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Communication Basics
In the vast majority most of cases enabling communication with a service provider simply requires loading :
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- into the IdP
- Adjusting attribute filters to release information to the SP
Loading the SP's metadata can be accomplished in a couple different ways. First, and easiest, is for the service provider to register with a federation whose metadata is already being loaded by the IdP. In this case all you have to do is wait for the metadata the IdP will receive the SPs metadata at its next metadata refresh (this occurs once a day by default). However, if the service provider is unable to register with a federation, or your IdP is not a member of a federation, you may load a new metadata source containing the service providers metadata. In most cases the service provider can provide a URL from which to load the metadata and you should Alternatively the IdP may establish some bi-lateral process for receiving the SPs metadata. For example, it may use the file-backed HTTP metadata provider to retrieve it .
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from an SP provided URL.
Advanced Configurations
Some service providers, especially those using something other than the Shibboleth Service Provider software, require special tuning of the messages that are sent to them (e.g. attributes pushed to them during the sign on process, certain messages signed or encrypted). These sorts of configurations may be set by creating per service provider configurations.