Migrating to REFEDS R&S Phase II

Outline of Phase II

Basic message: If you are an IdP operator that supports R&S, migrate to REFEDS R&S now! (reference needed)

R&S IdPs that migrate to REFEDS R&S will be automatically exported to eduGAIN once global R&S SPs have been imported into InCommon metadata.

Migration Process for Existing R&S IdPs

1. Review the authoritative REFEDS Research & Scholarship Entity Category specification

2. Change your IdP's attribute release policy from this:

   The configuration of an IdP that HAS NOT migrated to REFEDS R&S

   <afp:AttributeFilterPolicy id="releaseFullBundleToRandS">
   
     <afp:PolicyRequirementRule xsi:type="saml:AttributeRequesterEntityAttributeExactMatch"
         attributeName="http://macedir.org/entity-category"
         attributeValue="http://id.incommon.org/category/research-and-scholarship"/>
   
     <!-- attribute rules here -->
   
   </afp:AttributeFilterPolicy>
   

   to this:
   

   The configuration of an IdP that HAS migrated to REFEDS R&S

   <afp:AttributeFilterPolicy id="releaseFullBundleToRandS">
   
     <afp:PolicyRequirementRule xsi:type="saml:AttributeRequesterEntityAttributeExactMatch"
         attributeName="http://macedir.org/entity-category"
         attributeValue="http://refeds.org/category/research-and-scholarship"/>
   
     <!-- attribute rules here -->
   
   </afp:AttributeFilterPolicy>

   The latter configuration recognizes the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value instead of the legacy InCommon R&S entity attribute value.

3. Declare your ability to support REFEDS R&S by submitting a short form

That's all an existing R&S IdP has to do! When an R&S IdP migrates to REFEDS R&S (as above), the entity attribute in IdP metadata is changed from this:

<mdattr:EntityAttributes xmlns:mdattr="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:metadata:attribute">
  <!-- the InCommon entity attribute value for R&amp;S IdPs -->
  <saml:Attribute
      xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
      NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri"
      Name="http://macedir.org/entity-category-support">
    <saml:AttributeValue>
      http://id.incommon.org/category/research-and-scholarship
    </saml:AttributeValue>
  </saml:Attribute>
</mdattr:EntityAttributes>

to this:

<mdattr:EntityAttributes xmlns:mdattr="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:metadata:attribute">
  <!-- multivalued entity attribute for R&amp;S IdPs -->
  <saml:Attribute
      xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
      NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri"
      Name="http://macedir.org/entity-category-support">
    <saml:AttributeValue>
      http://id.incommon.org/category/research-and-scholarship
    </saml:AttributeValue>
    <saml:AttributeValue>
      http://refeds.org/category/research-and-scholarship
    </saml:AttributeValue>
  </saml:Attribute>
</mdattr:EntityAttributes>

Note, however, that only the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value is exported to eduGAIN!

Decision Point for TAC

A dichotomy has been created for convenience but of course a range of options are possible.

Option #1

• Existing R&S IdPs have two choices:
  1. Recognize the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value (as described in the previous section)
  2. Do nothing
• New R&S IdPs have two choices:
  1. Release attributes to all R&S SPs, including R&S SPs from other federations
  2. Release attributes to R&S SPs registered by InCommon
• Messaging:
  • R&S IdPs that migrate to REFEDS R&S will be among the first IdPs exported to eduGAIN.
  • Only the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value will be exported to eduGAIN; in particular, the legacy InCommon R&S entity attribute value will not be exported to eduGAIN.
  • The legacy InCommon R&S entity attribute value will remain in InCommon metadata indefinitely.

Option #2

• Existing R&S IdPs have two choices:
  1. Recognize the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value (as described in the previous section)
  2. Do nothing
• New R&S IdPs have one choice:
  1. Release attributes to all R&S SPs, including R&S SPs from other federations
• Messaging:
  • R&S IdPs that migrate to REFEDS R&S will be among the first IdPs exported to eduGAIN.
  • Only the REFEDS R&S entity attribute value will be exported to eduGAIN; in particular, the legacy InCommon R&S entity attribute value will not be exported to eduGAIN.
  • The legacy InCommon R&S entity attribute value will be completely removed from metadata at the end of June 2016.