Single Sign-On: Difference between revisions

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This article discusses the concept of Single Sign-On and how it relates to i4a.    It is important to understand that this article will only discuss the concept of a a 3rd party using i4a to provide a single sign-on or authentication mechanism.  It does not cover the opposite approach, where i4a would use a 3rd party API to facilitate authentication for a customer.  For assistance with that you would need to contact i4a support.
This article discusses the concept of Single Sign-On and how it relates to i4a.    It is important to understand that this article will only discuss the concept of a a 3rd party using i4a to provide a single sign-on or authentication mechanism.  It does not cover the opposite approach, where i4a would use a 3rd party API to facilitate authentication for a customer.  For assistance with that you would need to contact i4a support.


== Background ==
Single sign-on allows you to have a 3rd party use your i4a membership database to authenticate users on a remote system or separate website.  There are 2 primary components to this process.  Authentication and user session "state". 
* Authentication.  Put simple, authentication will accept a username/password combination and validate that against your i4a database.  If successfull, a packet of details about the user will be returned, allowing a remote process to not only validate a user, but also set various variables on their end such as first/last names, email etc.  Performing an authentication will *not* in and of itself actually log a user in on your i4a website, but rather simply performs a check and returns needed information if the user is valid and active.


[[category:Information]] [[category:HowTo]]
[[category:Information]] [[category:HowTo]]

Revision as of 17:35, 12 January 2011

About

This article discusses the concept of Single Sign-On and how it relates to i4a. It is important to understand that this article will only discuss the concept of a a 3rd party using i4a to provide a single sign-on or authentication mechanism. It does not cover the opposite approach, where i4a would use a 3rd party API to facilitate authentication for a customer. For assistance with that you would need to contact i4a support.


Background

Single sign-on allows you to have a 3rd party use your i4a membership database to authenticate users on a remote system or separate website. There are 2 primary components to this process. Authentication and user session "state".

  • Authentication. Put simple, authentication will accept a username/password combination and validate that against your i4a database. If successfull, a packet of details about the user will be returned, allowing a remote process to not only validate a user, but also set various variables on their end such as first/last names, email etc. Performing an authentication will *not* in and of itself actually log a user in on your i4a website, but rather simply performs a check and returns needed information if the user is valid and active.