deb-python-pysaml2/doc/config.rst

Configuration of pySAML2 entities

Whether you plan to run a pySAML2 Service Provider, Identity provider or an attribute authority you have to configure it. The format of the configuration file is the same disregarding which type of service you plan to run. What differs is the directives. Below you will find a list of all the used directives in alphabetic order. The configuration is written as a python dictionary which means that the directives are the toplevel keys.

Configuration directives

attribute_maps

A simple key value file that contains the unique name of attributes, their friendly name and possible other names used in backend databases in a comma separated line:

urn:oid:2.5.4.4, surName
urn:oid:2.5.4.42 givenName
urn:oid:2.5.4.12 title
urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1 uid
urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3 mail
urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.5923.1.1.1.1 eduPersonAffiliation
urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.5923.1.1.1.7 eduPersonEntitlement

To be used by a SP if it wants to translate provided more complex unique to more user friendly names or when an IdP/AA wants to translate attribute names provided by a backend database into more formal names.

cert_file

A file that contains CA certificate that the service will use in HTTPS sessions to verify the server certificate. cert_file must be a PEM formatted certificate chain file.

debug

Whether debug information should be sent to the logfile.

entityid

The identifier of the entity.

key_file

key_file is the name of a PEM formatted file that contains the private key of the service. This is presently used both to encrypt assertions and as client key in a HTTPS session.

metadata

Contains a list of places where metadata can be found. This can be either a file accessible on the server the service runs on or somewhere on the net.:

"metadata" : {
    "local": [
        "metadata.xml", "vo_metadata.xml"
        ],
    "remote": [
        "https://kalmar2.org/simplesaml/module.php/aggregator/?id=kalmarcentral&set=saml2"
        ],
},

service

Which services the server will provide, those are combinations of "idp","sp" and "aa". So if one server is supposted to be both SP and AA (attribute authority) then the configuration could look something like this:

"service": {
    "aa":{
        "name" : "VO AA",
        "url": "http://localhost:8090/soap",
    },
    "sp":{
        "name" : "VO SP",
        "url" : "http://localhost:8090/sp",
    }
},

There are two options common to all services: 'name' and 'url'. With the obvious meanings. There are exits special option for SPs namelu: 'idp', 'optional_attributes' and 'required_attributes'. Both IdPs and AAs can have the option 'assertions'

assertions

If the server is an IdP or and AA then there might be reasons to things differently depending on how is asking, this is where that is specified. The keys are 'default' and SP entity identifiers, default is used whenever there is no entry for a specific SP. An example might be:

"assertions": {
    "default": {
        "lifetime": {"minutes":15},
        "attribute_restrictions": None # means all I have
    },
    "urn:mace:umu.se:saml:roland:sp": {
        "lifetime": {"minutes": 5},
        "attribute_restrictions":{
             "givenName": None,
             "surName": None,
        }
    }
}

Means that the server will se not_on_or_after to be now + 15 minutes as default. Hence the receivers should not use the information after 15 minutes from now. Default there is no restrictions as to which attributes should be return. Instead all the attributes and values that is gathered by the database backends should be returned. For the SP with the entityid "urn:mace:umu.se:saml:roland:sp" other rules apply. The information is only valid for 5 minutes and only the attributes 'givenName' and 'surName' are returned. No limitations as which values for these attributes can be returned exists. If restrictions on values are deemed necessary those are represented by regular expressions.:

"assertions": {
    "urn:mace:umu.se:saml:roland:sp": {
        "lifetime": {"minutes": 5},
        "attribute_restrictions":{
             "mail": [".*\.umu\.se$"],
        }
    }
}

Here only mailaddresses that ends with ".umu.se" will be returned.

idp

Defines the set of IdPs that this SP can use. If there is a metadata loaded then the value is expected to be a dictionary with entity identifiers as keys and possibly the IdP url as values. If the url is not defined then an attempt is made to learn it from the metadata. A typical configuration would look something like this:

"idp": {
    "urn:mace:umu.se:saml:roland:idp": None,
},

In this case the SP has only one IdP it can use, a typical situation when you are using SAML for services within one organization. At configuration time the url of the IdP might not be know so the evaluation of it is left until a metadata file is present. If more than one IdP can be used then the WAYF function (NOT IMPLEMENTED YET) would use the metadata file to find out the names for the different IdPs. On the other hand if the SP only uses one specific IdP then the usage of metadata file might be overkill so this construct can be used instead:

"idp": {
    "" : "https://example.com/saml2/idp/SSOService.php",
},

Since the user is immediately sent to the IdP the entity identifier of the IdP is immaterial. In this case the key is expected to be the user friendly name of the IdP.

There is a third choice and that is to leave the configuration blank, that is an empty dictionary, in which case all the IdP present in the metadata will be regarded as eligable services to use. :

"idp": {
},

optional_attributes

Attributes that this SP would like to receive from IdPs.

required_attributes

Attributes that this SP demands to receive from IdPs.

subject_data

The name of a shelve database where the map between a local identifier and a distributed identifier is kept.

xmlsec_binary

Presently xmlsec1 binaries are use for all the signing and encryption stuff. This option defines where the binary is situatied.

Example