WordPress SAML Single Sign-On Migration in Multiple Environments

SSO Migration in Multiple Environments

While creating a new website, people often want to test the site without making it accessible to the public. This means they need different environments to try it out without it being public. The usual method is to make three different environments i.e. Development, Testing/Staging and Production.

Each environment has its own functionality as mentioned below:

• Development environment: This is where software applications and services are created and developed. It’s the initial stage where developers write and test code, often using various tools and frameworks to build and refine the software.
• Testing/Staging environment: In this environment, developers and testers test an application’s functionality, performance, and reliability before it is released to users. The testing environment is designed to match the production environment as closely as possible, allowing testers to identify and fix bugs, and ensure the software meets the required standards.
• Production environment: This is the final stage where the software is deployed and made available to end-users. The production environment is designed to be stable, secure, and optimized for performance, with all necessary configurations and settings in place to ensure the software functions correctly and efficiently.

Note: To use this feature, you need separate licenses for each WordPress environment where you want to use the plugin.

Flow of Migration

Note: All the plugin configurations are stored in WP Options table so it is mandatory to migrate this table from initial environment to final environment.

Migration issues and their solution provided by us

In multiple environments, migration from one environment to another is a pretty common process, but usually, this process breaks the flow of information, especially in SSO.

While migration, SSO breaks due to the following reasons:

Reason 1: While migrating from one environment to another, the old configurations get replaced, which can break the Single Sign-On (SSO) for that setup. Also, during migration, the Service Provider (SP) metadata changes, causing the SSO to break.

• For example, Okta as IDP is configured on the development site, while migrating the configurations will not be retained in the test environment.
• In this case, the configuration would need to be done again.

Solution: Enabling the Manage Multiple Environment feature of the plugin will solve this issue. This feature allows to save the configuration of multiple environments in the Development environment. After migration, SSO configurations will be present in all the environments and the miniOrange SAML 2.0 SSO plugin will pick the SSO configuration based on the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the site. This function also allows the generation of SP Metadata in advance for the other environments which are used to configure the SP Metadata in the IDP.




Reason 2: Using the same license key for multiple environments.

• This is because each license is linked to the specified domain. Trying to activate the same license key in multiple environments, arises a conflict which results in the breaking of SSO.
• This needs to purchase different licenses for each environment.

Solution: Multiple Environments require separate licenses where each environment has its own license key to avoid conflict between two or more environments. Having separate license keys for each environment, migration in multiple environments will be seamless using our Enterprise Plan or All-Inclusive Plan.
Only separate license details need to be provided in every environment after each push to the next environment.

Guide to Configure Multiple Environments in miniOrange SAML 2.0 SSO plugin:

Note: This is an Enterprise and All-Inclusive plan feature.

Pre-requisites: Download and Installation

To configure your SAML IDP with WordPress, you will need to install the miniOrange WP SAML SSO plugin:

SAML Single Sign On – SAML SSO Login

By miniOrange

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WordPress Single Sign On SSO login with Azure, Azure B2C, Okta, ADFS, Keycloak, Salesforce, Ping, Onelogin, Gsuite, Shibboleth & many SAML IdPs [24/7 SUPPORT]

 Tested with 6.2

Download Free Plugin  Full Featured Trial

Watch this video to Migrate SSO setup in Multiple Environments

Step 1: Configure SAML SSO plugin with IDP Metadata

• Install and activate the miniOrange WordPress SAML SP SSO Enterprise/All-Inclusive plugin.
• After activating the plugin, in the left side tab panel click on Manage Multiple Environments tab.
• Activate the Enable Multiple Environments toggle.



• For adding a new Environment refer to the below steps:

1. Enter the Environment Name you want to add, for example: Staging.
2. Navigate to the Settings >> General from the sidebar of your WordPress site.
3. Copy the Site Address (URL) and paste it in the Site URL for the Environment field.
4. Click on Add Environment to add environments of your choice and click the Save button.

• This will add a new dropdown at top right corner of the plugin, which will be visible after clicking miniOrange SAML 2.0 SSO submenu from the left panel.



• Visit out page to configure the Service Provider with the Identity Provider of your choice.
• After migrating, the plugin will automatically fetch the correct configuration for your current environment.

Step 2: Clone the database in the first environment into the second environment

After cloning the first environment database in the second environment, the second environment retains the IDP configuration of the first environment.

Our WordPress SAML SSO Plugin supports integrations with a number of addons to extend the functionality of your site.
If you have any custom requirement, please contact us at samlsupport@xecurify.com and we will help to achieve your use case.

Additional Resources

• WP SAML Single Sign-On
• What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?
• What is SAML?
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)