Changes to the Requirements for SAML2 Identity Providers that are purely technical in nature must reach rough consenus/no opposition at the SAFIRE Participants’ Forum. Changes to the administrative requirements are synchronised with the Metadata Registration Practice Statement. This version reached rough consensus on 1 January 2019, and was subsequently amended to incorporate updates from the MRPS.

The following describes the technical and administrative checks that will be made before an identity provider is admitted into the SAFIRE federation within the SAML2 Technology Profile. It also serves as a checklist for identity provider operators for assessing their readiness to participate.

Metadata

In order to be included in the federation registry, identity provider metadata:-

• MUST¹ have an entityID that is a URL (well-known location). The URL SHOULD use the https scheme and it is RECOMMENDED that valid metadata be available at this URL.
• MUST use secure (https) end-points for any <md:SingleSignOnService>, <md:SingleLogoutService> or `md:ArtifactResolutionService.
• MUST contain shibmd:Scope elements detailing every possible scoping value (domain) for eduPersonPrincipalName and eduPersonScopedAffiliation. All scopes MUST be rooted in the DNS domain name space, expressed in lowercase, and those domains MUST be owned by the organisation (or have written confirmation from the domain owner). Please see the “Scope Format” section of the Metadata Registration Practice Statement for normative requirements about the use of scopes.
• MUST contain an <md:Organization> element, where:
  • <md:OrganizationName> MUST reflect the legal name of the juristic person.
  • <md:OrganizationDisplayName> MUST be present and SHOULD reflect a commonly known or shortened version of the organisation’s name.
  • <md:OrganizationURL> MUST contain the organisation’s web site address.
• MUST contain at least one <md:ContactPerson> of contactType="technical" and SHOULD contain one of contactType="support". Where <md:EmailAddress> is given this SHOULD be a role account rather than an individual.
• SHOULD contain an <mdui:UIInfo>, with at least the following elements set:
  • <mdui:DisplayName> — meaningful name for the identity provider.
  • <mdui:Description> — short (max 140 chars) description of the purpose.
• It is RECOMMENDED that <mdui:PrivacyStatementURL> be set and point at the organisation’s privacy policy. This MAY be required in future.
• It is RECOMMENDED that a <mdui:Logo> be provided. Any logo MUST be either served from a secure (https) server or expressed as a data: URI². At least one logo SHOULD have an aspect ratio as close to 1:1 as possible and SHOULD be at least 100x100 pixels (although 300x300 is RECOMMENDED). Ideally logos should be smaller than 40KB.
• SHOULD NOT contain a <mdrpi:RegistrationInfo> element (any existing one SHALL be removed by the federation aggregator).
• SAML certificates included in metadata SHOULD be self-signed. RSA public keys MUST be at least 2048 bits in length and EC public keys MUST be at least 256 bits in length. It is RECOMMENDED that new RSA deployments use key lengths of at least 3072 bits.
• Web server certificates used for end-points MUST use PKI that is reasonably likely to be embedded in the browser of all users of the identity provider. Unless an explanation is provided, these SHALL be tested against the root CA lists of common browsers.
• Where cryptographic signatures are required in SAML, these MUST NOT use algorithms based on MD5 or SHA1; use of RSA-SHA256 is RECOMMENDED.

Note: SAFIRE curates metadata to ensure both technical correctness and compliance with administrative controls. Changes to metadata are not automatically propogated. If you need to make changes to your metadata, you need to submit a change request.

Language and Localisation

The SAML metadata specification allows display elements such as <md:OrganizationName> to be localised by using the xml:lang attribute to specify a BCP 47 language code. In common with other federations worldwide, English (xml:lang="en") MUST always be included and will be used as the default when no localised version is available.

It is strongly RECOMMENDED that official translations of organisation, display, or service names be included in metadata. In particular, major South African languages such as isiZulu (zu), isiXhosa (xh) and/or Afrikaans (af) are encouraged.

Attributes

• The minimum attributes MUST be provided for all users; the Federation hub will generate an error should these not be provided for a particular user.
• Identity providers that wish to participate in inter-federation SHOULD provide all the recommended attributes.
• It is strongly RECOMMENDED that identity providers provide as many attributes as they are able.
• The eduPersonPrincipal name attribute supplied by the identity provider is used to generate a persistent NameID. For this reason,  in addtion to the eduPerson schema requirements, the eduPersonPrincipalName provided to the Federation MUST NOT be reassigned.

Technical

• Clocks MUST must be synchronised via the Network Time Protocol (NTP; SNTP) or equivalent such that they ultimately derive their time from the South African master clock maintained by National Metrology Institute of South Africa or an acceptable alternative (e.g. za.pool.ntp.org).
• Logs of successful authentications MUST be retained for at least 184 days.
• Federation metadata SHOULD be refreshed at least once per day and MUST be refreshed at least once per cacheDuration.

Administrative

• Participants that are not already signatories of the REN Service Agreement MUST provide documentary proof of legal name, by means of one of the following:
  • CIPC registration certificate;
  • Trust deed;
  • SARS tax clearance certificate;
  • NPO registration; OR
  • Any other mutually acceptable means.
• Participants MUST have signed a Participation Agreement.
• Written permission MUST be provided for the use domains in <shibmd:Scope> if not verifiable by whois.
• Each entity must be accompanied by a separate registration request form, including:
  • values to be used for schacHomeOrganization and schacHomeOrganizationType;
  • whether the entity should be excluded from inter-federation metadata (opt-out).
• Only one <md:IDPSSODescriptor> per juristic person will be registered.