InCommon Discovery Service

The InCommon Discovery Service is now operational as a pre-production service!

Here is a projected timeline for deployment of the InCommon Discovery Service:

1. [Wed, Nov 17, 2010] Pre-production Discovery Service released

2. [Wed, Dec 15, 2010] New hot spare deployed in Indiana

3. [Wed, Jan 5, 2011] Production Discovery Service to be released

4. [Wed, Feb 2, 2011] InCommon WAYF to be taken out of service

Once a redirect from the WAYF to the Discovery Service is activated (on Feb 2), support for the InCommon WAYF will be discontinued. See the sections below for details how to configure your SP to use the InCommon Discovery Service instead of the InCommon WAYF.

Try out the new InCommon Discovery Service: https://service1.internet2.edu/test
Send comments, feedback and questions to: discovery@incommon.org

Visit the Discovery Service FAQ for more information about the InCommon Discovery Service.

Software and Metadata Considerations

Configuring Metadata for Discovery

If you inspect InCommon metadata, you will find extension endpoints such as the following:

<DiscoveryResponse 
  xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:profiles:SSO:idp-discovery-protocol" 
  Binding="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:profiles:SSO:idp-discovery-protocol" 
  Location="https://carmenwiki.osu.edu/Shibboleth.sso/Login" index="1"/>

The namespace and binding attributes attached to the <DiscoveryResponse> element are defined in the SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol and Profile. The endpoint location is the return address for the SP, that is, where the Discovery Service returns to once the user's preferred IdP has been determined.

If your SP supports SAML V2.0, and the SP is configured to use the SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol, you must configure metadata with one or more <DiscoveryResponse> elements.

Configuring your SAML Service Provider Software

• Configuring Shibboleth for discovery services