How Does SAML Work?

The process of the SAML is simple and easy. The following sequence of steps shows how the SAML works in AWS.

Step 1: User Visits The Portal

• The user visits the organization’s portal and chooses to access the AWS Management Console.
• The portal is a function of the Identity Provider (IdP) and manages trust exchange between the organization and AWS.

Step 2: The Portal Performs Verification

• It verifies the user’s identity within the organization and authenticates the user.
• Hence, the user can get access only upon successful authentication.

Step 3: Portal Generates SAML Assertion

• After the authentication, the portal generates a SAML authentication response that contains assertions identifying the user and including user attributes.
• You can also use the Configuration options like setting a SessionDuration attribute for console session validity.
• Additionally, the IdP can be configured to pass attributes as session tags. Finally, it sends this response to the client’s browser.

Step 4: Portal Redirects Client For SSO

• After the SAML assertion is generated, the portal redirects the client browser to the SSO end-point of the AWS.

Step 5: Request for Temporary Security Credentials

• At the AWS SSO endpoint, a request is made for temporary security credentials on behalf of the user.
• These credentials are used in creating a console sign-in URL. This URL is unique to the user.

Step 6: AWS Sign-in URL Sent to Client

• AWS responds by sending the generated sign-in URL back to the client’s browser.
• This exchange is facilitated through a redirect, seamlessly integrating AWS into the authentication flow.

Step 7: Client’s redirection to AWS Management Console

• At the end, the user’s browser follows this special link and takes them to the AWS Management Console.
• If the user has different roles (like different job responsibilities), they might be asked to choose which role they want before entering the console.
• This helps ensure they only have access to what they should.

Are you looking to enhance the security of your AWS Environment? If it is so, SAML can be a good choice. This article covers all the information about the SAML including its working and advantages. By the time you reach the end of this blog, you will gain a clear understanding of the SAML in your Cloud Environment.

When organizations provide multiple services, the users face difficulties in managing too many credentials for the different services. But what if they can access all the services or applications with a single credential? Wouldn’t it be efficient? It is a time-saving and efficient approach to provide services to the feature. This approach is termed a Single-Sign-On (SSO) feature and SAML is one of the most popular frameworks for this. In this article, we will learn how the SAML provides authentication features in the cloud environment.