Axero supports single sign on (SSO) for any custom SSO provider, regardless of the technology your existing website is built on, whether it's PHP, Java, ASP.NET, or another platform. The key requirement is that your website must be able to create and manage cookies.
User registration will take place on your existing website, which will serve as the central point for new user creation. To keep user information synchronized between your website and Axero, you can use the Axero REST API to ensure that all new users are also added to the Axero database. See REST API Overview.
Assumptions:
http://www.existing-website.com
http://cf.existing-website.com
http://www.existing-website.com/cf
Client-side setup is estimated to take 1-3 hours and Axero team setup is estimated to take 2-3 hours. The time to set up SSO can vary based on how long it takes to set up internal systems and to provide the Axero team with required information. The total time for setting up SSO may take up to 1-2 business days.
<SingleSignOn Enabled="true" CookieName="CommunifireUserCookie" CookieDomain=".existing-website.com" CookiePath="YOUR-SITE-PATH" EncryptedCookie="true" EncryptionAlgorithm="AES" InitVectorAES="" EncryptionAlgorithmKey="" EncryptionOption="All" UsernameKey="CFUsername" UserEmailKey="CFUserEmail" ExternalLoginUrl="http://www.existing-website.com/login.asp" ExternalRegistrationUrl="http://www.existing-website.com/register.asp" />
cookie.Domain = ".existing-website.com";
www.existing-website.com
//Create encrypted cookie Communifire.Common.Security sc = new Security(); sc.PassPhrase = "externalcookie"; string encryptedUserNameKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUsername")); string encryptedEmailKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUserEmail")); string encryptedUserName = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("USER_NAME_GOES_HERE")); string encryptedUserEmail = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("USER_EMAIL_GOES_HERE")); HttpCookie cfCookie = new HttpCookie("CommunifireUserCookie"); cfCookie.Values.Add(encryptedUserNameKey, encryptedUserName); cfCookie.Values.Add(encryptedEmailKey, encryptedUserEmail); cfCookie.Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(30); cfCookie.Domain = ".your-exisiting-domain.com"; HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(cfCookie);
The sample above is .NET Framework. HttpCookie does not exist in ASP.NET Core, so on .NET Core or later (including .NET 8 and Blazor apps) the equivalent is Response.Cookies.Append with a CookieOptions object. The encryption and the key names are unchanged; only the way the cookie is written differs.
HttpCookie
Response.Cookies.Append
CookieOptions
var options = new CookieOptions { Domain = ".your-existing-domain.com", Expires = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddDays(30), Secure = true, SameSite = SameSiteMode.None, Path = "/" }; var value = $"{encryptedUserNameKey}={encryptedUserName}&{encryptedEmailKey}={encryptedUserEmail}"; Response.Cookies.Append("CommunifireUserCookie", value, options);
Two things about the domain and the browser. Write the cookie for the parent domain, with the leading dot as shown, so it is shared between your application and the Axero subdomain. A cookie written for one subdomain is not visible to the other, which is the usual reason a correctly encrypted cookie appears to be ignored.
And where the two sites are on different domains rather than subdomains of one, modern browsers require SameSite=None together with Secure, so the cookie must be sent over HTTPS or it will be dropped without warning.
SameSite=None
Secure
<SingleSignOn> section in CFSSOSettings.config
<SingleSignOn Enabled="true" CookieName="CommunifireUserCookie" CookieDomain=".your-exisiting-domain.com" CookiePath="/site" EncryptedCookie="true" EncryptionAlgorithm="AES" InitVectorAES="" EncryptionAlgorithmKey="externalcookie" EncryptionOption="All" UsernameKey="CFUsername" UserEmailKey="CFUserEmail" ExternalLoginUrl="http://your-existing-website.com/login.asp" ExternalRegistrationUrl="http://your-existing-website.com/register.asp" />
Note If you cannot reference Communifire.BL.dll, see the Custom SSO Cookie Encryption section at the end of this page for instructions on using your own encryption method.
You can specify the page the user is they are sent to after signing in, by setting General Settings > Site Settings > Post login landing page.
