CCC SSO Federation

Clearly, this is a work in-progress.

Overview

This document lists the minimum (marked with an *) and recommended policies, processes, and technical steps required to implement Identity Management and Single Sign On (SSO) for the CCC SSO Federation of CCC statewide technology applications. The enclosed checklists can be used to assess your institution’s readiness for implementation and the specific tasks required for technical implementation(s).

Most sections of the checklist have three parts: policy, business operations, and technical implementation steps. Each batch of steps is sequential.

Federated Identity Management & CCC Applications

Federated Identity allows the sharing of information about users from one secure domain to the other organizations in a federation. This allows for cross-domain single sign-on and removes the need for content providers to maintain user names and passwords. Identity providers (IdP) supply user information, while service providers (SP) consume this information and give access to secure content.

The California Community Colleges Single Sign-on Federation is a shared federation of CCC colleges

At this time, all California Community Colleges already have an Identity Provider (IdP), such as Shibboleth or Portal Guard, in place to authenticate college staff to the CCCApply Administrator and the CCC Report Center. However, to allow students to access the rich portfolio of student services web applications - existing or under-development by the CCC Technology Center - colleges must either install a supported SSO solution that includes student attributes or upgrade their existing IdP to allow students to access the resources within the CCC's SSO Federation.

Supported SSO Solutions

In order to participate in the CCC SSO Federation colleges must implement an Identity Provider solution that meets the requirements of the federation. Below is a list of supported solutions and links to "recommended practices" and "troubleshooting IdP integration issues".

Shibboleth IdP V3

Portal Guard IdP

What is Single Sign On (SSO)?

Single Sign On (SSO) is a session and user authentication process that permits a user to enter one username and password - one time - in order to access multiple applications without having to login to each application separately. For example, when CCC students are configured for SSO, they can login to one application, such as MyPath, the Student Services Portal, and then access multiple different web applications such as Canvas Course Management System (CMS), CCCAssess, and CCCApply, without having to login separately to each of the applications.

The SSO process involves authentication and authorization. Authentication is a confirmation that the person logging in is the person they claim to be. Authorization is a confirmation that the logged-in person is authorized to access a particular "resource" (i.e. MyPath Portal, etc.). The Tech Center has implemented a CCC IdP Proxy process to facilitate streamline integration for current and future applications.

What is Shibboleth IdP?

Shibboleth Identity Provider Software is a single sign-on (SSO) login system that is among the world's most widely deployed federated identity systems and is a supported SSO solution of the CCC SSO Federation. It allows sign in using just one identity (username and password), connecting users to applications both within and between federations of organizations and institutions.

The Shibboleth Internet2 middleware initiative created an architecture and open-source implementation for identity management and federated identity based authentication and authorization (or access control) infrastructure based on Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML).

Why implement SSO?

Implementing an SSO solution is a requirement of the CCC SSO Federation and allows participating California Community Colleges to take full advantage of the products and services offered by the CCC Technology Center (CCCTC) by allowing students, faculty, and staff to access statewide web-based information technology applications via a single sign-on account.

The benefits of SSO include

What is the InCommon Federation?

InCommon, operated by Internet2, provides a secure and privacy-preserving trust fabric for research and higher education in the United States. InCommon's identity management federation serves 9 million end-users. InCommon also operates a related assurance program, and offers certificate and multi-factor authentication services.

What is the CCC IDP Proxy?

The IDP Proxy is a centralized Proxy to help colleges assert consistent SAML attributes to the various Service Providers within the CCC Federation.

The main proxy use case is when a college is not able to send the CCCID SAML attribute for students. If the proxy discovers that the CCCID SAML attribute is not present, it will attempt to find the CCCID associated with the IDPs unique identifier (EPPN) for the student.

If a CCCID is not found, the student will be redirected to OpenCCC to either recover or create a new OpenCCC account. Once the account is recovered or created, the CCCID will be cross referenced to the student's EPPN so that the next time a student attempts to enter the CCC SSO Federation from their college IDP, the proxy will be find the student's CCCID and add it to the SAML attributes presented to various federation service providers.

For more information on the central IDP Proxy, please refer to the CCC IDP Proxy implementation guide.

How to Configure the IDP Proxy?

How to Configure SSO for CCC Federation?

What is the CCCID?

What is EPPN?

Supply CCC's with documentation necessary to complete the following:

CCCID configuration

SSO Configuration

College Adaptor Installation

IDP Proxy

Either through in house development efforts or a combination of in house development and contract work, using a mini-grant model of funding.

Supported Configurations

The CCCTC will support the following configurations:

Shibboleth v.3 with InCommon metadata

Portal Guard with InCommon metadata

*Other

CCCID

A CCCID is generated when a student sets up an OpenCCC account and commonly passed to the college in the CCCApply data download.

CCCID is then stored in the college’s SIS or college LDAP/Active Directory

CCCID is passed as an attribute from the college’s IdP to the systemwide applications SP (i.e. Canvas, CCCAssess, MyPath, etc.)

CCCID is used by the systemwide application to identify the student.

SSO Configuration

Correct configuration of Shibboleth / PortalGuard (as appropriate)

IdP Student and IdP Staff

Upgraded to 3.0

Connected to InCommon Metadata

Required - Ability to pass CCCID (Student IdP only)

Ability to pass common InCommon Eduperson Attributes (EPPN Required)

https://www.incommon.org/federation/attributesummary.html

Ability to pass other Eduperson Attributes as available (Optional, but highly encouraged)

http://software.internet2.edu/eduperson/internet2-mace-dir-eduperson-201602.html

-Upgrade of Shibboleth IdP or New Implementation of Shibboleth IdP on client provided hardware and operating system software or Implement items below using client provided installation of PortalGuard

-Configuration of authentication against up to two (2) authentication sources

-Configuration of user attributes, gathering from up to three (3) supported user attribute sources

-Configuration of Metadata using InCommon’s Metadata repository

-Shibboleth Log-In Form branding for new implementations

-Validate current Admin users can authenticate to the Report Center and Administrator using the upgraded IdP

-Enable authentication using the Shibboleth IdP to CCC central services including:

Instructure’s Canvas LMS (CCMS)

OpenCCC Apply Report Center and Administrator via the staff IdP

CCC Student Service Portal (SSP)

CCC Assess

College Adaptor (completed in conjunction with CCCTC)

Pre-Work Questionnaire (completed by college)