DNN SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Using ADFS As IDP

DNN SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) module gives the ability to enable SAML Single Sign-On for your DotNetNuke applications. Using Single Sign-On you can use only one password to access your DotNetNuke application and services. Our module is compatible with all the SAML-compliant identity providers. Here we will go through a step-by-step guide to configure Single Sign-On (SSO) between DotNetNuke and ADFS considering ADFS as IdP.

Download and Install the module in DotNetNuke

• Download the package for DNN SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) module.
• Upload the installation package dnn-saml-single-sign-on_xxx_Install by going in Settings > Extension > Install Extension.

Steps to configure ADFS Single Sign-On (SSO) Login into DotNetNuke

1. Add module on DNN page

• Open any of the page on your DNN site (Edit mode) and Click on Add Module.

• Search for DNNSAMLSSO and click on the DNNSAMLSSO. Drag and drop the module on the page where you want.

• You have finished with the Installation of the module on your DNN site.

2. Configure ADFS as Identity Provider

• First, search for ADFS Management application on your ADFS server.

• In AD FS Management, select Relying Party Trust and click on Add Relying Party Trust.

• Select Claims aware from the Relying Party Trust Wizard and click on Start button.

 Select Data Source

• In Select Data Source, select the data source for adding a relying party trust.

 Choose Access Control Policy

• Select Permit everyone as an Access Control Policy and click on Next.

 Ready to Add Trust

• In Ready to Add Trust click on Next and then Close.

 Edit Claim Issuance Policy

• In the list of Relying Party Trust, select the application you created and click on Edit Claim Issuance Policy.

• In Issuance Transform Rule tab click on Add Rule button.

 Choose Rule Type

• Select Send LDAP Attributes as Claims and click on Next.

 Configure Claim Rule

• Add a Claim Rule Name and select the Attribute Store as required from the dropdown.
• Under Mapping of LDAP Attributes to outgoing claim types, Select LDAP Attribute as E-Mail-Addresses and Outgoing Claim Type as Name ID.

• Once you have configured the attributes, click on Finish.
• After configuring ADFS as IDP, you will need the Federation Metadata to configure your Service Provider.
• To get the ADFS Federation Metadata, you can use this URL
  https://< ADFS_Server_Name >/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml
• You have successfully configured ADFS as SAML IdP (Identity Provider) for achieving ADFS Single Sign-On (SSO) Login

Windows SSO (Optional)

Follow the steps below to configure Windows SSO

 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, click on Services and go to the Authentication Methods section. On the right, click on Edit Primary Authentication Methods. 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;

• You have successfully configured ADFS for Windows Authentication.

3. Configure DotNetNuke SAML Module as Service Provider

• After configuring your Identity Provider, it will provide you with IDP Entity ID, IDP Single Sign On URL and x.509 Certificate. Configure these values under IDP Entity ID, Single Sign-On Url and SAML X509 Certificate fields respectively. (Refer to the Metadata provided by Identity Provider)
• Click Update to Save your IDP details.

4. Testing SAML SSO

• Click the Test Configuration button to verify if you have configured the plugin correctly.
• On successful configuration, you will get Attribute Name and Attribute Values in the Test Configuration window.

5. Adding Login/SSO Widget on DNN Page

• For Adding Button on the DNN page on beside the module settings click on the Add Item (Pencil Icon).


• Add Button name and Description for item and click on Save.


• You can see login button on the page after saving item. (If you are already logged in your site, you will see a "Logout" link).
• Note: If you want to Enable this button on every page of the DNN site follow below steps:
• Go to the Settings >> Module Settings >> Advanced Settings and Enable option for Display Module On All Page.



• Warning: You will lose all your configuration for the module after enabling this option. You can re-configure the module or it is better to enable this option before configuring the module.

6. Attribute Mapping

• Attributes are user details that are stored in your Identity Provider.
• Attribute Mapping helps you to get user attributes from your IdP and map them to DotNetNuke user attributes like firstname, lastname etc.
• While auto registering the users in your DotNetNuke site these attributes will automatically get mapped to your DotNetNuke user details.
• Go to DNNSAMLSSO Settings >> Advanced settings >> Attribute Mapping.

7. Role mapping (It is Optional to fill this)

• DotNetNuke uses a concept of Roles, designed to give the site owner the ability to control what users can and cannot do within the site.
• DotNetNuke has five pre-defined roles: Administrators, Subscribers, Registered Users, Translator (en-US) and Unverified Users.
• Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your IdP.
• While auto registering, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.

You can even configure the ASP.NET SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) module with any identity provider such as ADFS, Azure AD, Bitium, centrify, G Suite, JBoss Keycloak, Okta, OneLogin, Salesforce, AWS Cognito, OpenAM, Oracle, PingFederate, PingOne, RSA SecureID, Shibboleth-2, Shibboleth-3, SimpleSAML, WSO2 or even with your own custom identity provider. To check other identity providers, click here.

8. Additional Resources

• DNN SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)
• DNN OAuth Single Sign-On (SSO)
• ASP.NET SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)
• nopCommerce SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Umbraco SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)