Host file (%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) code
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp. # # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol. # # For example: # # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host # localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. 127.0.0.1 localhost cftesting.com
In IIS:
Make the following virtual directories under the default application (e.g. http://cftesting.com/):
http://cftesting.com/
http://cftesting.com/communifire/
http://cftesting.com/ExternalLoginSite/
The Axero site is where the Axero application itself is installed. ExternalLoginSite is the site where your external login page is located. Users will enter their credentials at the external site and then be redirected to the Axero site.
Axero site's CFSSOSettings.config code
<?xml version="1.0"?> <SingleSignOn Enabled="true" CookieName="CommunifireUserCookie" CookieDomain=".cftesting.com" CookiePath="/" EncryptedCookie="true" EncryptionAlgorithm="AES" InitVectorAES="" EncryptionAlgorithmKey="externalcookie" EncryptionOption="All" UsernameKey="CFUsername" UserEmailKey="CFUserEmail" ExternalLoginUrl="http://cftesting.com/ExternalLoginSite/login.aspx" ExternalRegistrationUrl="" />
ExternalLoginSite's login.aspx code
Note This sample is a local test harness, so it writes a fixed email address into the cookie. In a real deployment, pass the signed-in person's own email address instead. Axero compares the cookie's email against the account's email and ignores the cookie if they differ.
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Communifire.Common" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head runat="server"> <title></title> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <asp:Login ID="Login1" runat="server" OnAuthenticate="Login1_Authenticate"> </asp:Login> </form> </body> </html> <script runat="server" language="C#"> protected void Login1_Authenticate(object sender, AuthenticateEventArgs e) { Communifire.Common.Security sc = new Security(); sc.PassPhrase = "externalcookie"; string encryptedUserNameKey = Server.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUsername")); string encryptedEmailKey = Server.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUserEmail")); string encryptedUserName = Server.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt(Login1.UserName)); string encryptedUserEmail = Server.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("admin@admin.com")); HttpCookie fakeCookie = new HttpCookie("CommunifireUserCookie"); fakeCookie.Values.Add(encryptedUserNameKey, encryptedUserName); fakeCookie.Values.Add(encryptedEmailKey, encryptedUserEmail); fakeCookie.Path = "/"; fakeCookie.Domain = ".cftesting.com"; HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(fakeCookie); FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(encryptedUserNameKey, false); Response.Redirect(Request.QueryString["ReturnUrl"]); } </script>
Let's assume your parent site is parentsite.com and the subdomain is sub.parentsite.com. Below are the recommended settings.
parentsite.com web.config
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login.aspx" domain="parentsite.com" enableCrossAppRedirects="true" /> </authentication>
sub.parentsite.com web.config
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login" name=".subASPXAuth" domain="sub.parentsite.com" /> </authentication>
SSO cookie creation code
var sc = new Communifire.Common.Security { PassPhrase = "externalcookie" }; string encryptedUserNameKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUsername")); string encryptedEmailKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUserEmail")); string encryptedUserName = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt(username)); string encryptedUserEmail = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt(userEmail)); var ssoCookie = new HttpCookie("CommunifireUserCookie"); ssoCookie.Values.Add(encryptedUserNameKey, encryptedUserName); ssoCookie.Values.Add(encryptedEmailKey, encryptedUserEmail); ssoCookie.Domain = ".parentsite.com"; ssoCookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddMonths(1); HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(ssoCookie);
The SSO cookie creation code should be placed after the user clicks the login button after entering correct credentials.
username and userEmail are the values for the person the SSO cookie is being created for. username must match that person's username or email address in Axero. userEmail must match their email address in Axero exactly, including capitalization; if it does not match, Axero ignores the cookie and the person stays signed out. If you want to create a non-persistent SSO cookie, you must remove ssoCookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddMonths(1); in the code above.
You should add all Communifire.*.dll files to the bin directory of your parent site.
CFSSOSettings.config
<?xml version="1.0"?> <SingleSignOn Enabled="true" CookieName="CommunifireUserCookie" CookieDomain=".parentsite.com" CookiePath="/" EncryptedCookie="true" EncryptionAlgorithm="AES" InitVectorAES="" EncryptionAlgorithmKey="externalcookie" EncryptionOption="All" UsernameKey="CFUsername" UserEmailKey="CFUserEmail" ExternalLoginUrl="http://parentsite.com/login.aspx" ExternalRegistrationUrl="" />
Let's assume your parent site is parentsite.com and the subdirectory is parentsite.com/community. Below are the recommended settings.
