SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using SiteMinder
Overview
miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to SiteMinder using SAML 2.0 protocol. Our user-friendly plugin simplifies the process of setting up Single Sign-on (SSO) with SiteMinder in Joomla, ensuring a secure login experience. This enables users to access various Joomla sites effortlessly using their SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder, with SiteMinder serving as the Identity Provider (IDP) and Joomla as the Service Provider (SP).
Configuration Steps
In this setup, SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder as IDP (Identity Provider)
- Log in to your CA SSO portal as a SiteMinder Single Sign-On administrator.
- Click on Federation tab.
- Now go to Partnership Federation Entities.
Create a Local Identity Provider
- Click on Create Entity.
- To create a local entity, configure the following:
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Entity Location
Local
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Entity Type
SAML2 IDP
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Entity ID
Enter an ID for your local identity provider for identification.
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Entity Name
Create a name for your local identity provider.
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Base URL
Enter the fully-qualified domain name for the host service
SiteMinder SSO Federation Web Services. |
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Signed Authentication
Requests Required
No
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Supported NameID format
urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:unspecified |
Create a Remote Service Provider
- Download Metadata XML File from the Service Provider Metadata Tab of the miniOrange SAML Single-Sign-On plugin.
- Click on Import Metadata and upload the downloaded XML metadata file.
- For Import As, select Remote Entity.
- Provide a name for the Remote Service Provider Entity.
Create a Partnership between SP and IDP
- For creating a partnership, configure the following:
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Add Partnership Name
Enter a name for your partnership.
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(Optional) Description
Enter a relevant description for your partnership.
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Local IDP ID
Enter the Local Identity Provider ID created while adding a Local Entity.
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Remote SP ID
Enter the Remote Service Provider ID created while adding a
Remote Entity. |
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Base URL
This field will be pre-populated.
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Skew Time
Enter any skew time required by your environment.
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User Directories and Search Order
Select the required directories in the required search order.
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- On the Federation Users page, add the users you want to include in the partnership.
- In the Assertion Configuration section, configure following:
- Name ID Format: Email Address
- Name ID Type: User Attribute
- Value: mail
- (Optional) Assertion Attributes: Specify any application or group attributes that you want to map to users
- In the SSO and SLO section, perform the following steps:
- SSO Binding: HTTP-POST
- Transactions Allowed: Both IDP and SP initiated
- In the Signature and Encryption section, select Post Signature as Sign Both.
Activate Partnership
- In the Federation Partnership List, expand the Action dropdown for your partnership and click Activate.
- To get the IDP metadata, Click the Action button and click Export Metadata. This data will be used to configure the plugin.
You have successfully configured SiteMinder as SAML IDP (Identity Provider) for achieving SiteMinder SSO login into your Joomla Site.
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.
