Joint Information Systems Committee The JISCs Core Middleware Programme Terry Morrow JISC Consultant

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Summary Athens JISC Core Middleware Programme –Technology Development –Infrastructure Early adopter programme The Future

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 The Athens Story Athens developed in the UK –over 10 years old –solution to problem of multiple identities accessing multiple remote services –centralised authentication + authorisation Technology plus infrastructure –Help desk, local administrators etc Very successful –500 HE/FE institutions; over 2 million usernames registered –Ahead of its time Most service providers have provided an Athens compliant access mechanism –Mandatory for recent supplier contracts with JISC –Approximately 200 licensed resources controlled via Athens

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Athens – good, but not perfect Requires management of separate Athens accounts –Users must obtain separate Athens username password (Classic Athens) –Have to remember Athens username/password – only used for remote services –AthensDA works more like Shibboleth (local ids used) Little take-up of Athens outside UK –though used in other sectors in the UK - eg Health service Service providers have to licence Athens - cost Centralised service – relatively high operational costs Not well suited to increasingly complex authorisation scenarios Meanwhile, other countries starting to adopt SAML/Shibboleth based technologies –USA (InCommon), Switzerland (SWITCHaai), Finland (HAKA)

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

JISCs Core Middleware Programme Programme : Commenced April 2004; two components: –Technology Development –Infrastructure Aims: better understanding of middleware potential and application within HE and FE build a working Shibboleth infrastructure support take-up and use of Shibboleth within HE and FE ensure developments are embedded within HE and FE ensure join-up across JISC development in relation to middleware More details online at –

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

Joint Information Systems Committee Core Middleware Technology Development Programme

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Technology Development Core Middleware: Technology Development Programme –April 2004 – March 2007 Programme has funded 15 different projects Supports investigations into several key areas: –Internal (intra-institutional) applications –Access to external, third-party resources –Inter-institutional use stable, long-term resource sharing between defined groups e.g. shared e-learning scenarios ad hoc collaborations, potentially dynamic in nature (virtual organisations or VOs)

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Technologies Some of the technologies investigated: –PERMIS (Privilege and Role Management Infrastructure Standards) –RADIUS (Wireless Networking and Roaming) –SHIBBOLETH 15 Projects include eg: –PERMIS/Shibboleth integration (SIPS project, Salford) –DyVOSE – Dynamic Virtual Organisations in e-Science Education (Glasgow/Edinburgh) –ESP-GRID – Evaluation of Shibboleth & PKI for Grids – Oxford University Supported By: –SDSS (Shibboleth Development & Support Services) - Edinburgh University –Study of Institutional Roles –Expert reports (e.g. Single Sign-on – Gilmore, Farvis, Maddock)

Joint Information Systems Committee Core Middleware Infrastructure Programme

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

Infrastructure Programme Aim - establish a working UK Shibboleth infrastructure Government Comprehensive Spending Review funding –Additional funding to JISCs main annual budget –Approx £3.4m from Apr 2004 to Mar 2006 Main work areas: –Making Data Centre services (MIMAS and EDINA) Shibboleth compliant –Creating Athens/Shibboleth gateways –Funding for organisations willing to be early Shibboleth adopters –Creating a service to assist the early adopters –Establishing a national UK federation (to be known as Sparta) –Liaising with suppliers: publishers, subscription agents etc

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Early Adopters Early Adopter Programme runs from March 2005 – December 2006 Two strands: –Institutional Adopters (introducing Shibboleth at a university, FE college etc) –12 projects –Funding up to £50,000 available per institution Distributed E-learning Regional Pilot projects –9 of the projects funded to add Shibboleth capability –Up to £40,000 available Additional call recently issued – closing date 19 Sep –18 responses now being evaluated – not all can be funded –4 responses from Scotland

