SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using Shibboleth2
Overview
miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to Shibboleth2 using SAML 2.0 protocol.
Our user-friendly plugin simplifies the process of setting up Single Sign-on (SSO) with Shibboleth2 in Joomla,
ensuring a secure login experience. This enables users to access various Joomla sites effortlessly using their
Shibboleth2 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 Shibboleth2, with Shibboleth2 serving as the Identity Provider (IDP) and Joomla as the Service
Provider (SP).
Configuration Steps
In this setup, Shibboleth2 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 Shibboleth2 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 Shibboleth2 as IDP (Identity Provider)
- In conf/relying-party.xml, configure Service Provider like this:
<MetadataProviderxsi:type="InlineMetadataProvider" xmlns="urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata" i d="MyInlineMetadata">
<EntitiesDescriptorxmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata">
<md:EntityDescriptorxmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata" e ntityID="<ENTITY_ID_FROM_PLUGIN>">
<md:SPSSODescriptorAuthnRequestsSigned="false" WantAssert ionsSigned="true" protocolSupportEnumeration="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protoco l">
<urn:oasis:names:tc:SAM L:1.1:nameidformat:emailAddress</md:NameIDFormat>
<md:AssertionConsumerService Binding="urn:oas is:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:https-POST"Location="<ACS_URL_FROM_PLUGIN >" index="1"/& gt;
</md:SPSSODescriptor>
</md:EntityDescriptor>
</EntitiesDescriptor>
</MetadataProvider>
- Make sure your Shibboleth server is sending Email Address of the user in Name ID. In attribute-resolver.xml, get the email attribute as Name ID:
<resolver:AttributeDefinitionxsi:type="ad:Simple" id="email" sourceAttributeID="mail">
<resolver:Dependency ref="ldapConnector" />
<resolver:AttributeEncoderxsi:type="enc:SAML2StringNameID" nameFormat="urn: oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"/>
</resolver:AttributeDefinition>
- In attribute-filter.xml, release the email attribute:
- In General Settings tab, enter App Name and click on Next button.
<afp:AttributeFilterPolicy id="releaseTransientIdToAnyone">
<afp:PolicyRequirementRulexsi:type="basic:ANY"/>
<afp:AttributeRuleattributeID="email">
<afp:PermitValueRulexsi:type="basic:ANY"/>
</afp:AttributeRule>
</afp:AttributeFilterPolicy>
- Restart the Shibboleth Server.
- You need to configure these endpoints in the Service Provider.
| IDP Entity ID | https://<your_domain>/idp/shibboleth |
| Single Login URL | https://<your_domain>/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO |
| X.509 Certificate | The public key certificate of your Shibboleth server |
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.
