What is Single Sign-On?
Single Sign-On (SSO) allows users to access multiple systems and services with a single user authentication process. With SSO, users no longer need to input separate IDs and passwords for each system or service, greatly improving convenience.
For example, when using intranet systems, logging into Windows might also grant access to groupware and file servers automatically. As the number of systems and services utilized by users increases, the importance of SSO grows. Today, with business applications increasingly offered in web-based environments, enabling SSO for multiple web applications has become a critical requirement for improving both convenience and operational efficiency.
One effective method to achieve SSO is through the introduction of authentication mechanisms using reverse proxies. By deploying a reverse proxy at the frontend of a website, the reverse proxy handles user authentication and forwards authenticated user requests to the appropriate web applications based on access permissions. A product that supports such functionality is F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM).
SSO is not limited to internal systems and services; it can also include external services, enabling cross-domain Single Sign-On. This requires the transmission of user attribute information and access control data between domains. Technologies such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) enable this capability. SSO across domains is referred to as federated authentication, and F5 BIG-IP APM also supports SAML for secure and seamless access management.