idFS Homepage online

The idFS homepage is now online. The site offers a downloadable version of idFS, current idFS-related news, documentation and related papers. Moreover, there is an online demo available that illustrates, how federated single sign on can be achieved through browser redirects.

idFS Version 2.3

idFS Version 2.3 is complete and available for download. It includes some minor fixes and is adjusted to .NET 3.5 / Visual Studio 2008. In addition, I have installed updated online demo on a public web server. The case study in the Web Engineering practical course worked out well. All groups were able to integrate their application, although one group needed some help for configuring advanced features.

idFS on .NET 3.5

idFS is compatible with the .NET Framework 3.5. Although the latest version of the framework is additive, this was not self-evident, as some aspects of idFS depend on rather deep, technical layers. This week, I upgraded it using Visual Studio 2008. Meanwhile, we are now using idFS within the project phase of this semester’s practical course on Web Engineering.

Student projects with idFS underway

The reengineering of idFS V2.2 is paying off again, as it is now being used within two student projects at the DSS group. One is using it for the protection of a Web application, possibly extending idFS with a new identity provider to authenticate against the university-wide account system. The other one is concerned with building a more capable and flexible identity store, adding more interfaces and management features.

idFS Version 2.2

The next version of Identity Federation System (idFS) is complete and deployed for the webengineering.org and iswe-ev.de web sites. idFS V2.2 core component is now a standalone library (formerly it was integrated into the WebComposition Service Linking System, WSLS). This makes it much easier to deploy, not requiring any sort of programming to secure an application. Additionally, idFS has been extended with the AuthorizationManager, a Web application to manage the access control policy for idFS-secured applications and services.

Real-life testbed for Federation research

Within the last few days, several Web sites have gone online, where I am involved in the development and operation process: a relaunch of the community portal webengineering.org, the official Web site of the International Society for Web Engineering e.V. (iswe-ev.de), and a homepage for the Hanoi research project. This is a nice opportunity for applying our Federation-related research approaches and systems. Currently, all sites already use idFS for access control.

idFS Version 2.1

After a longer period of work related to other things, I have recently found the time to continue working on my research prototype, the Identity Federation System (idFS). idFS is a system that can be used to secure Web applications and Web services with security tokens, based on Federation specifications. Today, I completed version 2.1, which solves some technical difficulties with certificates and is now compatible with the latest specifications.