Implement single sign on ASP .Net Web Application current using forms based authentication

Question

We currently have an Asp .Net web application (Framework 4.5) using Forms based authentication. A few of our clients are asking for integration with their applications and does not want to have separate login accounts.

What would be the best way to implement this? The solution should be able to validate against different identity providers.

A consultant has suggested to convert the current web app to be claims-aware but not sure how to proceed with it or where to start .

Thanks for all your help.

Answer 1

Making an application claims-aware implies adding support for one of:

• WS-Federation
• SAML 2.0
• OpenID Connect / OAuth

This then enables the application to talk to an IDP for SSO eg ADFS, Azure AD, identityserver, Auth0.

In the Microsoft world, web apps use the OWIN NuGet packages for WS-Fed (WIF) or OIDC. For SAML, look here .

Desktop apps use ADAL or the later version MSAL.

ADFS eg only authenticates against AD. If you want to authenticate against a DB as well, you federate ADFS with eg identityserver or Auth0 both of which have that ability.