Vendor Survey about Shibboleth
We represent a group of research libraries who are working to expand the use of Shibboleth among members of the InCommon federation. As part of that effort, we are gathering information from vendors about how they have implemented Shibboleth. By making this information more accessible, we hope to make it easier for libraries to use the technology. We also would like to help develop common practices among vendors that would simplify the implementation process for everyone involved and make Shibboleth an attractive option for users.
We think that expanding the use of Shibboleth will help you in various ways:
- Provide a more secure means of access than IP authentication.
- Provide better tools for identifying who is responsible when breaches occur.
- Make it possible for users to take advantage of personalized features on a site without requiring them to open a local account maintained by the vendor.
- Help to start moving away from IP-based authentication and the overhead it requires.
We ask that you answer the following questions, as they relate to your products and services:
- What are the minimum attributes you require from an Identity Provider for basic Shibboleth authentication?
- What additional services, if any, do you provide through Shibboleth beyond basic login, for example, personalization. If you do provide additional services, what is required to enable them?
- Do you support "WAYFless" access, that is, access that does not require a user to identify where they are from in order to reach his or her local authentication system?
- Do you support direct Shibboleth-authenticated links to resources?
- Who should libraries contact if they want to set up Shibboleth access to your site or if they have questions or problems?
We appreciate your willingness to help us in this effort.
[Add list of Vendor Subgroup participants here]
Worksheet of points to consider for university IdP administrators, vendors, and library technical staff - Foster's original document. The questionnaire above excerpts and summarizes sections that deal with vendors.