About the platform
The ForgeRock® Identity Platform is the only offering for access management, identity management, user-managed access, directory services, and an identity gateway, designed and built as a single, unified platform.
About this documentation
This documentation includes general statements of functionality for the following software:
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ForgeRock Access Management 7.5, with Web Agent 2024.3 and Java Agent 2024.3
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ForgeRock Identity Management 7.5
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ForgeRock Directory Services 7.5
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ForgeRock Edge Security module
This documentation describes in general terms the ForgeRock modules that compose the ForgeRock Identity Platform, and indicates where to find the documentation corresponding to each module. This documentation is not meant to serve as a statement of functional specifications. Software functionality may evolve in incompatible ways in major and minor releases, and occasionally in maintenance (patch) releases. Release notes cover many incompatible changes. If you see an incompatible change for a stable interface that is not mentioned in the release notes, please report an issue with the product documentation for that release.
Deployment enhancements
In addition to the modules listed in the preceding section, you can use the following ForgeRock software to enhance platform deployments.
Run the platform in containers on Kubernetes
The ForgeRock Identity Platform (AM, IDM, DS, IG, and the platform UI) is supported when running in containers on Kubernetes platforms, including Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and IBM RedHat OpenShift. It is recommended that you have a support contract in place with your Kubernetes platform vendor or partner to resolve any infrastructure or Kubernetes platform-related issues, as ForgeRock supports the identity platform while the Kubernetes vendor or partner provides support for their platform.
Customers are responsible for building images and running containers of the ForgeRock software components using a supported operating system and all required software dependencies.
Kubernetes deployment tools from ForgeRock
ForgeRock provides a reference toolset in the forgeops and forgeops-extras Git repositories for automating the deployment of the ForgeRock Identity Platform in Kubernetes. These reference tools are provided for use with Google Kubernetes Engine, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, and Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service. (ForgeRock supports running the identity platform on IBM RedHat OpenShift but does not provide the reference tools for IBM RedHat OpenShift.)
ForgeRock also publishes reference Docker images for testing and development, but these images should not be used in production. For production deployments, it is recommended that customers build and run containers using a supported operating system and all required software dependencies. Additionally, to help ensure interoperability across container images and the ForgeOps tools, Docker images must be built using the Dockerfile templates as described in the ForgeOps documentation.
Partner offerings
ForgeRock’s partner, Midships Limited, offers a Kubernetes deployment accelerator (supported by Midships) for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and IBM RedHat OpenShift.
ForgeRock IoT
Things are physical objects that can connect with each other, and with other systems through the Internet, without human intervention. Examples include smart home devices, such as window sensors and door locks, smart TVs, health and fitness monitors, vehicles, and manufacturing equipment.
To participate in a connected system, a Thing needs an identity that it uses to authenticate, authorize, create relationships, and more. ForgeRock IoT enables dynamic registration, authentication, and authorization of Things with identities, without the need for human intervention.
As soon as Things connect to a network, they become a security concern. You need to be able to trust and monitor the Things that are connected to your network, and accessing your services or APIs. The ForgeRock Identity Platform, including ForgeRock IoT, provides standards-based authorization using the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework. It gives you a single view of all the identities in your system—customers, employees, Things, and the relationships between them. ForgeRock IoT also lets you manage offline and constrained devices, and delivers identities to Things at the edge of your network, where the data is being generated.
See the ForgeRock IoT documentation.
ForgeRock Authenticator application
This app allows end users to perform multi-factor authentication and transactional authorization from a registered Android or iOS device. It is designed for use in both multi-factor and passwordless authentication scenarios. It is associated with a Push Authentication Simple Notification Service module that depends on the module described in Intelligent Access modules.
Access Management
Access Management modules:
Overview of capabilities
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Intelligent access
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Mobile authentication
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Push authentication
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Adaptive risk authentication
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Authorization policies and enforcement
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Federation
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Single sign-on (SSO)
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User self-services and social sign-on
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High-availability and scalability
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Adaptable monitoring and auditing services
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Developer-friendly, rich standards support
Dependencies
Several Access Management modules require other modules. For example, the Federation module requires the Intelligent Access module. The following diagram summarizes Access Management module dependencies:
Intelligent Access modules
This module will help you build secure, robust, centrally managed single sign-on services. The user, application, or device signs on once and then is granted appropriate access everywhere. Authentication management integrates delegated authentication chains with many authentication methods supported by default. Authentication trees store authentication sessions in the client as a cookie, or in the CTS store. If the AM server goes down or the user is redirected to another AM while authenticating, the new AM server can grab the authentication session and continue the flow. All authentication-related events are logged for auditing and reporting purposes.
