SAML Key terms

Read this section to get familiarized with the terms used in SAML-authenticated enrollment.

Table 1. Important terms in SAML authentication
Key term Description
Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) The URL location where the SAML assertion is sent.
EntityID A globally unique name for the SP. Formats vary, but it’s increasingly common to see this value formatted as a URL.
Identity Provider (IdP) Performs authentication and passes the user's identity and authorization level to the service provider.
RelayState Deep linking for SAML. This tells the SP where to take the user once they have successfully logged in.
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) It is an XML-based open-standard for transferring identity data between two parties: an identity provider (IdP) and a service provider (SP).
Single Sign-On (SSO) Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication mechanism that allows users to use a single set of login credentials to access multiple software applications or services.
Service Provider (SP) Trusts the identity provider and authorizes the given user to access the requested resource.