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Guide to Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) between two WordPress Sites








WordPress SAML SP Single Sign-On plugin gives you the ability to use your WordPress site as Service Provider. Whereas SAML & WSFED IDP plugin gives you the ability to use your WordPress site as an Identity Provider. Here we will go through a step-by-step guide to configure SSO between two WordPress sites, one as Service Provider and the other as Identity Provider.

miniorange img Pre-requisites: Download And Installation

  • To integrate the WordPress site as an Identity Provider, you will need to install the miniOrange
    SAML & WSFED IDP plugin:

  • To integrate the WordPress site as a Service Provider, you will need to install the miniOrange WP SAML SP SSO plugin:

    • Follow the steps below to configure the SSO between two WordPress sites.

Step 1: Configure 1st Site as the Identity Provider:

  • Open the 2nd WordPress site.
  • Install and activate the SAML SP Single Sign On – SSO login plugin on your WordPress site which is
    acting as Service Provider.
  • Go to the SAML SP Single Sign-On plugin, navigate to the Service Provider Metadata tab. Here, you
    can find the Service Provider metadata such as SP Entity ID and ACS (Assertion Consumer Service)
    URL     which is required to configure the Identity Provider.
    • wordpress saml upload metadata

    miniorange img Instructions:

Free

  • Open the WordPress site.
  • Install and activate the SAML & WSFED IDP ( SSO using WordPress Users ) plugin on your WordPress site which is acting as Identity Provider.
  • Go to the WordPress IDP plugin, navigate to the Service Provider tab.
  • Enter the values corresponding to the information from the Service Provider. Refer to the table below.

    Service Provider Name
    		 Name of your Service Provider.
    SP Entity ID or Issuer Copy and paste the SP-EntityID from the Service Provider.
    ACS URL Copy and paste the ACS URL from the Service Provider.
    NameID Format urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
    Assertion Signed Checked
    • Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configurations.
  • Go to the IDP Metadata tab. Here you can find information for configuring the Service Provider.
  • You can also download the metadata XML file, by clicking on the download link.
    • wordpress saml upload metadata

Premium

  • Open the WordPress site.
  • Install and activate the SAML & WSFED IDP ( SSO using WordPress Users ) plugin on your WordPress site which is acting as Identity Provider.
  • Go to the WordPress IDP plugin navigate to the Service Provider tab.
  • Enter the values corresponding to the information from the Service Provider. Refer to the table below.
    Service Provider Name
    		 Name of your Service Provider.
    SP Entity ID or Issuer Copy and paste the SP-EntityID from the Service Provider.
    ACS URL Copy and paste the ACS URL from the Service Provider.
    Select Binding type (optional) Select Use HTTP-Redirect Binding for SLO
    Single Logout URL (optional) Enter Single Logout URL given in Service Provider.
    X.509 Certificate (optional) Enter X.509 Certificate.
    NameID Format urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
    Response Signed Checked if you want to sign the SAML Response
    Assertion Signed Checked if you want to sign the SAML Response
    Encrypted Assertion Checked if you want to encrypt the SAML Assertion
    Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configurations.

Attribute Mapping (optional) :

  • Go to the Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to the Attribute mapping section.
  • When the user performs SSO, the NameID value is sent to the Service Provider. This value is
    unique for every user.
    • Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configuration.

User Attributes (optional) :

  • Go to the Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to User Attributes.
  • These are user attributes that can be sent to Service Provider
    (such as first_name and last_name).
  • You can add multiple attributes by click on "+" button.
    • Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configurations.

Custom Attributes (optional) :

  • Go to the Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to Custom Attributes.
  • These are extra static attributes that can be sent to Service Provider.
  • You can add multiple attributes by click on "+" button.
    • Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configurations.

Role Mapping (optional) :

  • Go to the Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to Role Mapping section.
  • User groups are the collection of users having similar access roles and capabilities.
  • To map the Roles in WordPress as user group, please enable this option.
  • You can specify the attribute under which the groups will be passed to the Service Provider.

    • Okta SSO-2
  • Click on the Save button to save your configurations.
  • Go to the IDP Metadata tab. Here you can find information for configuring the Service Provider.
  • You can also download the metadata XML file, by clicking on the download link.
    • wordpress saml upload metadata

Step 2: Configuring WordPress as SP

We will go through the steps to setup WordPress as a Service Provider. Here, we will be adding the IdP metadata to configure the plugin.


Free



In miniOrange SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the plugin:

A. By uploading IDP metadata:

  • Click on Upload IDP metadata button.
  • Enter the Identity Provider Name
  • You can either upload a metadata file and click on Upload button or use a metadata URL and click on Fetch Metadata.
    • wordpress saml upload metadata

B.Manual Configuration:

  • Provide the required settings (i.e. Identity Provider Name, IdP Entity ID or Issuer, SAML Login URL, X.509 Certificate) as provided by your Identity Provider and click on the Save button.

Step 3: Attribute Mapping

  • In the free plugin, only NameID is supported for Email and Username attributes of the WordPress user.
  • When a user performs SSO, the NameID value sent by the IDP will get mapped to the email and username of the WordPress user.
    • wordpress saml attribute mapping

Step 4: Role Mapping

  • In the free plugin, you can choose a default role which will be assigned to all the non-admin users when they perform SSO.
  • Go to Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to Role Mapping section.
  • Select the Default Role and click on the Save button.
    • wordpress saml role mapping

Step 5: SSO settings

  • In the free plugin you can add a login widget to enable SP-Initiated SSO on your site.
  • Navigate to Redirection and SSO links tab and follow the given steps given under Option 1: Use a Widget to add a login widget on your site.
    • wordpress saml sso setting

Standard



In miniOrange SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the plugin:

A. By uploading IDP metadata:

  • Click on Upload IDP metadata button.
  • Enter the Identity Provider Name
  • You can either upload a metadata file and click on Upload button or use a metadata URL and click on Fetch Metadata.