Required modules: none.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Authentication trees and nodes |
Authentication trees provide fine-grained authentication, social authentication, and multi-factor authentication. Trees are made up of authentication nodes. Authentication nodes allow multiple paths and decision points throughout the authentication flow, enabling AM to handle different modes of authenticating users. |
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Session high availability |
Persistent access management sessions, authenticating the user until the session expires. |
Session high availability is enabled by default with no setup required. |
Multi-factor and strong authentication |
Capability to challenge for additional credentials when authentication takes place under centrally-defined risky or suspicious conditions. |
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External configuration store |
Configuration storage in ForgeRock Directory Services for high-availability. |
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Security token service |
Bridges identities across web and enterprise identity access management (IAM) systems through a token transformation process, securely providing cross-system access to service resources by authenticated requesting applications. |
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Web and Java agents for SSO |
Intercept requests to access protected resources and redirect for appropriate authentication. |
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User login analytics |
Measure authentication flows using counters and start/stop timers to monitor performance. |
Authorization module
This module will help you create powerful, context-based policies with a GUI-based policy editor and with REST APIs to control access to online resources. Resources can be URLs, external services, or devices and things. Authorization management lets you manage policies centrally and enforce them locally through installable agents, or through REST, C, and Java applications. Authorization management is extensible, making it possible to define external subjects, complex conditions, and custom access decisions.
Required module: Intelligent Access.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Entitlement policies |
Modern web-based policy editor for building policies, making it possible to add and update policies as needed without touching the underlying applications. |
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Web and Java agents for enforcement |
Access enforcement for online resources with the capability to require higher levels of authentication and session upgrade when accessing sensitive resources. |
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Transactional authorization |
Requires a user to perform additional actions such as reauthenticating to a module or node, or responding to a push notification, to gain access to a protected resource. |
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OAuth 2.0 dynamic scopes |
A single OAuth 2.0 client configured for a comprehensive list of scopes can serve different scope subsets to resource owners based on policy conditions. |
Federation module
This module will help you extend SSO capabilities across organization boundaries based on standards-based interoperability.
Required module: Intelligent Access.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
SAML 2.0 IDP and SP |
Identity federation with SaaS applications, such as Salesforce.com, Google Apps, WebEx, and many more. |
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SAML 2.0 SSO and SLO |
Web Single Sign-On and Single Logout profile support. |
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ADFS |
Federation with Active Directory Federation Services. |
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SAML 2.0 Attribute and Advanced Profiles |
Support for transmitting only attributes used by targeted applications. |
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OpenID Connect |
OpenID Connect 1.0 compliance for running an OpenID Provider, including advanced profiles, such as Mobile Connect. |
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OAuth 2.0 |
OAuth 2.0 compliance for running an authorization server. |
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Social login |
For acting as an OAuth 2.0 client of social identity providers, such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. |
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OAuth 2.0 dynamic scopes |
A single OAuth 2.0 client configured for a comprehensive list of scopes can serve different scope subsets to resource owners based on policy conditions. |
User-Managed Access module
This module consists of a consumer-facing implementation of the User-Managed Access (UMA) 2.0 standard. The standard defines an OAuth 2.0-based protocol designed to give individuals a unified control point for authorizing who and what can access their digital data, content, and services. For example, you can use this module to build a solution where end users can delegate access through a share button, and then monitor and change sharing preferences through a central dashboard.
Required modules: Authorization, Intelligent Access.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
UMA standard conformance |
Conformance to the UMA 2.0 standard for interoperability with organizational and partner systems, including federated authorization and customer-centric use cases. |
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UMA authorization server |
Authorization server with dynamic resource set registration, end-user control of resource sharing, responses to access requests, and full audit history. |
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UMA protector |
ForgeRock Identity Gateway protection for resources and services with the UMA 2.0 standard. |
Identity Management
ForgeRock Identity Management 7.5 brings together multiple sources of identity for policy and workflow-based management that puts you in control of the data. Build a solution to consume, transform, and feed data to external sources to help you maintain control over identities of users, devices, and things. Identity governance features in ForgeRock Identity Management let you gain visibility into employee provisioning, and help you proactively take action in managing employee access to external systems.
