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SAML Security Manager
supports the creation of a tenant using the SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) Security Manager. Users in this tenant can log into via (SAML) version 2.0. SAML enables internet single sign-on by allowing users to authenticate at an identity provider and then access service providers without additional authentication.
The SAML Security manager can be used in on-premise installations but it is primarily meant for cloud tenants who use LDAP but do not want to expose it over the internet.
SAML requires the configuration and installation of an identify provider that supports SAML 2.0. Some examples are Shibboleth, OpenSSO, ADFS, and PingFederate.
In a SAMLenvironment, integration with an LDAP server for authentication is common. In general, here's how it works:
- User A attempts to access Live forms by typing the URL into the browser
- Live forms sends a SAML request for authentication to the Identity Provider
- The Identity Provider requires more information. The Identify Provider login screen is displayed.
- User A logs into the Identity Provider.
- The Identity Provider may communicate with your LDAP server if you are using Active Directory for authentication.
- The Identity Provider builds and sends a SAML token to Live Forms containing the security information for User A.
- Live forms processes the information. If User A has been authenticated, Live forms establishes a session and redirects User A to the correct Live Forms screen depending on User A's authorization level.
On this page:
Prerequisites
- Users must have the frevvo.User role to access .
Configuring the SAML Security Manager
In the directions given below, the Service Provider refers to frevvo . The metadata for your SAML tenant must be obtained first. Customers will need to configure the metadata when configuring the Identity Provider.
- Generate your certificate (On-premise installations only)
- Create the frevvo Metadata file.
- Configure your Identity Provider
- Create/edit the SAML tenant
- Logging into Live Forms in a SAML Tenant
- Upload Users and Roles to your SAML tenant.
Step 1 - Generate Your Certificate
Cloud customers can skip this step. These instructions are provided for On-premise customers only.
If you re using the frevvo tomcat bundle, the supplied keystore, frevvoKeystore.jks is located in the <frevvo-home>/tomcat/lib folder, The keystore contains a default certificate with alias=frevvo and password=p@ssw0rd. Replace this with a certificate for your installation.
- The alias and password can be configured with the properties com.frevvo.security.saml.key and com.frevvo.security.saml.password in the <frevvo-home>\tomcat\conf\localhost\frevvo.xml file.
This certificate is used to sign/encrypt the SAML request. The use of a long-lived self-signed certificate is recommended.
Since the keystore is located outside the frevvo war, you can use the Java keytool to generate and store your certificates. Folllow these steps:
Delete the existing certificate:
keytool -delete -alias frevvo -keypass p@ssw0rd -keystore frevvoKeystore.jks -storepass p@ssw0rd
Generate a new certificate: Here is the command: Change the -dname value to the DNS name of your IDP
keytool -genkey -dname "cn=app.frevvo.com" -alias frevvo -keypass p@ssw0rd -keystore frevvoKeystore.jks -storepass p@ssw0rd -keyalg rsa -keysize 2048 -validity 3650
- The certificate can be viewed (and used in the metadata XML) by exporting it to a file:
keytool -exportcert -alias frevvo -file frevvo.rfc -rfc -keystore frevvoKeystore.jks -storepass p@ssw0rd
Step 2 - Create the frevvo Metadata file
Follow these steps to generate the frevvo metadata for your SAML tenant. You can do this even if the tenant has not been created yet.
Paste this URL into your browsr:
Cloud Customers: https://app.frevvo.com:443/frevvo/web/saml/metadata/alias/{t} - replace {t} with the tenant id of your SAML tenant.
On-premise customers: http://<server>:<port>/frevvo/web/saml/metadata/alias/{t} - replace <server> with the ip of your server, <port> with the port number (if applicable) and t with your tenant id).
When the metadata displays, right click and select the browser option to View the Page source.
- Save the page as an xml file.
- Metadata must be generated for each SAML tenant. Each tenant will have a unique URL.
Step 3 - Configure Your Identity Provider
- Configure the Service Provider metadata for your Identity Provider. For example, the Shiboleth Identity provider requires modification of a file to provide the path to the tenant metadata xml file created above.
Your Identity Provider must be configured to expose the attributes that requires. Attribute mapping is done when you create the SAML tenant. These are:
- User Id
- First Name
- Last Name
- Manager Id (optional)
- Groups
- Custom Attributes (optional)
Step 4 - Create/edit the SAML tenant
Creating/editing the SAML tenant is performed by the superuser (on-premise) or the tenant admin (cloud). Refer to Configuring the SAML Security Manager for the details.
Step 5 - Logging into Live Forms in a SAML Tenant
- Paste this URL into your browser:
Cloud Customers: https://app.frevvo.com:443/frevvo/web/tn/{t}/login - Replace {t} with the name of your SAML tenant.
