes• Digital Certificate processes• Attribute usage• Includes future directions for each area of work


4. Federation Technical Specification

• Federation Technical Specification:– How the UK Access Management

Federation achieves trust. 5. Federation Operator Procedures

• Federation Operator Procedures:– The procedures actually undertaken by the

federation operator (UKERNA): • Enrolment• CA Qualification• Support • Monitoring / Audit


• Scale

– approx. 12–18 million eligible end users

– hundreds of member organisations

– hundreds or thousands of entities

Deployment Challenges


Discovery Challenges

• Institutional portal avoids the issue

• SP can perform discovery locally

– Good option in many cases:

– SP often knows its community of users

– Particularly true for licensed content, where a real-world contract will exist

– Also true for resources built around small collaborations


Example: Elsevier ScienceDirect


Central WAYF• UK Federation provides central “Where Are

You From” service as backstop• Production WAYF servers work from

federation metadata– three identical machines– geographically distributed in multiple data

centres– https:// as anti-spoofing measure


UK federation WAYF


UK federation statistics (18 May 07)

• 62 full member organisations– ≈5 more still migrating from SDSS Federation

• 114 SAML entities– 49 identity providers– 65 service providers

• Software:– 88% Shibboleth 1.3– 6% Shibboleth 1.2– 5% other/unknown


What’s next…?

• Phase Two: Development Roadmap

• Confederations

• Federation peering

• Convergence of local, network and application sign-in

• NHS, other public funded bodies


Conclusion

• Federation launched – great!

• Lots of potential to exploit:enhance usability,

additional functionality,

increase participation…

• Job done…?

• Actually, it’s just beginning!


Questions?

the uk federation

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