eduGAIN Frequently Asked Questions
These questions and answers are intended to help you understand how joining eduGAIN will affect your organization and some of the policy questions to be considered.
What is eduGAIN?
eduGAIN collects, aggregates and distributes SAML metadata, enabling collaboration and access to online services globally. The eduGAIN service is operated by GÉANT (in the European Union) for the benefit of the higher ed community worldwide. Participating federations both export their local metadata to eduGAIN and import global metadata from eduGAIN. Together these operations facilitate SAML interoperability across federation boundaries.
When will InCommon participate in eduGAIN?
InCommon signed the eduGAIN Declaration in April 2014. A small group of InCommon participants began exporting their metadata in pilot mode in the summer of 2015:
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- LIGO Scientific Collaboration
- Internet2
- National Institutes of Health
Full eduGAIN participation is scheduled to begin early in 2016.
Why is InCommon participating in eduGAIN?
Research, scholarship and education are increasingly international endeavors. eduGAIN allows researchers, faculty, staff, and scientists to use the credentials from their home institutions to access collaboration tools and other services from around the world. Any research project will benefit from eduGAIN - from something involving two or three collaborators to large NSF-funded virtual organizations. A major benefit is that the Service Provider can join just one national federation and provide single sign-on access globally.
More broadly, international interfederation is a cornerstone of InCommon’s support for global collaboration by U.S. research and education.
How does eduGAIN work?
In short, InCommon will export its connection information (e.g. metadata file) to eduGAIN. eduGAIN combines that file with the metadata files from all of the other eduGAIN member federations. InCommon then imports that global metadata aggregate from eduGAIN and makes the file available to its participants. Think of it as compiling a large phone book, with each country sending its listing to eduGAIN, which compiles a global phone book and sends it to all participating federations.
My organization operates an Identity Provider. Do you recommend I export my metadata to eduGAIN?
Yes, we recommend that all Identity Providers include their metadata in the InCommon export to eduGAIN. One of the main purposes for InCommon joining eduGAIN is to provide seamless access to global services by faculty, researchers and scientists. You can facilitate that for your campus by having your identity provider included in the export.
My organization operates one or more Service Providers. Do you recommend I export my metadata to eduGAIN?
If you provide a service with a global reach, we recommend you have your metadata exported to eduGAIN.
For example, a campus researcher may host a wiki or a database or some other service that needs to be available to colleagues in other countries. We recommend exporting that Service Provider to provide single sign-on convenience to international collaborators.
If you are with a company that provides a service globally, we recommend that you export that SP. If a service is strictly US-only, we recommend you not export your metadata – you will continue to be included in the InCommon metadata aggregate.
From a policy standpoint, what changes will this involve?
The InCommon Participation Agreement (which every InCommon participant has signed) will change; recommended changes are under consideration by the InCommon Steering Committee. Once Steering approves a revised Participation Agreement, those changes go into effect 90 days later. InCommon will publish the revised Participation Agreement for review during the 90-day period. The InCommon Federation Operating Practices and Policies will also change; the revised document will also be available for review.
How about policy changes locally?
If you operate a Service Provider, your policy decision is determining whether you operate a global service that would benefit from export to eduGAIN. If the answer is “yes” then you will need to take positive action to have your service included in the InCommon export. If you choose not to participate in eduGAIN, you may need to modify the configuration of your discovery service to only show IdPs registered by InCommon (insert link to documentation on that here)
As of March 1, 2016, we expect to export all IdP metadata to eduGAIN unless the IdP Operator has specifically asked that that organization’s metadata not be exported.
What are my other policy considerations?
InCommon has published an “eduGAIN Intent Statement” that outlines the rationale for joining eduGAIN, as well as a number of items for participants to consider in their deliberations.
I’ve read that an expanded attribute release policy is also a consideration. Is that true?
You do not need to change your attribute release policy in order to participate in eduGAIN. However, InCommon recommends that you review your policy and consider supporting the International (REFEDS) Research & Scholarship Category. By doing so, you would release a small set of attributes (generally considered directory information) to all Service Providers that have joined the International R&S Category. As additional services are approved for the category, they also receive this small set of attributes.
Adopting International R&S is intended to make interfederation-enabled collaboration seamless for faculty, staff, researchers and scientists, improving interoperability and the user experience.
What am I agreeing to with eduGAIN?
The eduGAIN Intent Statement [LINK] reviews such topics as governance, transparency, policy structure, dispute resolution, and metadata sharing. In general, the policies of their home federations and the laws of their home countries bind all eduGAIN participating organizations. In short, InCommon participants remain under the policies and practices of InCommon, as their home federation.
Where can I learn more about eduGAIN?
The best place to start is www.incommon.org/edugain