Identity Management modules:
Overview of capabilities
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Provisioning
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Synchronization and reconciliation
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Adaptable monitoring and auditing services
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Connections to cloud services with simple social registration
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Flexible developer access
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Password synchronization
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Identity data visualization
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Delegated administration
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User self-service
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Privacy and consent
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Progressive profile completion
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Workflow engine
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OpenICF connector framework to external systems
Dependencies
Several Identity Management modules require other modules. For example, the Synchronization module requires the Identity Lifecycle and Relationship module. The following diagram summarizes Identity Management module dependencies:
Identity Synchronization module
This module can serve as the foundation for provisioning and identity data reconciliation. Synchronization capabilities are available as a service and hrough REST APIs to be used directly by external applications. Activities occurring in the system can be configured to log and audit events for reporting purposes.
Required module: Identity Lifecycle and Relationship.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Discovery and synchronization |
Synchronization of identity data across managed data stores. |
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Reconciliation |
Alignment between accounts across managed data stores. |
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Password synchronization |
Near real-time password synchronization across managed data stores. |
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Directory Services and Active Directory plugins |
Native password synchronization plugins for ForgeRock Directory Services and Microsoft Active Directory. |
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Delegated administration |
Grant role-based, limited access to perform fine-grained administrative tasks on managed objects. |
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All connectors |
Extensible interoperability for identity, compliance, and risk management across a variety of specific applications and services. |
Self-Service module
This module can be used to allow end users to manage their own passwords and profiles securely according to predefined policies.
Required modules:
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Full capabilities: Identity Lifecycle and Relationship.
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Basic capabilities: Intelligent Access. See User self-service for information about self-service capabilities in AM.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
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User self-registration |
End-user self-service UI that lets users create their own accounts with customizable criteria. |
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Password reset |
End-user self-service UI for changing and resetting passwords based on predefined policies and security questions. |
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Knowledge-based authentication |
Verification for user identities based on predefined and end user-created security questions. |
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Forgotten username |
Mechanisms to allow users to recover their usernames with predefined policies. |
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Progressive profile completion |
Short forms used to simplify registration and incrementally collect profile data over time. |
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Profile and privacy management dashboard |
Dashboard for managing personal user information. |
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Consent and preference management |
Configurable user preferences. |
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Terms and conditions (or terms of service) versioning |
Manage multiple terms and conditions. |
Workflow module
This module can be used to visually organize identity synchronization, reconciliation, and provisioning into repeatable processes with logging and auditing for reporting purposes.
Required modules: Self-Service, Identity Lifecycle and Relationship.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
BPMN 2.0 support |
Standards-based Business Process Model and Notation 2.0 support. |
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Flowable process engine |
Lightweight workflow and business process management platform. |
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Workflow-driven provisioning |
Define provisioning workflows for self-service, sunrise and sunset processes, approvals, escalations, and maintenance. |
Social Identity module
With this module, you can allow users to register and authenticate with specified standards-compliant social identity providers. These users can also link multiple social identity providers to the same account, thus establishing a single consumer identity.
With the attributes collected from each user profile, you can configure the module to authorize access to applications and resources, including lead generation tools.
Required modules: Self-Service, Identity Lifecycle and Relationship.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Registration |
User registration with social identity accounts. |
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Authentication |
Social login for identity management. |
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Account linking |
Users can select specific social identity providers for logins. |
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Attribute scope management |
Administrators can include any or all scopes available, by social identity provider. |
Identity Lifecycle and Relationship module
This module can help you to provision user identities into IDM, and includes the capability to manage roles, relationships between identities, and entitlements.
Required modules: none.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
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Inbound provisioning engine |
Provisioning engine to import data from an external resource into IDM. |
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Data modeling |
Ability to map IDM objects to tables in a JDBC database or to organizational units in a DS repository. |
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Identity lifecycle management |
An extensible object model that enables you to manage the complete lifecycle of identity objects. |
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Identity relationship lifecycle management |
Ability to create and track relationship references between objects. |
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Role lifecycle management |
Provisioning roles to control how objects are exported to external systems and authorization roles to control authorization within IDM. |
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Entitlement lifecycle management |
Entitlements to provision attributes or sets of attributes, based on role membership. |
Directory Services
ForgeRock Directory Services 7.5 serves as a foundation for LDAPv3 and RESTful directories.
