What is SAML and what are identity providers?

Products

• CloudHealth

Issue/Introduction

Single-Sign-On (SSO) uses Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML).

SAML is an XML-based, open-standard data format for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties, particularly between an identity provider (such as Okta, Ping, Azure AD, ADFS, or Google Apps) and a service provider (such as Auth0).

An Identity Provider (IDP) is software that is built around managing user access. When configured, an IDP sends SAML assertions to the platform when configured.

When a user logs in, the IDP sends data to the platform. This data is called an assertion, and it contains attributes like “email,” “name,” and “roles.” These attributes allow the platform to create the user in the platform.