In keeping with its commitment to the use of open-source technologies, the Texas Digital Library employs Shibboleth federated authentication software for authentication and identity management. The Shibboleth System is a standards based, open-source platform that allows TDL to authenticate users by leveraging its member institutions’ authentication and identity management systems.
Shibboleth Federation Architecture
With Shibboleth, faculty and staff at participating TDL member institutions can log on to TDL services using the ID and password they use at their home institutions. The home institutions (or identity providers) give TDL enough information about each faculty member to enable authorization. In this way, faculty members at TDL institutions do not have to create unique IDs and passwords for TDL services, and TDL can leverage the existing authentication infrastructures of its member institutions.
To establish a set of rules governing the exchange of identity attributes among the TDL and member institutions, the TDL created the Texas Digital Library Shibboleth Federation. The TDL Shibboleth Federation is a low-level-of-assurance federation and provides only limited identity checking of providers. Membership in the TDL Shibboleth Federation is available to all TDL member institutions, and the TDL along with its partner, the Lonestar Education and Research Network, provides technical consulting regarding local setup and management for Shibboleth.
In addition to using federated authentication via Shibboleth, the TDL maintains its own identity provider and authentication service to allow access as appropriate to non-TDL members and members outside the TDL Shibboleth Federation.
Supporting documentation about the TDL Shibboleth Federation includes the pages listed below and the resources available in the Shibboleth section of the TDL Publications and Presentations page.