SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using Absorb LMS
Overview
miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to Absorb LMS using SAML 2.0 protocol. Our user-friendly plugin simplifies the process of setting up Single Sign-on (SSO) with Absorb LMS in Joomla, ensuring a secure login experience. This enables users to access various Joomla sites effortlessly using their Absorb LMS IDP credentials.
Our plugin is designed to be compatible with Joomla 3, 4 as well as 5 and works seamlessly with all SAML 2.0 compliant Identity Providers. For a detailed overview of the comprehensive features offered by the Joomla SAML SP plugin. Below, we provide a step-by-step guide on configuring SAML SSO login between your Joomla site and Absorb LMS, with Absorb LMS serving as the Identity Provider (IDP) and Joomla as the Service Provider (SP).
Configuration Steps
In this setup, Absorb LMS serves as the repository for storing users i.e. it will act as the IDP while Joomla is where users will log in using their credentials from Absorb LMS where Joomla SAML SP SSO Plugin will be installed.
Step 1: Install Joomla SAML SP Plugin
- Login into your Joomla site’s Administrator console.
- From left toggle menu, click on System, then under Install section click on Extensions.
- Now click on Or Browse for file button to locate and install the plugin file downloaded earlier.
- Installation of plugin is successful. Now click on Get Started!
- Go to the Service Provider Metadata tab and scroll down to copy the SP-EntityID and the ACS URL.
Step 2: Configure Absorb LMS as IDP (Identity Provider)
- Login to the Absorb admin portal as a System Admin and navigate to Portal Settings. From Portal Settings, there is a button in the right-side menu labelled Manage SSO Settings. If you can't see this button, please contact your Absorb Client Success Manager to discuss enabling the feature.
- Click Add at the bottom of the page.
- Now in the Name field you can enter some descriptive connection name of your choice. This name is only visible to admins.
- In the Method field select SAML.
- In the Key field enter the Service provider certificate which you can get from the miniOrange Joomla SAML plugin under the Service Provider Setup tab.
- In the Id Property field select the Absorb user profile field that Absorb should send as the NameID in the SAML assertion. This should be a unique identifier for learners.
- The Assertion Consumer Service Url can be left blank as it should be provided to Absorb via the SAML Request. However if you are experiencing issues, you can hard code an ACS URL which you can get from the Service Provider Setup tab of the miniOrange Joomla SAML plugin.
- Set the Signature Type to SHA1.
- Include User Data: You can opt to send user data from the Absorb LMS to Joomla site in addition to the SAML Response by enabling this toggle.
If OFF: No attributes will be included in the response.
If ON: Absorb will append the following LMS attributes to the SAML Response in the AttributeStatement:
- FirstName
- LastName
- UserId
- Username
- UserExternalId
- EmployeeNumber
- JobTitle
- DepartmentId
- DepartmentName
- ExternalDepartmentId
- IsAdmin
- Include Custom Fields: You can select to include any custom user fields present in the Absorb LMS as part of the attributes returned in the SAML Response.
Note: This field is only visible if Include User Data is on.
Step 3: Configure Joomla as SP (Service Provider)
In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab. There are three ways to configure the plugin:
A. By uploading IDP metadata:
- In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab, then click on Upload IdP Metadata.
B. By Metadata URL:
- Enter Metadata URL (Copy from IDP app) and click on Fetch button.
C. Manual Configuration:
- Copy SAML Entity ID, SAML Single-Sign-On Endpoint URL and X.509 certificate from Federation Metadata document and paste it in Idp Entity ID or Issuer, Single Sign-on URL, X.509 Certificate fields respectively in the plugin.
| IdP Entity ID or Issuer | SAML Entity ID in the Federation Metadata document |
| Single Sign-On URL | SAML Single-Sign-On Endpoint URL in the Federation Metadata document |
| X.509 Certificate Value | X.509 Certificate in the Federation Metadata document |
Step 4: Attribute Mapping - Premium Feature
- Attributes are user details that are stored in your Identity Provider.
- Attribute Mapping helps you to get user attributes from your Identity Provider (IDP) and map them to Joomla user attributes like firstname, lastname, address, phone etc.
- While auto registering the users in your Joomla site these attributes will automatically get mapped to your Joomla user details.
- Go to Attribute Mapping tab and fill in all the fields.
| Username: | Name of the username attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default) |
| Email: | Name of the email attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default) |
| Name: | Name of the name attribute from IdP |
- You can check the Test Configuration Results under Service Provider Setup tab to get a better idea of which values to map here.
Note: You can see how Attribute Mapping works here.
Step 5: Group Mapping - Premium Feature
- Group/Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your Identity Provider (IdP).
- While auto registering, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.
- Group/Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your Identity Provider (IdP).
- While auto registering, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.
Note: You can see how Group/Role Mapping works here.
Step 6: Redirection & SSO Links
- Go to Login Settings tab. You can add login Url to Perform SAML SSO in your Joomla site by following the steps below.
- There are multiple features available in this tab like Auto redirect the user to Identity Provider and Enable Backend Login for Super Users. To use these features, click on the respective checkboxes.
- Click on the Upgrade tab to check out our complete list of features and various licensing plans. OR you can click here to check features and licensing plans.
- In case, you are facing some issue or have any question in mind, you can reach out to us by sending us your query through the Support button in the plugin or by sending us a mail at joomlasupport@xecurify.com.
