SPP Authentication and Authorisation Issues

1
SPP Authentication and Authorisation Issues

• Francisco Queiros Pinto, Humbul
• Jan Grant, ILRT
• 03.02.03

2
Overview

• AthensSSO Issues
• Integration Problems
• Proposed Fix
• Early Interceptor
• SPP Portal Framework
• Current Portal Framework
• The AM Plug-in Approach
• The AM Portal Service Approach
• Future Work

3
Portal Framework
4
(Portal) Frameworks

• Jetspeed Portal Framework
• Plug-Ins
• Access Management
• User-Profiling
• Portlets
• Cross-Searching
• Alerting
• News-Feeds
• uPortal Portal Framework
• Channels
• Hub Frameworks
• Different Abstractions

5
Plugged-In AM
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Plugged-In AM

• Pros
• Simple Solution for a specific framework
• Easy to replace the existing functionality
• Efficient
• Runs in the same framework and environment as the
  Portal
• Cons
• Difficult to integrate in multiple frameworks
• Depends on the framework abstraction as in
  Jetspeed AM is built-in, in uPortal is a channel
  in Hubs is ???
• AM is developed in Java programming language
• Hubs use different programming languages (e.g.
  perl, php)
• Static interoperability

7
AM Portal Service
8
AM Portal Service

• Pros
• Easy to integrate in multiple frameworks
• There are SOAP Client APIs for most of the
  programming languages
• Access the AM Web Service
• There are SOAP Platforms for many programming
  languages
• Enable to Run and Reuse existing functionality at
  the Hubs
• Cons
• Require an additional level of communication
• SOAP runs on top of HTTP using XML
• In average 1.4 times less efficient

9
Future Work

• Parallel Threads
• Integrate AthensSSO in an early AM interceptor
• Implement Remaining AM Functionality
• Develop Further the AM Portal Service Approach
• Towards the Hubs Expectations for Integration,
  Additional Functionality, Wider Community
• Be In-line with the RDN/JISC Shared Services
• Work more closely with the User-Profiling
• Be prepared for the Future JISC Security
  Architecture