Federated single sign-on (SSO) standards such as SAML 2.0 provide secure mechanisms for passing credentials and related information between different web sites that have their own authorization and authentication systems. SAML 2.0 is an open standard developed by the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee.

The SAML 2.0 protocol has seen significant success, gaining momentum in financial services, higher education, government, and other industry segments. SAML 2.0 support has been implemented by all major web-access management vendors. The U.S. Government General Services Administration (GSA) requires all vendors participating in the U.S. E-Authentication Identity Federation program to be SAML 2.0-compliant.

SAML 2.0-compliant web sites exchange user credential information using SAML assertions. A SAML assertion is an XML document that contains trusted statements about a subject including, for example, a username and privileges. SAML assertions are usually digitally signed to ensure their authenticity.

Many large enterprises have deployed federated Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Identity Provider (IdP) systems, such as Ping Identity Ping Federate, CA SiteMinder, Open AM, and Windows ADFS 2.0 on their corporate intranets. These IAM and IdP systems handle the user authentication and SSO requirements for employees and partners. IAM and IdP systems use the SAML protocols to interoperate with partner websites outside their firewalls. Users can utilize their IAM and IdP systems to automatically authenticate their users to Cisco WebEx meeting services. This increases efficiency because users do not have to remember their usernames and passwords to start or join meetings on their Cisco WebEx sites.

Note

WebEx Meetings Server supports SAML 2.0 IdPs only. It does not support IdPs based on the older SAML 1.1 and WS-Federate standards. This restriction stands in contrast to the cloud-based Cisco WebEx meeting services which continue to support SAML 1.1 and WS-Federate. The following is a list of SAML 2.0 IdPs that have been validated to work with Cisco WebEx Meetings Server: Microsoft ADFS 2.0 (a free add-on to Microsoft Active Directory 2010) Ping Identity Ping Federate 6.6.0.17 Forgerock Open AM 10.0.0 CA SiteMinder 6.0 SP5 Because SAML 2.0 is an open standard, other SAML 2.0 IdPs might also operate with Cisco WebEx Meetings Server. However, other SAML 2.0 IdPs have not been tested by Cisco. It is therefore the user's responsibility to make any such integration operational.

Single sign-on (SSO) can benefit you in the following ways:

• Simplified user authentication—Out of the box, Cisco WebEx Meetings Server requires users to sign in using email addresses and self-selected passwords specific to the Meetings Server system. Users select their passwords upon activating their Meetings Server accounts. While this approach works well for most small- and mid-sized organizations, larger organizations prefer user authentication using corporate credentials—that is, Active Directory—for enhanced security. You can accomplish this goal by using SAML 2.0 SSO.

  Note	One added security benefit of SSO is that the corporate password is never actually sent to or stored in Cisco WebEx Meetings Server after the user authenticates successfully.

• Simplified user management—Large organizations with changing workforces due to normal attrition prefer to automate the process of user management when integrating with WebEx Meetings Server. This means automating the following:

  • User account creation when employees join the organization
  • User account updates when employees take on different roles within the organization
  • User account deactivation when employees leave the organization
  You can achieve automation for these events by configuring Auto Account Creation and Auto Account Update in the SSO section of the Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Administration site. We recommend that you turn on these features if they are also supported by your SAML IdPs. User accounts are automatically created and updated "on demand" when users authenticate successfully, thereby eliminating the need to create users manually using Cisco WebEx Administration. Similarly, users can no longer sign into their accounts after they leave the organization because the SAML 2.0 IdP blocks those users from signing in after they are removed from the SAML 2.0 IdP user database, which is usually a proxy for the underlying corporate directory.

Review these general steps for setting up SAML 2.0 SSO:

1. Ensure that your SAML 2.0 SSO infrastructure is in place and is integrated with your corporate directory. This implies setting up SAML 2.0 IdP software and the SSO authentication website. The authentication website is a portal where users enter their corporate credentials.
2. Ensure that users can access the SSO authentication website. This step is important because, as part of the sign-in process, Cisco WebEx Meetings Server redirects users to this authentication website.

   Note

   If your Cisco WebEx Meetings Server system is enabled for public access—allowing users to sign in and join meetings from the Internet—then it is critical to ensure that the SSO authentication website is also accessible from the Internet. This usually implies deploying the SAML 2.0 IdP in your DMZ. Without this extra step, users will see "404 site not found" errors when signing in to Cisco WebEx Meetings Server from the Internet.

3. Connect WebEx Meetings Server to the SAML 2.0 IdP using both of these methods:
   • Select Settings > Security > Federated SSO on your Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Administration site.
   • Follow the instructions in your SAML 2.0 IdP documentation. Note that these instructions vary from vendor to vendor and might even change from version to version of the SAML 2.0 IdP. This is another reason to ensure that you contact a qualified Cisco AUC partner or Cisco Advanced Services to help you implement the solution.

     Note	Do not use the instructions found on the Cisco Developer Network to set up SAML 2.0 IdPs because those instructions are intended for cloud-based Cisco WebEx meeting services and therefore do not work optimally with Cisco WebEx Meetings Server.