JISC

Overview

The UK Access Management Federation was launched in November 2006, providing UK education and research institutions with a consistent method of accessing online resources and services through federated access management.

From 1 August 2008 all UK institutions will need to be members of the UK federation in order to gain access to resources that are federation-protected.

JISC is recommending that all UK institutions, publishers and service providers adopt an access management solution based on the SAML open standard eg. Shibboleth.

JISC has identified some barriers to uptake amongst smaller publishers, primarily due to lack of skills set. For some of these publishers the cost of implementing a federated access management solution in-house is not pragmatic in terms of their business plan.

This project aims to provide smaller publishers with direct consultancy support and advice to enable them to join the UK federation as service providers and to be able to maintain their preferred in-house access management solution on completion of the project.

Aim and objectives

To support smaller publishers in joining the UK Access Management Federation

To support smaller publishers in implementing Shibboleth SP software and ensure the publisher can maintain the software on completion of the project.

Project methodology

The project team will provide support to publishers through:

• Individual meetings with publishers to discuss their requirements and support
• Training on implementation of Shibboleth SP and integration with the publishers other systems
• A helpdesk during the lifetime of the project for technical queries
• Full documentation on the set up and implementation of the Shibboleth SP software with the publisher’s systems.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

Outputs

• A project website
• Service Provider Briefing Pack
• Documentation of Shibboleth SP installation for each of the participating publishers
• Final report: August 2008
• Reports from participating publishers on the support project

Outcomes

• 10 – 15 smaller publishers joining the UK federation
• Publishers understanding and abiding by UK federation rules
• Publishers able to maintain their Shibboleth SP installation
• Publishers understanding required attribute requester/resolver process
• Publishers understanding attribute retrieval and acceptance
• Publishers understanding resource management

Technology and Standards used

• SAML 2.0 - Developed by the Security Services Technical Committee of OASIS, is an XML-based framework for communicating user authentication, entitlement, and attribute information
• OpenSAML 2.0
• Shibboleth Protocol 1.3 and 2.0 - In-conjunction with JISC recommendations

Lead institution

Cardiff University

Project partners

Kidderminster College