Securing Web Applications with ACS
Updated: June 19, 2015
Applies To: Azure
Important
ACS namespaces can migrate their Google identity provider configurations from OpenID 2.0 to OpenID Connect. Migration must be completed before June 1, 2015. For detailed guidance, see Migrating ACS Namespaces to Google OpenID Connect.
Scenario
In this scenario a web application needs to integrate with a third-party authentication identity management system.
There are several challenges associated with the scenario:
How to redirect unauthenticated requests to the required identity provider?
How to validate the incoming token issued by the identity provider?
How to parse the incoming token?
How to implement authorization checks?
How to transform tokens by adding, removing, or changing the claims types and values?
How to do all of the above using configuration rather than coding?
Solution
Microsoft Azure Active Directory Access Control (also known as Access Control Service or ACS) provides a solution to the scenario as depicted in the following image.
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) is used to redirect unauthenticated requests to ACS. ACS redirects the requests to the configured identity provider.
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) is used to validate incoming tokens.
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) is used to parse the incoming tokens.
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) is used to implement authorization checks.
The ACS rule engine is used to transform tokens.
Most of the work is done using the configuration either in the application’s web.config or/and through the ACS Management Portal.
Solution Summary
Category | Topics |
---|---|
Federation |
Explained How-To’s |
Authentication |
Explained How-To’s |
Authorization |
Explained How-To’s |
Token flow and transformation |
Explained How-To’s |
Trust management |
Explained How-To’s |
Code Samples |