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## Chapter 21. SAML SSO

Keycloak supports SAML 2.0 for registered applications. Both POST and Redirect bindings are supported. You can choose to require client signature validation and can have the server sign and/or encrypt responses as well. We do not yet support logout via redirects. All logouts happen via a background POST binding request to the application that will be logged out. We do not support SAML 1.1 either. If you want support for either of those, please log a JIRA request and we'll schedule it.

When you create an application in the admin console, you can choose which protocol the application will log in with. In the application create screen, choose `saml` from the protocol list. After that there are a bunch of configuration options. Here is a description of each item:

Include AuthnStatement

  SAML login responses may specify the authenticaiton method used (password, etc.) as well as a timestamp of the login. Setting this to on will include that statement in the response document.

Multi-valued Roles

  If this switch is off, any user role mapings will have a corresponding attribute created for it. If this switch is turn on, only one role attribute will be created, but it will have multiple values within in.

Sign Documents

  When turned on, Keycloak will sign the document using the realm's private key.

Sign Assertions

  With the `Sign Documents` switch signs the whole document. With this setting you just assign the assertions of the document.

Signature Algorithm

  Choose between a variety of algorithms for signing SAML documents.

Encrypt Assertions

  Encrypt assertions in SAML documents with the realm's private key. The AES algorithm is used with a key size of 128 bits.

Client Signature Required

  Expect that documents coming from a client are signed. Keycloak will validate this signature using the client keys set up in the `Application Keys` submenu item.

Force POST Binding

  By default, Keycloak will respond using the initial SAML binding of the original request. By turning on this switch, you will force Keycloak to always respond using the SAML POST Binding even if the original request was a the Redirect binding.

You have to specify an admin URL if you want logout to work. This should be a URL that will except single logout requests from the Keycloak server. You should also specify a default redirect url. Keycloak will redirect to this url after single logout is complete.

One thing to note is that roles are not treated as a hierarchy. So, any role mappings will just be added to the role attributes in the SAML document using their basic name. So, if you have multiple application roles you might have name collisions. You can use the Scope Mapping menu item to control which role mappings are set in the response.

## 21.1. SAML Entity Descriptor

If you go into the admin console in the application list menu page you will see an `Import` button. If you click on that you can import SAML Service Provider definitions using the Entity Descriptor format described in SAML 2.0. You should review all the information there to make sure everything is set up correctly.

Each realm has a URL where you can view the XML entity descriptor for the IDP. `root/realms/{realm}/protocol/saml/descriptor`

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