This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) for the InCommon Discovery Service, one of numerous discovery services available to participants of the InCommon Federation.
General Questions
What is a "discovery service?"
Generally speaking, a discovery service is a solution to the identity provider discovery problem, a longstanding problem in the federated identity management space. As the term is used here, a discovery service provides a browser-based interface where a user selects his or her home organization (i.e., identity provider). A service provider uses this information to initiate SAML Web Browser SSO.
The phrase "Where Are You From?" (WAYF) is often used to characterize identity provider discovery. Historically, the term "WAYF" has referred to both software and protocol. The WAYF software has all but been eliminated by newer discovery service implementations (such as the InCommon Discovery Service), but the WAYF protocol lives on, mainly for backwards compatibility with SAML V1.1.
In addition to the legacy WAYF protocol, a true discovery service implements the SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol. This protocol differs from the WAYF protocol in one very important respect. Whereas the WAYF protocol forwards an authentication request directly to the identity provider, the Identity Provider Discovery Protocol returns control to the service provider, which provides increased flexibility, privacy and security.
To learn how a discovery service works, the SWITCH federation has an excellent series of demos that describe and illustrate how a discovery service integrates into a typical SAML flow.
What is the InCommon Discovery Service?
The InCommon Discovery Service is a deployment of the SWITCHwayf software implementation, a software project of the SWITCH federation.
IMPORTANT! The current InCommon Discovery Service is a pre-production test deployment of the SWITCHwayf software implementation.
The InCommon Discovery Service will eventually replace the InCommon WAYF (Where Are You From?) with a Federation-wide discovery service that supports the SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol and Profile. To ease the transition from the WAYF, the InCommon Discovery Service is backwards compatible with the InCommon WAYF.
Why is InCommon replacing the WAYF with the Discovery Service?
The current InCommon WAYF is not compatible with SAML V2.0. As Shibboleth 1.x is no longer supported by the Shibboleth Project, more organizations will be moving to Shibboleth 2.x and expecting to make use of SAML V2.0 features. In addition, the InCommon Discovery Service will leverage metadata, providing additional flexibility, privacy and security that the InCommon WAYF does not provide.
Can't I just continue to use the InCommon WAYF?
No, the InCommon WAYF will be retired on February 2, 2011. Fortunately, the InCommon Discovery Service supports the legacy WAYF protocol, and is therefore backwards compatible with the WAYF. Consequently, you should upgrade to the Discovery Service now.
You probably know this, but if you are using Shibboleth 1.x, that version of the Shibboleth software is no longer supported by the Shibboleth Project (as of June 30, 2010), so you should upgrade to the latest version of the Shibboleth software as soon as you can.
If you're in the unfortunate situation of having to use software that only supports SAML V1.1 (but not SAML V2.0), you really should consider upgrading to a new platform that supports SAML V2.0. Without that support, you will not be able to take advantage of the new features of the InCommon Discovery Service. Going forward, you will miss out on other benefits of SAML V2.0 as well.
Why is the InCommon Discovery Service a pre-production service?
The user interface of the pre-production InCommon Discovery Service is experimental. The production service will incorporate the feedback received from the community during the pre-production phase.
What does the InCommon Discovery Service look like?
Here's a recent screen shot of the InCommon Discovery Service:
Where can I try out the new InCommon Discovery Service?
Please visit this test page: https://service1.internet2.edu/test/
Which SAML Service Provider implementations support the InCommon Discovery Service?
The InCommon Discovery Service works with all supported versions of the Shibboleth Service Provider software. To use the native SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol, Shibboleth SP version 2.0 (or later) is required.
The InCommon Discovery Service is also believed to work with simpleSAMLphp version 1.1 or later, but this has not been tested by InCommon.
There may be other SP implementations that support the InCommon Discovery Service. If you find one that does, please share your experiences with other InCommon participants (incommon-participants@incommon.org).
Should I use an "embedded discovery service" in lieu of the InCommon Discovery Service?
The InCommon Discovery Service is a centralized discovery service for general use within the InCommon Federation. For those service providers that implement their own discovery service, through an embedded service, a companion application or service, or some other centralized service, the InCommon Discovery Service is unlikely to be applicable or appropriate. In that sense, the InCommon Discovery Service is a "service of last resort" for service providers that are for unable to implement their own discovery solution.
How you handle discovery in conjunction with particular federated services is completely up to you. That said, it is well known that an embedded discovery service, or any kind of selection process more closely integrated with your federated application, provides the best overall experience for users, and gives you the most flexibility to offer a choice of identity providers to your users. You should by all means consider an embedded service as an alternative to centralized services such as the InCommon Discovery Service.
What do I need to do?
- First and foremost, try it out (https://service1.internet2.edu/test/) and give us your feedback (discovery@incommon.org).
- ALL InCommon Service Provider deployments currently relying on the InCommon WAYF should reconfigure their software to point at the InCommon Discovery Service instead. The latter will be phased out and retired early in 2011.
- Update your InCommon Federation metadata to include the
<DiscoveryResponse>extension elements that are required to use the service with SAML V2.0 Web Browser SSO. Do this even if you don't plan on using SAML V2.0 any time soon. - Consult the Shibboleth documentation or this page for instructions on configuring a Shibboleth SP for discovery.
For More Information
- SWITCH demos http://www.switch.ch/aai/demo/
- SAML V2.0 Identity Provider Discovery Protocol and Profile http://wiki.oasis-open.org/security/IdpDiscoSvcProtonProfile