You can set up access to PhixFlow either through PhixFlow Users Managing the User List, by integrating with your Active Directory infrastructure, or with SAML. If you integrate with SAML, Access Control is maintained by mapping Active Directory Groups to PhixFlow User Groups, as described below. By using the SAML integration users will be redirected to a chosen identity provider page where they will enter their username and password. If they are successfully authenticated they will then be redirected to PhixFlow and logged in.

This page describes how to integrate PhixFlow with SAML:. 

Contents

Configure phixflow-login.xml

Configuration details for SAML are configured in the file phixflow-SAMLlogin.xml, under [tomcat root]/webapps/phixflow/WEB-INF/classes. When you first install PhixFlow, you probably created a copy of this file by simply copying the example file phixflow-login.xml.example (see Install PhixFlow Webapp).

Configure the authentication manager

Add the SAML auth provider (which is already defined) to the authenticationProvider.

Find this section of the file:

	<security:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
		<!-- test authentication provider, leave commented out -->
		<!-- <security:authentication-provider ref="testAuthProvider" /> -->

		<!-- local authentication provider - provide access for CenterView database users. Don't change it -->
		<security:authentication-provider ref="localAuthProvider" />

		<!-- Add an Active Directory Authentication Provider below this line; uncomment if using active directory integration -->
		<!-- <security:authentication-provider ref="exampleActiveDirectoryAuthProvider" /> -->

		<!-- Add SAML Authentication Provider; uncomment if using saml / single sign-on -->
		<!-- <security:authentication-provider ref="samlAuthProvider"/> -->
	</security:authentication-manager>

... and edit it to look like this (omitting comments):

	<security:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
		<security:authentication-provider ref="localAuthProvider" />
		<security:authentication-provider ref="samlAuthProvider" />
	</security:authentication-manager>

We recommend that you do not remove the localAuthProvider, and that you retain a local administrator user so that you can still login in the event of a problem with the active directory SAML integration.

Enable SAML beans

These 2 blocks serve to disable the bulk of the file for the normal case where SAML is not required.

Find these lines and remove them or comment them out:

Configure Login Forms

Enable SAML beans

These 2 blocks serve to disable the bulk of the file for the normal case where SAML is not required.

Find these lines and remove them or comment them out:

	<!-- comment out to enable saml / single sign-on -->
	<beans profile="saml">

E.g.

	<!-- comment out to enable saml / single sign-on -->
	<!--
	<beans profile="saml">
	-->

Find these lines, near the end of the file, and remove them or comment them out:

	<!-- comment out to enable saml -->
	</beans>

Configure the keyManager

E.g.

	<!-- comment out to enable saml -->
	<!--
	</beans>
	-->

Configure the keyManager

The SAML integration requires one or more public/private keys. These are stored in a Java keystore file, and the information needed to access that file is configured in the keyManager.

Instructions for creating a keystore can be found here: Configure Tomcat For HTTPS.

Below is an example of a keystore:

	<!-- The KeyStore stores encryption keys -->
	<bean id="keyManager" class="org.springframework.security.saml.key.JKSKeyManager">
		<!-- the keystore file -->
		<constructor-arg value="file:/opt/tomcat/secure/keystore.jks" />
		<!-- password protecting the keystore -->
		<constructor-arg type="java.lang.String" value="keyStorePassword" />
		<constructor-arg>
			<map>
				<!-- key alias and key-specific password; add one entry for each key in the keystore -->
				<entry key="keyAlias" value="keyPassword" />
			</map>
		</constructor-arg>
		<!-- default key alias -->
		<constructor-arg type="java.lang.String" value="defaultKeyAlias" />
	</bean>

For the most basic configuration just replace the "file:/.../keystore.jks" with your keystore, "KeyStorePassword" with your keystore password and "keyPassword" with your key password.

Configure the Context Provider

The context provider communicates the external view of the PhixFlow server to other parts of the configuration.

If the server does not run behind a reverse proxy, you can skip the rest of this section.

If the server runs behind a reverse proxy, a different context provider must be configured to reflect the public view of the service.

Find this section:

	<!-- Context Provider -->

	<!-- context provider when behind reverse proxy -->
	<!-- see https://docs.spring.io/autorepo/docs/spring-security-saml/1.0.x/reference/html/configuration-advanced.html -->
	<!--  
	<bean id="contextProvider" class="org.springframework.security.saml.context.SAMLContextProviderLB">
		<property name="scheme" value="https"/>
		<property name="serverName" value="www.myserver.com"/>
		<property name="serverPort" value="443"/>
		<property name="includeServerPortInRequestURL" value="false"/>
		<property name="contextPath" value="/spring-security-saml2-sample"/>
	</bean>
	-->

	<!-- context provider when not behind reverse proxy -->
	<bean id="contextProvider" class="org.springframework.security.saml.context.SAMLContextProviderImpl" />

Edit this by deleting the original contextProvider, uncommenting the reverse proxy version, and changing the serverName, serverPort and contextPath to match the public view.

It should look something like this (comments omitted):

	<bean id="contextProvider" class="org.springframework.security.saml.context.SAMLContextProviderLB">
		<property name="scheme" value="https"/>
		<property name="serverName" value="myserver.com"/>
		<property name="serverPort" value="443"/>
		<property name="includeServerPortInRequestURL" value="false"/>
		<property name="contextPath" value="/phixflow"/>
	</bean>

Configure the Metadata Generator

The core of the interaction between a SAML identity provider (e.g. Active Directory Federation Services) and a SAML Service Provider (e.g. PhixFlow) relies on the exchange of metadata. Each party generates metadata which describes how to connect to it, and that metadata must be installed into the other party before any connection can be made.

The metadata generator generates the PhixFlow server's metadata based on configuration parameters and data available when a user tries to connect to it.

Find the metadata generator section:

	<!-- filter that generates metadata based on configured properties -->
	<bean id="metadataGeneratorFilter" class="org.springframework.security.saml.metadata.MetadataGeneratorFilter">
		<constructor-arg>
			<bean class="org.springframework.security.saml.metadata.MetadataGenerator"> 
				<property name="entityId" value="urn:test:phixflow:phixflow" />
				<property name="entityBaseURL" value="http(s)https://myhostname:myport/phixflow" />
				<property name="extendedMetadata">
					<bean class="org.springframework.security.saml.metadata.ExtendedMetadata">
						<property name="idpDiscoveryEnabled" value="false" />
					</bean>
				</property>
			</bean>
		</constructor-arg> 
	</bean>

Then

• change the entityId value to something that globally identifies the PhixFlow instance
• change the entityBaseURL value to the URL normally used to start PhixFlow. If PhixFlow is running behind a reverse proxy, this should be the public URL, not the internal URL which only the proxy sees.