---
title: Federate identities
description: AM supports linking, or federating, identities between the IdP and the SP.
component: pingam
version: 8.1
page_id: pingam:am-saml2:saml2-linking-accounts
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingam/8.1/am-saml2/saml2-linking-accounts.html
keywords: ["SAML 2.0", "Single Sign-on (SSO)", "Federation"]
page_aliases: ["saml2-guide:saml2-linking-accounts.adoc"]
---

# Federate identities

AM supports linking, or *federating*, identities between the IdP and the SP.

See the following table for a list of tasks to configure how AM federates identities:

| Task                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Resources                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Decide whether to permanently link identities**AM lets you choose whether to maintain the link between federated entities after logout (persistent federation) or to create a new link each time the user logs in (transient federation).Also, learn how to manage persistent federation. | * [Persistent or transient federation](persistent-or-transient-federation.html)                                                                                                  |
| **Link identities automatically**Configure AM to link identities automatically when they exist in both the IdP and the SP, or to create an account on the SP when the `NameID` that the IdP provides unequivocally identifies the identity.                                                 | - [Link identities automatically with auto-federation](auto-federation.html)

- [Create identities automatically with auto-federation](auto-federate-with-dynamic-creation.html) |
| **Link identities using the authentication service**Configure AM to link identities when the `NameID` that the IdP provides is not enough to unequivocally identify the identity.                                                                                                           | * [Link identities for authentication](linking-auth-tree.html)                                                                                                                   |
| **Link identities in the IdP to a single, shared account on the SP**Configure AM to temporarily link an identity in the IdP to, for example, the `anonymous` user in the SP.                                                                                                                | - [Link identities to a single, shared account](auto-federate-using-anonymous.html)                                                                                              |