CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.netasp.net-mvcsingle-sign-onasp.net-identity
Itai Bar-Haim
Itai Bar-Haim

Reputation: 1674

ASP.NET Single Sign On

We have two servers that run on the same machine under the same domain.

Both written in ASP.NET and uses the Identity framework.

I need to implement Single Sign-On (and single sign out) between them.

Actual sign-in is done in AJAX (I POST the username and password, the server authenticate the user and sets the session, then sends the redirect data URL to the client).

I found overwhelming amount of information about OWIN, the Identity framework, Claims, etc.

I found tutorials explaining how to create projects using just about any modal dialog and any Wizard there is in Visual Studio, which I tried to understand but really is useless to me, as I already have authentication system up and running.

I even found some demos claiming to implement SSO in all kinds of ways, and some Stackoverflow questions that said to simply put this and that values in the web.config and you're done, which seemed strange to me and I figured out I'm missing some basic understanding of how it works.

Still, I can't understand how SSO works in ASP.NET Identity.

Can someone please explain it to me in a simple manner, or refer me to some kind of such explanation?

Again: I have two authentication systems up and running. What code and/or configuration changes I need to make to get Single Sign-On working?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1696

Answers (1)

Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt

Reputation: 239220

First, if you want them to share authentication, they need to be working on the same user store. In other words, you should factor out the Identity initialization code (ApplicationUser, ApplicationDbContext, ApplicationUserManager, and ApplicationSignInManager) into a class library that both applications share. Trying to mantain and share two separate databases with user data is going to be an impossible and insurmountable task.

Then, you need only ensure that both applications utilize the same machine key. The auth cookie is encrypted, and since the encryption is based on the machine key, both applications need to use the same key to encrypt/decrypt that cookie.

Since you've already stated that they will both be hosted on the same domain, that's all there is to it.

Upvotes: 2

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