B.Manual Configuration:

  • Provide the required settings (i.e. Identity Provider Name, IdP Entity ID or Issuer, SAML Login URL, X.509 Certificate) as provided by your Identity Provider and click on the Save button.

Step 3: Attribute Mapping

  • Attribute Mapping feature allows you to map the user attributes sent by the IDP during SSO to the user attributes at WordPress.
  • In WordPress SAML plugin, go to Attribute/Role Mapping tab and fill up the following fields in Attribute Mapping section.
    • wordpress saml attribute mapping

    NOTE: If you click on Test Configuration button in Service Provider Setup tab and authenticate with your IDP, you can see a list of attributes sent by the IDP in the Attribute/Role mapping tab. This information can be used to provide the above mapping.

Step 4: Role Mapping

    In the standard plugin, you can choose a default role which will be assigned to all the non-admin users when they perform SSO.

  • Go to Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to Role Mapping section.
  • Select the Default Role and click on the Save button.
    • wordpress saml role mapping

Step 5: SSO settings

    In the Standard plugin you can enable SP-initiated SSO using the following options.

  • Auto-Redirection from site: If this option is enabled, any unauthenticated user trying to access your site will get redirected to the IDP login page and after successful authentication, they will be redirected back to the same page on your site which they were trying to access.

    • Steps:

      1.  Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 1: Auto-      Redirection from site.

      2.  Enable Redirect to IdP if user not logged in [PROTECT COMPLETE SITE] option.

      wordpress saml optin 1

  • Auto-Redirection from WordPress Login: If this option is enabled, any unauthenticated user trying to access the default WordPress login page will get redirected to the IDP login page for authentication. After successful authentication, they will be redirected back to the WordPress site.

    • Steps:

      1.  Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 2: Auto-      Redirection from WordPress Login.

      2.  Enable Redirect to IdP from WordPress Login Page option.

      wordpress saml optin 2

      NOTE: Please enable the Backdoor login and note down the backdoor URL. This will allow you to access the WordPress login page in case you get locked out of the IDP.



  • SSO Links: You can add SSO links anywhere on your site using the Shortcode and Widget provided in Redirection and SSO Links tab > Option 3: SSO Links section of the plugin
    • wordpress saml optin 3

Premium



In miniOrange SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the plugin:

A. By uploading IDP metadata:

  • Click on Upload IDP metadata button.
  • Enter the Identity Provider Name
  • You can either upload a metadata file and click on Upload button or use a metadata URL and click on Fetch Metadata.
  • In the Premium plugin, you can enable auto-sync for the metadata URL which will auto-update the plugin configuration as per the IDP metadata after a set interval of time
    • wordpress saml enableauto scan

B.Manual Configuration:

  • Provide the required settings (i.e. Identity Provider Name, IdP Entity ID or Issuer, SAML Login URL, X.509 Certificate) as provided by your Identity Provider and click on the Save button.
  • In the Premium Plugin, you can provide the SAML Logout URL to achieve Single Logout on your WordPress site.

Step 3: Attribute Mapping

  • Attribute Mapping feature allows you to map the user attributes sent by the IDP during SSO to the user attributes at WordPress.
  • In WordPress SAML plugin, go to Attribute/Role Mapping tab and fill up the following fields in Attribute Mapping section.
    • wordpress saml attribute mapping
  • Custom Attribute Mapping: This feature allows you to map any attribute sent by the IDP to the usermeta table of WordPress.
    • wordpress saml custom attribute mapping

Step 4: Role Mapping

    This feature allows you to assign and manage roles of the users when they perform SSO. Along with the default WordPress roles, this is compatible with any custom roles as well.

  • From the Attribute Mapping section of the plugin, provide a mapping for the field named Group/Role. This attribute will contain the role related information sent by the IDP and will be used for Role Mapping.
  • Navigate to role mapping section and provide the mappings for the highlighted roles.
    • wordpress saml role mapping
  • For example, If you want a user whose Group/Role attribute value is wp-editor to be assigned as an Editor in WordPress, just provide the mapping as wp-editor in the Editor field of Role Mapping section.

Step 5: SSO settings

    In the Premium plugin you can enable SP-initiated SSO using the following options.

  • Auto-Redirection from site: If this option is enabled, any unauthenticated user trying to access your site will get redirected to the IDP login page and after successful authentication they will be redirected back to the same page on your site which they were trying to access.

    • Steps:

      1.  Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 1 : Auto-Redirection from site.
      2.  Enable Redirect to IdP if user not logged in [PROTECT COMPLETE SITE] option.

      wordpress saml optin 1

  • Auto-Redirection from WordPress Login: If this option is enabled, any unauthenticated user trying to access the default WordPress login page will get redirected to the IDP login page for authentication. After successful authentication, they will be redirected back to the WordPress site.

    • Steps:

      1.  Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 2: Auto-      Redirection from WordPress Login.
      2.  Enable Redirect to IdP from WordPress Login Page option.

      wordpress saml optin 2

      NOTE: Please enable the Backdoor login and note down the backdoor URL. This will allow you to access the WordPress login page in case you get locked out of the IDP login.

  • Login Button: You can add a customized login button anywhere on your site or WordPress login page by navigating to Option 3: Login Button section of Redirection and SSO Links tab.
    • wordpress saml optin 3
  • SSO Links: You can add SSO links anywhere on your site using the Shortcode and Widget provided in Option 4: SSO Links section of Redirection and SSO Links tab.
    • wordpress saml optin 4

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