CAS as an Authentication Provider

On this page

Our documentation is moving to a new home at docs.xibosignage.com as we make some improvements. Go check out the enhanced search features and visit our brand new knowledge base. The move for developer and administration docs will be happening over the next few weeks as we keep building things out for you.

CAS as an Authentication Provider

The CMS can be configured to use CAS as its authentication provider

Please note: CAS integration is available from CMS v2.0.x

The Central Authentication Service ( CAS ) is a single sign-on protocol for the web. Its purpose is to permit a user to access multiple applications while providing their credentials (such as userid and password) only once. It also allows web applications to authenticate users without gaining access to a user’s security credentials, such as a password. Wikipedia

Screenshot/Image

CAS integration is enabled via the settings.php file in the CMS installation. If Docker has been used settings.php will not be accessible, however, it is possible to create a settings-custom.php file in the /custom mount point. The below Configuration can be added to that file instead.

The purpose of the integration is to configure a CAS enabled IdP (identity provider) for authentication with the Xibo CMS.

A User already authenticated with the IdP will automatically be logged into the CMS. If the User does not exist they will optionally be created with a set of default credentials.

Configuration

CAS integration is configured in the settings.php file of the CMS installation. This file can be found in your /web folder.

There are two sections to adjust, the $authentication middleware and the $samlSettings configuration array.

  • Middleware

The authentication middleware should be changed to CASAuthentication , shown below:

$authentication = new \Xibo\Middleware\CASAuthentication();

  • CAS Settings

The CAS settings array contains all the necessary information for the CMS to connect and use a CAS enabled IdP. The configuration is split into 3 main sections:

  • server : options for the server provider (these are used by the CMS to identify and communicate with the identity provider).
  • port : specify which port to use.
  • uri : the location of the CAS application at the server specified above.

Example Settings

$authentication = new \Xibo\Middleware\CASAuthentication();
$casSettings = array(
    'config' => array (
       'service_base_url' => 'https://*url of xibo server*',
        'server' => 'your.cas.server',
        'port' => '443',
        'uri' => '/cas',
    )
);