Federated Authentication in QPR UI

It's possible to authenticate to QPR MobileDashboard using federated authentication by SAML 2.0 protocol (more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAML_2.0). SAML 2.0 enables to use any compatible identity provider, such as Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS). QPR MobileDashboard works as an service provider role (SP) in the configuration.

QPR MobileDashboard as SAML 2.0 Service Provider

When QPR MobileDashboard is configured as SAML 2.0 service provider, users can authenticate via the configured SAML 2.0 identity provider by clicking "LOG IN USING SSO" button in the login screen. This redirect user to the identity provider for authentication. When the autentication is done, user is redirected back to QPR MobileDashboard and where user is then logged in. Alternatively, QPR MobileDashboard can be configured to redirect automatically to the identity provider, so that users don't even see QPR MobileDashboards login screen.

When QPR MobileDashboard is configured to an identity provider, QPR MobileDashboard can be used to provide authentication to QPR Suite. This is done using common authentication.

QPR MobileDashboard creates new users automatically, when a user first time logins to QPR MobileDashboard using SAML 2.0. Note that common QPR authentication doesn't support creating new users, so to QPR Suite, users need to be created beforehand with QPR User Management Client.

Configuring QPR MobileDashboard as SAML 2.0 Service Provider

The preferred way to configure QPR MobileDashboard to work as a SAML 2.0 service provider is to define the following entries using the QPR MobileDashboard installer. The entries can also be added to the CONFIGURATIONENTITY table in the QPR MobileDashboard database after installing QPR MobileDashboard.

KEY_FIELD	VALUE_FIELD
SAML_CONSUMER_URL	"<Location of your QPR MobileDashboard installation>/EnticeServices/rest/authenticate/saml", e.g. "http://localhost:8080/EnticeServices/rest/authenticate/saml". This is the corresponding field for the "SAML consumer URL" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_METADATA_URL	"<The metadata URL of the identity provider>", e.g. "https://your.federated.identity.provider.com/saml/metadata". This is the corresponding field for the "Federation metadata URL" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_SERVER_ENTITY_IDENTIFIER	"<The server entity identifier URL>", e.g. "http://your.federated.identity.provider.com/services/trust". This entry is used if the metadata contains multiple server entries. This is the corresponding field for the "Server entity identifier" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_USER_ID_ATTRIBUTE	The name of the SAML attribute in the assertion that will be used as the user's login name, e.g. "loginname". If the attribute is not given, the NameID of the SAML subject is used. If the user login name in your QPR Suite is the user's email address, the attribute definition is usually not needed. This is the corresponding field for the "User id attribute" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.

An alternative way is to is to define the following entries using the QPR MobileDashboard installer. The entries can also be added to the CONFIGURATIONENTITY table in the QPR MobileDashboard database after installing QPR MobileDashboard.

KEY_FIELD	VALUE_FIELD
SAML_CONSUMER_URL	"<Location of your QPR MobileDashboard installation>/EnticeServices/rest/authenticate/saml", e.g. "http://localhost:8080/EnticeServices/rest/authenticate/saml". This is the corresponding field for the "SAML consumer URL" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_REDIRECT_URL	"<The redirect URL of the identity provider>", e.g. "https://your.federated.identity.provider.com/saml/http-post/sso". This is the corresponding field for the "Federated authentication provider's redirect URL" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_SIGNING_CERTIFICATE	"<X.509 Certificate>". This is the corresponding field for the "Federated authentication provider's signing certificate" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.
SAML_USER_ID_ATTRIBUTE	The name of the SAML attribute in the assertion that will be used as the user's login name, e.g. "loginname". If the attribute is not given, the NameID of the SAML subject is used. If the user login name in your QPR Suite is the user's email address, the attribute definition is usually not needed. This is the corresponding field for the "User id attribute" in the Federated Authentication Configuration step of the installation.

There is also a following optional setting available:

KEY_FIELD	VALUE_FIELD
SAML_AUTOMATIC_LOGIN	When set to "1", user is automatically redirected from the QPR MobileDashboard login page to the SAML identity provider without the need to click the "LOG IN USING SSO" button.