Directory Services modules:
Overview of capabilities
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Large-scale, distributed read and write performance
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Flexible key-value data model for storing users, devices, and things
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Data storage with confidentiality, integrity, and security
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High-availability through data replication and proxy services
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Single logical entry point for use in protecting LDAPv3 directory services
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Load balancing and failover for LDAPv3 directory services
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Maximum interoperability and pass-through delegated authentication
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Adaptable monitoring and auditing services
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Easy installation, configuration, and management
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Developer-friendly, rich standards support
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REST API to access LDAP native capabilities over HTTP
Directory Server module
The ForgeRock Directory Server module helps you store store identities for users, devices, and things in a highly available and secure way. This module provides data replication to help you build highly available directory services. It also offers fine-grained access control, password digests, encryption schemes, and customizable password policies to allow you to build very secure directory services. Data may be accessed using LDAP or REST with the same level of security constraints and access control.
Required modules: none.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
LDAPv3 |
Compliance with the latest LDAP protocol standards. |
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HDAP |
Access LDAP data over HTTP using Directory Access Protocol (HDAP) APIs that transform HTTP operations into LDAP operations. |
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High-availability multi-master replication |
Data replication for always-on services, enabling failover and disaster recovery. |
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User/object store |
Flexible key-value data model for storing users, devices, and things. |
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Passwords and data security |
Password digests, encryption schemes, and customizable rules for password policy compliance to help protect data on disk and shared infrastructure. |
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REST APIs and REST to LDAP gateway (deprecated) |
HTTP-based RESTful access to user data. |
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DSMLv2 gateway (deprecated) |
HTTP-based SOAP access to LDAP operations for web services. |
Directory Proxy Server module
The ForgeRock Directory Proxy Server module helps you increase the availability of a Directory Service deployment, providing a single point of access to a large-scale distributed data store. The module offers a choice of strategies for request load balancing and failover. Data may be accessed using LDAP or REST with the same level of security constraints and access control.
Required modules: none.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Single point of access |
Uniform view of underlying LDAPv3 directory services for client applications. |
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High service availability |
LDAP services with reliable crossover and DN-based routing. |
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Load balancing and failover |
Configurable load balancing across directory servers with redundancy, and capabilities to handle referrals, connection failures, and network partitions. |
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Protection for Directory Services |
Secure incoming and outgoing connections, and provide coarse-grained access control. |
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Scaling out using data distribution |
Distribute data across multiple shards. |
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LDAPv3 |
Compliance with the latest LDAP protocol standards. |
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REST APIs |
HTTP-based RESTful access to user data. |
Edge Security
Use the ForgeRock Edge Security software to integrate web applications, APIs, microservices, Internet of Things devices, and cloud-based services with the ForgeRock Identity Platform.
Edge Security module:
Edge Security Identity Gateway module
ForgeRock Identity Gateway helps you integrate web applications, APIs, and microservices with the ForgeRock Identity Platform, without modifying the application or the container where it runs. Based on reverse proxy architecture, it enforces security and access control in conjunction with the Access Management modules.
ForgeRock Identity Gateway software provides the following capabilities:
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Protection for IoT services, microservices, and APIs
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Policy enforcement
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Adaptable throttling, monitoring, and auditing
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Secure token transformation
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Support for identity standards such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, and UMA 2.0
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Password capture and replay
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Rapid prototyping
Required modules: none.
| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
Studio |
User interface for rapid development and prototyping. |
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Single sign-on |
Single sign-on in a single domain and across domains. |
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Password replay |
Secure replay of credentials to legacy applications or APIs. |
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Policy enforcement |
Enforcement of centralized authorization policies for applications requiring Access Management. |
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Federation |
OpenID Connect 1.0. |
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OAuth 2.0. |
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SAML 2.0. |
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SAML resources for mobile applications. |
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Finance APIs |
Support for OAuth 2.0 Mutual TLS and Financial-Grade APIs. |
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WebSocket protocol |
Detection of requests to upgrade from HTTPS to the WebSocket protocol, and creation of a secure, dedicated tunnel to send and receive WebSocket traffic. |
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Throttling |
Throttling to limit access to protected applications. |
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UMA resource server |
Protection for resources and services according to the UMA 2.0 standard. |
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DevOps tooling |
Deployment of basic and customized configurations through Docker. |
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Integration with ForgeRock Identity Cloud |
Protection and integration of APIs and applications with ForgeRock Identity Cloud for authentication and authorization. |
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Microgateway |
Identity Gateway standalone deployed as a microgateway, securing microservices with OAuth 2.0. |
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Token Validation Microservice |
Platform satellite for introspection of stateful and stateless OAuth 2.0 access tokens. |