- On-premise Customers:http://<server>:<port>/frevvo/web/tn/{t}/login. Replace <server> and <port> with your server information and t with the name of your SAML tenant.
screens display depending on the level of authorization specified for the user. Designer users will see the Application Home Page while non-designer users will be directed to their Task List.
This URL redirects to /web/saml/login/alias/{t}. This initiates the SAML authentication process by redirecting to the Identity Provider login page. If the user is authenticated, the rest of the standard login processing is done (verify license, redirect on success etc).
Clicking the logout link in , logs the user out from only.
Logging into a SAML tenant directly (user@saml tenant name) displays an application error message.
On-premise customers using the tomcat bundle will see the following entry in the error log:
Application error processing /frevvo/web/login?null java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: null
Step 6 - Adding Users/Roles to your SAML tenant
You must upload users & roles from your SAML server into your Live Forms tenant before using the Live Forms workflow feature. SAML does not support Live Forms requesting this information directly so this must be done manually.
Note that user/role information will be added to the Live Forms tenant the first time a user logs into the tenant and that user record will be updated each time the user logs in again after it exists. However this is not sufficient for the workflow feature as it needs to know users & roles prior to the user's first login.
Add the users/roles to your SAML tenant using the CSV Upload feature. This is the quickest way to do this, especially if you have many users. For example, if you are using Active Directory for authentication. You will have to:
- Ensure all users have the frevvo.User role in Active Directory.
- Export users/roles from Active Directory to a csv file.
- Modify/delete the columns to match the requirements. Refer to the Download Users and Roles topic for a list of the field/column names that must be included in the csv upload file.
The csv upload feature requires a password for each record. This is not applicable to SAML as the password in the csv file is ignored. However, it is recommended that you provide a default password in your csv file so the CSV Upload feature will work.
Log in as the tenant admin. Perform the csv upload.
Configuring Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
LDAP customers choosing to use Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) should follow the steps below to configure ADFS 2.0:
- In ADFS 2.0 Management Console select "Add Relying Party Trust"
- Select "Import data about the relying party from a file" and select the previously saved frevvo metadata XML file.
- Select Next
- The wizard may complain that some content of metadata is not supported. You can safely ignorethis warning.
- Continue with the wizard. On the "Ready to Add Trust" make sure that tab endpoints contains multiple endpoint values. If not, verify that your metadata was generated with HTTPS protocol URLs.
- Leave "Open the Edit Claim Rules dialog" checkbox checked and finish the wizard.
- Select "Add Rule", choose "Send LDAP Attributes as Claims" and press Next.
- Add NameID as "Claim rule name",
- Choose "Active Directory" as Attribute store,
- Choose "SAM-Account-Name" as LDAP Attribute and "Name ID" as "Outgoing claim type",
Finish the wizard and confirm the claim rules window,
In ADFS 3.0, you might need to configure the Name ID as a Pass Through claim.
Session Timeout
Session timeouts are configured in and in your IDP. If a user's session ends before the IDP timeout is reached, they will automatically be logged back into if they try to access it again. It is recommended that the session timeout and the IDP session timeout be configured for the same value
Embedding Forms/Flows in your website
Embedding forms and flows into your website when using the SAML Security Manager, will work in the following scenarios :
- The visibility of the form is set to Public.
- The visibility of the form is set to Public in Tenant and the user is already authenticated to SAML
Embedding forms and flows into your website is NOT supported if the the visibility of the form is set to Public in Tenant and the user is NOT already authenticated to SAML. This is because frevvo must direct the user to the IDP login screen and the browser will not allow loading the IDP login page in frevvo's form iframe.
Some Troubleshooting Tips
Login fails with illegal Key Size Error
After a failed login, this error message may appear in the <frevvo-home>\tomcat\logs\frevvo.log file:
org.apache.xml.security.encryption.XMLEncryptionException: Illegal key size at org.apache.xml.security.encryption.XMLCipher.decryptToByteArray(XMLCipher.java:1822) ~[xmlsec-1.5.7.jar:1.5.7] … org.opensaml.xml.encryption.DecryptionException?: Failed to decrypt EncryptedData? at org.opensaml.xml.encryption.Decrypter.decryptDataToDOM(Decrypter.java:546) ~[xmltooling-1.4.4.jar:na] …
Solution:
This error indicates the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files are missing in the Java Development Kit (JDK) software of your on-premise installation. Follow these steps to install the JCE files into the JDK.
- Go to the Oracle Java SE download page http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
- Scroll down … Under "Additional Resources" section you will find "Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy File"
- Download the version that matches your installed JVM - for example, download UnlimitedJCEPolicyJDK8.zip if you are using JDK/JRE version 8
- Unzip the downloaded zip.
- Copy local_policy.jar and US_export_policy.jar to the <JAVA_HOME>/jre/lib/security (Note: these jars will be already there so you have to overwrite them)
- Restart .