OpenAthens OAuth & OpenID connect Single Sign-On (SSO) | OpenAthens SSO Login

Steps to configure OpenAthens Single Sign-On (SSO) Login into WordPress

1. Setup OpenAthens as OAuth Provider

• First of all, go to the publisher dashboard of OpenAthens https://sp.openathens.net and login in your account to Configure OpenAthens.
• Click on Applications tab, click on Create new application to create new application.

• Select OpenID Connect from the list.

• Add the name you want to give to your application, URL of the application under the Application Name and Application URL fields respectively. Enter the Redirect/Callback URI from miniOrange OAuth Client plugin/module under the Authorized redirect URIs field.
• Click on Create application button.

• You will see the Client ID and Client Secret generated.
• Copy the Client ID and Client Secret and save it on your miniOrange OAuth Client plugin Configuration.

• You have successfully completed your OpenAthens App OAuth Server side configurations.
• Activate the OAuth Single Sign On - SSO (OAuth Client) plugin.
• Go to the Configure OAuth tab and select Custom OAuth 2.0 App from the Custom Applications list.
• Enter the Client ID and Client Secret generated from openathens application.
• Enter the scope and endpoints given in below table.
• Click on the Save button to save the configuration and click on the Test Configuration.

You have successfully configured OpenAthens as OAuth Provider for achieving OpenAthens login into your WordPress Site.

2. Setup WordPress as OAuth Client

• Free
• Premium

• Go to Configure OAuth tab and click Add New Application to add a new client application into your website.

• Choose your Application from the list of OAuth / OpenID Connect Providers, Here OpenAthens.

• Copy the Callback URL to be used in OAuth Provider Configuration and click Next.

• Configure App name. Copy and paste the endpoints from below table. Click Next.



Client ID :	from the step 1 above
Client Secret :	from the step 1 above
Scope:	openid
Authorize Endpoint:	https://sp.openathens.net/oauth2/authorize
Access Token Endpoint:	https://sp.openathens.net/oauth2/token
Get User Info Endpoint:	https://sp.openathens.net/oauth2/userInfo
Custom redirect URL after logout:[optional]	https://sp.yourdomain.com/oa/logout

• Enter the client credentials like Client ID & Client Secret as shown in the setup dialogue box. Enter the scope value as openid. Click Next.

• Verify the configuration details and click on Finish to save the configuration.

• Go to Configure OAuth tab and search your application name to add a new client application into your website, Here OpenAthens.

• Configure App Name, Client ID, Client Secret, Domain from OpenAthens SSO application

• Choose your Grant Type from the list of options & Click on Save Settings to save the configuration.

You have successfully configured WordPress as OAuth Client for achieving user authentication with OpenAthens Single Sign-On (SSO) login into your WordPress Site.

3. User Attribute Mapping

• User Attribute Mapping is mandatory for enabling users to successfully login into WordPress. We will be setting up user profile attributes for WordPress using below settings.

Finding user attributes

• Go to Configure OAuth tab. Scroll down and click on Test Configuration.

• You will see all the values returned by your OAuth Provider to WordPress in a table. If you don't see value for First Name, Last Name, Email or Username, make the required settings in your OAuth Provider to return this information.

• Once you see all the values in Test Configuration, go to Attribute / Role Mapping tab, you will get the list of attributes in a Username dropdown.

4. Role Mapping [Premium]

• Click on “Test Configuration” and you will get the list of Attribute Names and Attribute Values that are sent by your OAuth provider.
• From the Test Configuration window, map the Attribute Names in the Attribute Mapping section of the plugin. Refer to the screenshot for more details.

• Enable Role Mapping: To enable Role Mapping, you need to map Group Name Attribute. Select the attribute name from the list of attributes which returns the roles from your provider application.
  Eg: Role


• Assign WordPress role to the Provider role: Based on your provider application, you can allocate the WordPress role to your provider roles. It can be a student, teacher, administrator or any other depending on your application. Add the provider roles under Group Attribute Value and assign the required WordPress role in front of it under WordPress Role.
  
  For example, in the below image. Teacher has been assigned the role of Administrator & Student is assigned the role of Subscriber.

• Once you save the mapping, the provider role will be assigned the WordPress administrator role after SSO.
  Example: As per the given example, Users with role ‘teacher’ will be added as Administrator in WordPress and ‘student’ will be added as Subscriber.

5. Sign In Settings

• The settings in Single Sign-On (SSO) Settings tab define the user experience for Single Sign-On (SSO). To add a OpenAthens login widget on your WordPress page, you need to follow the below steps.

Sign in settings for WordPress 5.7 and before

• Go to WordPress Left Panel > Appearances > Widgets.
• Select miniOrange OAuth. Drag and drop to your favourite location and save.


Sign in settings for WordPress 5.8

• Go to WordPress Left Panel > Appearances > Widgets.
• Select miniOrange OAuth. Drag and drop to your favourite location and save.

• Open your WordPress page and you can see the OpenAthens SSO login button there. You can test the OpenAthens Single Sign-On (SSO) now.

Sign in settings for WordPress 5.9

• Make sure the "Show on login page" option is enabled for your application. (Refer to the below image)

• Now, go to your WordPress Login page. (Eg. https://< your-wordpress-domain >/wp-login.php)
• You will see an OpenAthens SSO login button there. Once you click the login button, you will be able to test the OpenAthens Single Sign-On (SSO).

In this Guide, you have successfully configured OpenAthens Single Sign-On (SSO) by configuring OpenAthens as OAuth Provider and WordPress as OAuth Client using our WP OAuth Single Sign-On ( OAuth & OpenID Connect Client ) plugin. This solution ensures that you are ready to roll out secure access to your WordPress site using OpenAthens login credentials within minutes.

Additional Resources

• Azure AD as OAuth Provider / OpenID Connect
• Documentation of OpenAthens authentication for login
• WordPress Single Sign-On (SSO) OAuth / OpenID Connect / JWT
• What is OAuth 2.0 and how does it work?
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)