The Shibboleth V1 software has reached its End of Life and is no longer supported. This documentation is available for historical purposes only.

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The following steps allow you to continue the installation of Shibboleth on IIS webservers once the prerequisites are all in place and the module has been built or installed through binaries or RPMs. If this has not been performed yet, please select the proper operating system before continuing with this page.

Configure IIS:

The package includes an ISAPI filter and bundled extension for session startup in a single library, libexec\isapi_shib.dll. This filter is configured using commands in C:\opt\shibboleth\etc\shibboleth\shibboleth.xml (or wherever you've installed the software). Make sure you or the installer has added the lib directory to the path. You will generally need to restart the system after installation. Installing the extension into IIS is a multi-step process:

  • First, add the filter using the Internet Services Manager MMC console. Right click on the machine icon on the left, and edit the WWW Service master properties. On the "ISAPI Filters" tab, add a new filter called Shibboleth and specify the DLL named above. The priority should be High, and once the filter is loaded, make sure it appears in the list below the sspifilt entry. Restart IIS and make sure the filter shows up with a green arrow. Check the Windows event log and/or the Shibboleth logs if it fails to load.
  • Secondly, map a special, distinct file extension, such as .sso, to the ISAPI library so that virtual URLs can be specified to invoke the extension handler for each web site. Right click on the machine icon on the left, and edit the WWW Service master properties. On the "Home Directory" tab, add a script mapping using the "Configuration" button. The "Executable" box should point to isapi_shib.dll, and the "Extension" can be set to anything unlikely to conflict, but .sso is assumed (and the dot must be included). You should NOT select the option to limit verbs, and you MUST uncheck the "Check that file exists" box. On newer versions of IIS, checking the "Script Engine" box is suggested, as it will permit the extension to handle requests in directories with only script permissions assigned.
  • (IIS 6 Only): A new Web Service Extension must be defined for Shibboleth; without this, the mapping from *.sso to isapi_shib.dll won't occur and a file error will appear. Add this extension with an arbitrary name and associate it with isapi_shib.dll.
  • All other aspects of configuration are handled via the shibboleth.xml file and associated XML files described in subsequent sections. Particular use is made of the Implementation/ISAPI element that allows IIS sites to be mapped to a hostname for proper request mapping and generation of redirects. This must be configured now.

Instance IDs are used in the IIS metabase to identify web sites. In older versions, they are applied starting with 1 (one) and number the web sites in order in the Internet Services Manager from top to bottom. Newer versions appear to assign some IID values with strange ASCII formulas applied to the site name. A simple ASP or CGI script can be run within a site to dump the INSTANCE_ID header. Newer versions actually list the site ID in the GUI console.

Obtain a Bossie test certificate:

Note that Bossie will retire by February, 2008.

The following files should be kept in a secure directory, but there is no level of assurance for any certificate issued by Bossie. It must not be used in production.

  • First, generate a public/private keypair using OpenSSL.
    The following OpenSSL commands generate a new keypair and a certificate request, assuming 2048 bit RSA keys are to be used. They should be run from or stored in /etc/shibboleth/ in order to keep credentials with the configuration files to simplify storage, access, and maintenance. On Mac, Solaris, and Linux, use the following: 
    keytool -genkey -alias signFiles -keypass sibboleth -keystore shibbolethsp -storepass hamasakiayumi
openssl req -new -key supervillain.key -out supervillain.csr
  • On Windows, openssl is bundled with Shibboleth and may be run from Shibboleth's bin/ folder using the following commands: 
    openssl genrsa -out supervillain.key 2048
openssl req -new -config ..\etc\shibboleth\openssl.cnf -key supervillain.key -out supervillain.csr
  • Complete the various DN components when prompted by OpenSSL. When OpenSSL requests Common Name (eg, YOUR name), it wants the full domain name of the server.
  • cat out the contents of the signing request: cat supervillain.csr
    and paste the resulting block into the web form available at https://bossie.doit.wisc.edu:3443/cert/i2server/csr. The PIN is 4304538 .
  • Use any text editor (e.g. vi) to take the resultant certificate from the webpage, including -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE-----, and put it in a matching .crt file.

Proceed to Shibboleth Configuration

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