Overview
Guide to set up Single Sign On between two WordPress sites. To configure SSO between two WordPress sites, we’ll first assume one WordPress site as the main source of user authentication (Identity Provider), and the rest of the sites as the Service Providers(SP) into which users log in after successful authentication. In such a setting, SSO between two WP sites can be set up by using WordPress SAML Service Provider and WordPress SAML Identity Provider plugins.
Our WordPress SAML SP Single Sign On (SSO) plugin gives... you the ability to use your WordPress (WP) site as SAML SP (Service Provider) and you can configure other WordPress (WP) sites as an SAML IDP (Identity Provider) with Login Using WordPress users (WP as SAML IDP) plugin. read more
Different login flows for SSO into Multiple WP sites
- IDP Initiated SSO: When a user initiates SSO from the Identity Provider (WP Site A) to access the Service Provider (WP Site B), they won't need to re-enter their credentials. Instead, they'll log into the Service Provider (WP Site B) using their Identity Provider (WP Site A) credentials thus successlly achieving IDP Initiated SSO.
- SP Initiated SSO: When a user tries to access the Service Provider (WP Site B) while not logged in, they will be sent to the Identity Provider's (WP Site A) login page commencing SP Initiated SSO. After successfully authenticating on the Identity Provider, the user will be returned and logged into the Service Provider (WP Site B).
Note: If you have an external Identity Provider and multiple WP sites which need to share credentials, you can configure all your WordPress sites as the Service Providers using our plugin. We also provide a solution for SSO between subsites of a Multisite network. Please Contact Us for more information.
Pre-requisites : Download And Installation
- In this setup, WP Site A serves as the repository for storing users i.e. it will act as the IDP where the Login Using WordPress Users Plugin will be installed.
- While WP Site B is where users will log in using their credentials from Site A where WordPress SAML SSO Plugin will be installed.
Note: To set up SSO for multiple WP sites Metadata from both sites i.e. WP Site A (IDP) and WP Site B (SP) is required which can be found in the plugins installed on the respective sites.
To setup Single Sign-On between 2 WordPress sites, you can also follow this step by step Setup Video.
Configuration Steps
Let’s assume WP site A is our main source of authentication where the users are stored. So this WP site will be configured as the IDP where the SAML IDP plugin will be installed. Subsequently, WP Site B will be configured as the SP in which users can seamlessly SSO login using WP Site A, thus successfully setting up SSO for two or multiple WP sites.
Step 1: Configure WordPress Site A as IDP (Identity Provider)
- Navigate to the WordPress Site B.
- Install and activate the SAML SP Single Sign-On (SSO) login plugin on your WordPress site which is acting as a Service Provider.
- In the miniOrange SAML SP SSO plugin, navigate to the Service Provider Metadata tab. Here, you can find the SP metadata such as SP Entity ID and ACS (AssertionConsumerService) URL which are required to configure the Identity Provider.
- Navigate to the WordPress Site A.
- Navigate to 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 |
- 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.
- You have successfully configured WordPress site A as IDP.
Note: If you intend to set up Attribute Mapping, Role Mapping, and other configurations on the Identity Provider's end, you can find detailed instructions in the provided setup guide.
Step 2: Configure WordPress Site B as SP (Service Provider)
- Free
- Standard
- Premium
In the WordPress SAML SSO plugin, go to the Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the WordPress SSO 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.
- Click on Test configuration to check the attributes and values sent by IDP.
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.
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 Update button.
Step 5: SSO settings
- In the free plugin you can add a Single Sign-On button by enabling Add a Single Sign-On button on the WordPress Login Page toggle in Option 1.
- If your WordPress theme supports login widget, 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 2: Use a Widget to add a login widget on your site.
In the WordPress SAML SSO plugin, go to the Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the WordPress SSO 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.
- Click on Test configuration to check the attributes and values sent by IDP.
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.
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
- Go to Attribute/Role mapping tab and navigate to Role Mapping section.
- Select the Default Role and click on the Save button.
In the standard plugin, you can choose a default role which will be assigned to all the non-admin users when they perform SSO.
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.
- Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 1: Auto - Redirection from site.
- Enable Redirect to IDP if user not logged in [PROTECT COMPLETE SITE]option.
- 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.
- Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 2: Auto- Redirection from WordPress Login.
- Enable Redirect to IDP from WordPress Login Page option.
- 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
Steps:
Steps:
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.
In the WordPress SAML SSO plugin, go to the Service Provider Setup tab of the plugin. There are two ways to configure the WordPress SSO 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
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.
- Click on Test configuration to check the attributes and values sent by IDP.
- 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.
- Custom Attribute Mapping: This feature allows you to map any attribute sent by the IDP to the usermeta table of WordPress.
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.
- 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.
- Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 1 : Auto-Redirection from site.
- Enable Redirect to IDP if user not logged in [PROTECT COMPLETE SITE] option.
- 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.
- Go to Redirection and SSO Links tab of the plugin and navigate to Option 2: Auto-Redirection from WordPress Login.
- Enable Redirect to IDP from WordPress Login Page option.
- 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.
Steps:
Steps:
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.
- 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.
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