7.11.1 Understanding the Intersite Transfer Service URL

The Intersite Transfer Service is used by an identity provider to cause authentication to occur at a service provider that it trusts. The URLs for accessing the Intersite Transfer Service are different for each supported protocol (Liberty, SAML 1.1, and SAML 2.0). The Novell Access Manager identity service provider uses the following formats of the Intersite Transfer Service URL:

<identity consumer URL>?id=<user_definedID>

<identity consumer URL>?id=<user_definedID>&TARGET=<final_destination_URL>

The <identity_consumer_URL> is the location of where the authentication request can be processed. For an Access Manager Identity Server, the URL is the Base URL of the server that is providing authentication, followed by the path to the protocol application being used for federation. For example:

The <user_definedID> is configured in the Identity Server, which uniquely identifies the service provider to which authentication has to be sent. For example:

For configuring <user_definedID>, see Section 7.11.4, Configuring an Intersite Transfer Service Options for a Service Provider.

The <final_destination_URL> is the URL to which the browser is redirected following a successful authentication at the identity provider. The <final_destination_URL> is required when multiple services have to be accessed. If there is only one service to be accessed, this can be configured as target parameter in the identity server.

For configuring <final_destination_URL>, see Section 7.11.4, Configuring an Intersite Transfer Service Options for a Service Provider.

Examples with all three parts:

7.11.2 Specifying the Intersite Transfer Service URL for the Login URL Option

Liberty and SAML 2.0 support a single sign-on URL. Because SAML 1.1 does not support a single sign-on URL, you need to specify the Intersite Transfer Service URL in the Login URL option on the authentication card for the SAML 1.1 identity provider:

In order for a card to appear as a login option, you must specify a Login URL and select the Show Card option. Figure 7-4 illustrates a possible configuration that requires the Intersite Transfer Service for the SAML 1.1 protocol.

If you want a card to appear that allows the user to log in to Site A (as shown in Figure 7-3), you need to specify a value for the Login URL option.

Using the DNS names from Figure 7-4, the complete value for the Login URL option is as follows:

https://idp.sitea.novell.com:8443/nidp/saml/idpsend?id=siteb_saml1_sp&TARGET=https://eng.provo.novell.com/myapp

The following happens when this link is invoked:

To configure the settings for the intersite transfer service, see Section 7.10.2, Modifying the Authentication Card for SAML 1.1.

7.11.3 Using Intersite Transfer Service Links on Web Pages

The Intersite Transfer Service URL can be used on a Web page that provides links to various protected resources requiring authentication with a specific identity provider and a specific protocol. Links on this Web page are configured with the URL of the Intersite Transfer Service of the identity provider to be used for authentication. Clicking these links directs the user to the appropriate identity provider for authentication. Following successful authentication, the identity provider sends a SAML assertion to the service provider. The service provider uses the SAML assertion to verify authentication, and then redirects the user to the destination URL as specified in the TARGET (optional) portion of the Intersite Transfer Service URL.

For more information on Intersite Transfer Service URL format, see Section 7.11.1, Understanding the Intersite Transfer Service URL.

Below are sample links that might be included on a Web page. These links demonstrate the use of SAML 1.1, SAML 2.0, and Liberty formats for the Intersite Transfer Service URL:

Figure 7-5 illustrates a network configuration that could use these sample links.

In this example, Site Z places links on its Web page, using the Intersite Transfer Service URL of Site A. These links trigger authentication at Site A. If authentication is successful, Site A sends an assertion to Site B. Site B verifies the authentication and redirects the user to the myapp application that it is protecting.

To access Access Manager Intersite Transfer URL with a specific contract, modify the Web URLs to the following formats:

<identity server login URL>?id=<contract_Authentication Card_ID>&target=<identity consumer URL>?id=<user_definedID>%26TARGET=<final_destination_URL>

<identity server login URL>?id=<contract_Authentication Card_ID>&target=<identity consumer URL>?id=<user_definedID>

For information on omitting the TARGET option, see Section 7.11.4, Configuring an Intersite Transfer Service Options for a Service Provider.

The <identity_server_Login_URL> is the location where the authentication request can be processed. The <contract_Authentication Card_ID> is the card ID of the authentication contract at the Identity Provider.

For information on <identity consumer URL>, <user_definedID> and <final_destination_URL>, see Section 7.11.1, Understanding the Intersite Transfer Service URL.

In this example, to authenticate at the "idp.sitea.novell.com" with authentication contract "formLogin", then transfer the authentication request to idp.siteb.novell.com and further access the protected resource https://eng.provo.novell.com/myapp, the modified Web URL is:

To verify or configure “Allow any target”, perform the following steps:

7.11.4 Configuring an Intersite Transfer Service Options for a Service Provider

If you have created Web pages that have links that specify a Intersite Transfer Service URL (see Using Intersite Transfer Service Links on Web Pages), you can have the Identity Server control the TARGET parameter.

7.11.5 Configuring Whitelist of Target URLs

Redirection, which is required by many applications and services, inherently brings in a security risk. Redirects are dangerous because unsuspecting users who are visiting trusted sites can be redirected to malicious sites that exploit the users' trust. A new featured, called whitelist, has been added that restricts target URLs to specific domains..

The whitelist feature allows you to restrict target URLs to URLs which match the domains in the whitelist. Any target URLs that use a domain that is not in the list are blocked and the user receives the following error message: The request to provide authentication to a service provider has failed (outsidedomain.com-89F57BF823DFE551).