SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using ADFS
Overview
miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to ADFS using SAML 2.0 protocol. Our
user-friendly plugin simplifies the process of setting up Single Sign-on (SSO) with ADFS (Active Directory
Federation Services) in Joomla, ensuring a secure login experience. This enables users to access various Joomla
sites effortlessly using their ADFS 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, please visit our page here. Below, we provide a
step-by-step guide on configuring SAML SSO login between
your Joomla site and ADFS, with ADFS serving as the Identity Provider (IDP) and Joomla as the Service Provider (SP).
To setup Single Sign-On between ADFS and Joomla, you can also follow this step by step Setup Video.
Configuration Steps
In this setup, ADFS 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 ADFS 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 ADFS as IDP (Identity Provider)
- On ADFS, search for ADFS Management application.
- After opening ADFS Management App, select Relying Party Trust & then click on Add Relying Party Trust.
- Click the Start button from the Relying Party Trust Wizard pop up. But before that please make sure Claims aware is selected.
- Select the options for adding a relying party trust.
- In Select Data Source: Import data about the relying party published online or on the local network option & then add URL in Federation metadata address (Navigate to Service Provider Metadata tab from the plugin for getting SP Meatadata URL).
- If you have metadata URL then you can skip below steps of Import mentadata file and enter data manually, then start configuring from this step.
- In Select Data Source: Import data about the relying party from a file option & then browse the metadata file(You can download the SP metadata file from the plugin under the Service Provider Metadata tab).
- In Select Data Source: Enter Data about the relying party manually & Click on Next.
- Enter Display Name & Click Next.
- Upload the certificate & click Next. Download the certificate from plugin & use the same certificate to upload on ADFS.
- Select Enable support for the SAML 2.0 WebSSO protocol & Enter ACS URL from the plugins Service Provider Metadata Tab. Click Next.
Using Metadata URL:
Using Metadata XML file:
Using Manual Configuration:
- Add Entity ID from plugins Service Provider Metadata Tab as Relying party trust identifier then click Add button & then click Next.
- Also download the Signing certificate from Service Provider Metadata Tab from the plugin.
- Select Permit everyone as an Access Control Policy & click on Next.
- Click the Next button from Ready to Add Trust & click Close.
- It will show you the list of Relying Party Trusts. Select the respective application & click on Edit Claim Issuance Policy.
- Click on Add Rule button.
- Select Send LDAP Attributes as Claims & click on Next.
- Enter the following details & click on Finish.
| Claim rule name | Attributes |
| Attribute Store | Active Directory |
| LDAP Attribute | E-Mail Addresses |
| Outgoing Claim Type | Name ID |
- Click Apply and then Ok.
- Select property of the application & add the certificate downloaded from the add-on.
- You can download your ADFS metadata, using following URL. You can use this metadata URL in the Service Provider Setup tab.
{ <https: //Your-Domain/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml> }
Windows SSO (Optional)
- Steps to configure ADFS for Windows Authentication:
- Open elevated Command Prompt on the ADFS Server and execute the following command on it:
- setspn -a HTTP/##ADFS Server FQDN## ##Domain Service Account##
- FQDN is Fully Qualified Domain Name (Example : adfs4.example.com)
- Domain Service Account is the username of the account in AD
- Example : setspn -a HTTP/adfs.example.com username/domain
- Open AD FS Management Console and go to Authentication Policies section, edit the Global Authentication Policies. Check Windows Authentication in Intranet zone.
- Open Internet Explorer. Navigate to Security tab in Internet Options.
- Add the FQDN of AD FS to the list of sites in Local Intranet and restart the browser.
- Select Custom Level for the Security Zone. In the list of options, select Automatic Logon only in Intranet Zone.
- Open the powershell and execute following two commands to enable windows authentication in Chrome browser.
Set-AdfsProperties -WIASupportedUserAgents ((Get-ADFSProperties | Select -ExpandProperty WIASupportedUserAgents) + "Chrome")
Get-AdfsProperties | Select -ExpandProperty WIASupportedUserAgents;
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.
