F5 BIG-IP APM – SP Initiated for Office 365

I wrote about IdP Initiated for Office 365 last week. However, there are some people they don’t know yet what is the difference between IdP Initiated and SP Initiated. When we configure an IdP Initiated architecture, firstly users access to the IdP for authentication, secondly, SAML IdP validates credentials and collects data from directory. Finally, after selecting a SAML Resource, SAML IdP redirects user back to the SAML SP with a SAML assertion.

IdP initiated SAML

On the other hand, SP Initiated is a little bit different. Firstly, users access to the SAML SP. Secondly, SAML SP redirects users to SAML IdP where users authenticate. Thirdly, SAML IdP validates credentials and collects data from directory. Finally, SAML IdP redirects user back to SAML SP with SAML assertion. As you can see, the main difference is users access first to the SP instead of the IdP.

SP initiated SAML

We can watch in the next video how to configure SP Initiated for Office 365 with the guided configuration of F5 APM.

Thank you! See you soon!