Working Group Chair: Walter Hoehn, University of Memphis
Working Group Flywheel: Nick Roy, Internet2
Email List: fed-interop-wg@incommon.org . To subscribe this list, email sympa@incommon.org with the subject line subscribe fed-interop-wg
The implementation profile this group created in the fall/spring has been transitioned to the Kantara Federation Interoperability Working Group.
The new home for this work on Github can be found here:
https://github.com/KantaraInitiative/SAMLprofiles/tree/master/edit/fedinterop
A rendered version of the profile can be found here:
https://kantarainitiative.github.io/SAMLprofiles/fedinterop.html
We encourage all who are interested to participate in, or at least monitor the ongoing push toward publishing the profile as a Kantara recommendation. Information about the Kantara FI-WG can be found at: https://kantarainitiative.org/groups/federation-interoperability-work-group/
The group has delivered its final report to the InCommon TAC, available here:
Final Report - Federation Interoperability Working Group 1
A PDF of the SAML Implementation Profile generated by the work of this group is available here:
SAML V2.0 Implementation Profile for Federation Interoperability 20160418.pdf
Access to the repository that contains the asciidoc source for the spec is documented here: Accessing GitLab Repository
The group has concluded the comment period, with no comments external to the group's membership. Finalization of the document and report to the TAC will be prepared shortly.
Update: January 26, 2016:
The group has concluded drafting of the interoperability profile:
http://walterhoehn.com/dl/SAML-Impl-Profile/rendered/main.html
This has been shared on the InCommon Participants, Shibboleth Developers, and REFEDS lists, for a public comment period lasting through February 15, 2016. Comments are welcomed at: fed-interop-wg@incommon.org.
The working group is well on its way to having a draft ready for public review. Although not fully "feature complete," and still undergoing heavy revision, much of the "SAML v2.0 Implementation Profile for Federation Interoperability" is in place, and can be seen here:
http://walterhoehn.com/dl/SAML-Impl-Profile/rendered/main.html
This document is updated every 5 minutes from changes pushed to its source control repository by group members, so it's always current.
If you're interested, please take some time to examine the document and provide feedback either by joining and commenting on the mailing list (see subscription info above) or by contacting the flywheel, Nick Roy, at nroy (at) internet2 dot edu.
When InCommon was created 10+ years ago, it was an explicit goal to keep the bar for membership and operational participation as low as possible. This helped to grow the Federation to its current size. However, this has also hindered interoperation. Members cannot make any real assumptions about policy, practices, and the supported functionality at other member sites when attempting to interoperate. Both IDPs and SPs suffer from this problem. Areas that are affected include:
This Working Group is charged with developing both minimal and best practice statements in order to improve the "interoperate by default" situation.
Different audiences can impact different aspects of this problem:
This Working Group will need to develop lists for all three audiences.
The Federation Interoperability Working Group will:
This Working Group is charged with developing the "WHAT" of interoperation in several different areas. Follow on efforts will be charged with developing specific technical recommendations for "HOW" sites can accomplish the WHAT.
This group is encouraged to think in terms of "levels" of compliance in each area (e.g. baseline, better, best).
This group is encouraged to coordinate, as appropriate, with other Federations and via REFEDS.
The group might want to have separate subgroups working on implementation vs deploy requirements.
Note: The InCommon Priorities item also mentions developing a replacement for the POP. The TAC has asked the AAC to approve and begin work on the TrustMark WG Charter that they developed, and to send the resulting report back to the TAC. The TAC will then develop a cover memo and assemble a package of documents to complete the Steering 2015 item.
Membership in the Working Group is open to all interested parties. Members join the Working Group by subscribing to the mailing list, participating in the phone calls, and otherwise actively engaging in the work of the group.
Details for accessing the working group's version control repository are here.