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Early Adopters 12 Institutional early adopter projects funded: –ShibboLEAP (consortium of 6 London University colleges) –Leeds (GILEAD) –Nottingham (UNISA) –Nottingham Trent (East Midlands deployment) –UK Data Archive (SAFARI) –Newcastle (SAPIR) –Bristol (Metaleth) –Liverpool (LSIP) –Cardiff (ASMIMA) –Exeter (Project SWISh) –St Georges Hospital Med Sch (ADAMS) –Liverpool (Cheshire Project)

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 E-Learning Early Adopters The following are including Shibboleth in their e-learning pilot projects: –University of Newcastle (EPICS) –University of Central England –University of Nottingham (RIPPLL) –Liverpool John Moores University –University of Staffordshire –Birkbeck, University of London (L4ALL) –University of Wolverhampton –University College Worcester –University of Essex (EERN) (Chimera)

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Examples of Early Adopter Projects Leeds University – GILEAD –Creating a Shibboleth IdP based on AthensIM for access to Nathan Bodington VLE –Eliminate requirement is issue Athens accounts by using Athens gateway Nottingham University – UNISA –Deploying Eduserv implementation of Shibboleth IdP –Had hoped to register all new students this September with only local identities Bristol University – Metaleth –Implement Shibboleth –Integrate with Ex Libriss Metalib & SFX link server UK Data Archive – SAFARI –Access control to a wide range of social science survey data –Embedding in one-stop registration service

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

More Examples Cardiff University – ASMIMA –Implement Shibboleth IdP –Move from 10,000 Athens accounts to using local identifiers via Shibboleth –Investigating using Shibboleth to control access to National Health Service resources Exeter University – SWISh –Implement Shibboleth IdP –Implement a pilot service with a small number of users –Expand service –Investigate using with university portal, VLE, Library management service Newcastle University – SAPIR –Replacement of Athens with Shibboleth –Configuration of online Reading List Management; Ex Libriss Metalib –Test Environment for Aleph Library Management System

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

ShibboLEAP Consortium of 6, led by LSE: –Royal Holloway, SOAS, KCL, UCL, Birkbeck, Imperial Members of the SHERPA-LEAP consortium –SHERPA = Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation & Access (Nottingham) –LEAP = London E-prints Access Project Aims: (1)Establish general purpose Shibboleth origins at each college. (2)Integrate the ePrints.org server making it a target

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

Middleware Assisted Take-Up Service (MATU) Dedicated support service for early adopters Scoping future requirements for institutions adopting Shibboleth Support services include: –Comprehensive website –Documentation –Help desk –Onsite support –Training events –Links to, and information about, software See:

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005

Future UK Federation will be established over next 6-9 months –will cover UK higher/further education & research Federation will be known as SPARTA UK HE WAYF (Where Are You From) service to be established Athens contract with JISC due for renewal 2006 –Likely to be renewed for further 2 years (but possible conditions) –Expectation that support will diminish/stop after that

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Challenges (1) Ensure that the new Sparta federation covers both HE/FE and Research Multiple federations issues Getting national federations to interwork Establishing how multiple federations within a country inter-operate Eg: –Sparta and the new BECTA federation –Sparta and NHS federation –InCommon and the US Federal Government

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Challenges (2) Suppliers (eg publishers) need to be persuaded to adopt the technology –May be pushing at open doors –Some (eg Elsevier, JSTOR) taking the initiative Cultural, organisational change –Shifting functions from libraries to computing services Persuading institutions to move from Athens to Shibboleth –resistance to change –short term cost for long term gain Early adopter experiences will encourage other institutions –strong interest in second call for early adopters – 18 bids Educating the community on the advantages of a Shibboleth regime –examples: more flexible subscription models; fine control of courseware access

Security & Access Management Workshop – Edinburgh – 20 Oct 2005 Further Information JISC web pages – Internet2 MATU JISCmail lists: JISC-Shibboleth JISC-Shibboleth-Announce Terry Morrow JISC Consultant