SAML IdP

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is used for exchanging authentication and authorization data between an Identity Provider (IdP) and a Service Provider (SP), such as Google Apps, Office 365, and Salesforce. The FortiAuthenticator can be configured as an IdP, providing trust relationship authentication for unauthenticated users trying to access an SP.

Different realms can be selectively enabled while configuring the FortiAuthenticator as the IdP. These realms are available under Authentication > Self-service Portal > Access Control, where they can be enabled, disabled, or group filtered.

SAML Authentication works as follows:

A user tries to access a Service Provider, for example Google, using a browser.
The Service Provider's web server requests the SAML assertions for its service from the browser.
Two possibilities:
a. The user's browser already has valid SAML assertions, so it sends them to the Service Provider's web server. The web server uses them to grant or deny access to the service. SAML authentication stops here.
b. The user's browser doesn't have valid SAML assertions, so the Service Provider's web server redirects the browser to the SAML IdP.
Two possibilities:
a. The user's browser is already authenticated with the IdP, go to step 5.
b. The user's browser is not yet authenticated with the IdP, IdP requests and validates the user's credentials. If successful, go to step 5. Otherwise, access denied.
IdP provides SAML assertions for the Service Provider's and redirects the user's browser back to the Service Provider's web server. Go back to step 2.

General

To configure general SAML IdP portal settings, go to Authentication > SAML IdP > General and select Enable SAML Identity Provider on login portal.

Enter the following information:

Device FQDN	To configure this setting, you must enter a Device FQDN in the System Information widget in the Dashboard.
Server address	Enter the IP address, or FQDN, of the FortiAuthenticator device.
Username input format	Select one of the following three username input formats: username@realm realm\username realm/username
Realms	Select Add a realm to add the default local realm to which the users will be associated. Use Groups and Filter to add specific user groups.
Login session timeout	Set the user's login session timeout limit between 5 - 1440 minutes (480 by default).
IDP certificate	Select a certificate from the dropdown menu.

Select OK to apply any changes that you have made.

Service Providers

Service Providers can be managed from Authentication > SAML IdP > Service Providers.

To configure a SAML Service Provider:

Select Create New. The SAML Service Provider window opens.

Enter the following information:

SP name		Enter a name for the SP.
IDP prefix		Enter a prefix for the IDP that will be appended to the end of the IDP URLs. Alternatively, you can select Generate unique prefix to generate a random 16 digit alphanumeric string.
IDP address		To configure the IDP address (and IDP settings below), you must have already configured the server's address under Authentication > SAML IdP > General.
IDP entity id		Configure the IDP's entity id, for example: `http://www.example.com/saml-idp/xxx/metadata/`
IDP single sign-on URL		Configure the IDP's login URL, for example: `http://www.example.com/saml-idp/xxx/login/`
IDP single logout URL		Configure the IDP's logout URL, for example: `http://www.example.com/saml-idp/xxx/logout/`
SP entity id		Enter the SP's entity id
SP ACS (login) URL		Enter the SP's Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) login URL.
SP SLS (logout) URL		Enter the SP's Single Logout Service (SLS) logout URL.
SAML request must be signed by SP		Enable this option and import the SP certificate for authentication request signing by the SP.
Authentication
	Authentication method	Select one of the following: Enforce two-factor authentication Apply two-factor authentication if available (authenticate any user) Password-only authentication (exclude users without a password) FortiToken-only authentication (exclude users without a FortiToken)
	Bypass FortiToken authentication when user is from a trusted subnet	Enable this option if you would like to have certain users bypass FortiToken authentication, so long as they belong to a trusted subnet. Select Configure subnets to be directed to configure trusted subnets (under Authentication > User Account Policies > Trusted Subnets).
Debugging Options
	Do not return to service provider automatically after successful authentication, wait for user input	Enable this option to let users choose where to navigate to once authenticated.
	Disable this service provider	Disables the SP.
Assertion Attributes
	Subject NameID	Select the user attribute that serves as SAML assertion subject NameID. Select from either Username, Email, Remote LDAP user DN, or Remote LDAP user objectGUID. If the attribute being selected is not available for a user, Username will be used by default.
	Format	Select from Unspecified, Transient, or Persistent.
SAML Attribute		Select Create New to create a new attribute that will be added to SAML assertion. The following user attributes are available when creating a new assertion attribute: Username First name last name Email FortiAuthenticator local group Remote LDAP DN Remote LDAP sAMAccountName Remote LDAP userPrincipalName Remote LDAP displayName Remote LDAP objectGUID Remote LDAP group

Customizable successful login page

Prior to the release of FortiAuthenticator 4.3, successful SAML IdP login resulted in a hardcoded, non-customizable page appearing (which can be useful for troubleshooting) before the authenticated user is redirected to the SP website. Now you can customize the successful SAML authentication page under Authentication > Self-service Portal > Replacement Messages, under a new section called SAML IdP.

See Replacement Messages for more information.