SSO—Browser-Artifact profile
Diagram illustrating the SSO browser-artifact process between the browser interface, the SP, and the IdP.

Processing steps

  1. A user logs on to the IdP.

    If a user is not logged on for some reason, the IdP challenges them to do so at step 2.

  2. The user clicks a link or otherwise requests access to a protected SP resource.
  3. Optionally, the IdP retrieves attributes from the user datastore.
  4. The IdP federation server generates an assertion, creates an artifact, and sends an HTTP redirect containing the artifact through the browser to the SP's Assertion Consumer Service (ACS).
  5. The ACS extracts the Source ID from the SAML artifact and sends an artifact-resolve message to the identity federation server's Artifact Resolution Service (ARS).
  6. The ARS sends a SAML artifact response message containing the previously-generated assertion.
  7. (Not shown) If the IdP returns a valid SAML assertion to the SP, a session is established on the SP and the browser is redirected to the target resource.