parentsite.com/community web.config
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login" name=".subASPXAuth" domain="parentsite.com" path="/community"/> </authentication>
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login.aspx" domain="parentsite.com" enableCrossAppRedirects="true" requireSSL="true" /> </authentication>
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login" name=".subASPXAuth" domain="sub.parentsite.com" requireSSL="true"/> </authentication>
var sc = new Communifire.Common.Security { PassPhrase = "externalcookie" }; string encryptedUserNameKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUsername")); string encryptedEmailKey = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt("CFUserEmail")); string encryptedUserName = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt(username)); string encryptedUserEmail = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(sc.Encrypt(userEmail)); var ssoCookie = new HttpCookie("CommunifireUserCookie"); ssoCookie.Values.Add(encryptedUserNameKey, encryptedUserName); ssoCookie.Values.Add(encryptedEmailKey, encryptedUserEmail); ssoCookie.Domain = ".parentsite.com"; ssoCookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddMonths(1); ssoCookie.Secure = true; HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(ssoCookie);
<?xml version="1.0"?> <SingleSignOn Enabled="true" CookieName="CommunifireUserCookie" CookieDomain=".parentsite.com" CookiePath="/" EncryptedCookie="true" EncryptionAlgorithm="AES" InitVectorAES="" EncryptionAlgorithmKey="externalcookie" EncryptionOption="All" UsernameKey="CFUsername" UserEmailKey="CFUserEmail" ExternalLoginUrl="https://parentsite.com/login.aspx" ExternalRegistrationUrl="" />
The SSO cookie creation code should be placed after the user hits the login button after entering correct credentials.
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="login" name=".subASPXAuth" domain="parentsite.com" path="/community" requireSSL="true"/> </authentication>
If you cannot reference Communifire.BL.dll, you can use the code below to encrypt SSO cookies. If you are creating SSO cookies on non-.NET platforms (such as JAVA, PHP, etc.), then you can create a web service wrapper around the .NET encryption method.
#region Using Directives using System; using System.IO; using System.Security.Cryptography; using System.Text; #endregion namespace Communifire.Common { /// <summary> /// Class for Security. /// </summary> public class Security { /// <summary> /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="Security"/> class. /// </summary> public Security() { // // TODO: Add constructor logic here // } private string passPhrase = "hey1ie4o4"; // can be any string private string saltValue = "8172hey87"; // can be any string private string hashAlgorithm = "SHA1"; // can be "MD5"SHA1 private int passwordIterations = 2; // can be any number private string initVector = "@1B2c3D4e5F6g7H8"; // must be 16 bytes private int keySize = 128; // can be 192 or 128 or 256 public string PassPhrase { get { return passPhrase; } set { passPhrase = value; } } public string InitVector { get { return initVector; } set { initVector = value; } } public string HashAlgorithm { get { return hashAlgorithm; } set { hashAlgorithm = value; } } /// <summary> /// Encrypts specified plaintext using Rijndael symmetric key algorithm /// and returns a base64-encoded result. /// </summary> /// <param name="plainText"> /// Plaintext value to be encrypted. /// </param> /// <param name="passPhrase"> /// Passphrase from which a pseudo-random password will be derived. The /// derived password will be used to generate the encryption key. /// Passphrase can be any string. In this example we assume that this /// passphrase is an ASCII string. /// </param> /// <param name="saltValue"> /// Salt value used along with passphrase to generate password. Salt can /// be any string. In this example we assume that salt is an ASCII string. /// </param> /// <param name="hashAlgorithm"> /// Hash algorithm used to generate password. Allowed values are: "MD5" and /// "SHA1". SHA1 hashes are a bit slower, but more secure than MD5 hashes. /// </param> /// <param name="passwordIterations"> /// Number of iterations used to generate password. One or two iterations /// should be enough. /// </param> /// <param name="initVector"> /// Initialization vector (or IV). This value is required to encrypt the /// first block of plaintext data. For RijndaelManaged class IV must be /// exactly 16 ASCII characters long. /// </param> /// <param name="keySize"> /// Size of encryption key in bits. Allowed values are: 128, 192, and 256. /// Longer keys are more secure than shorter keys. /// </param> /// <returns> /// Encrypted value formatted as a base64-encoded string. /// </returns> public string Encrypt(string plainText) { // Convert strings into byte arrays. // Let us assume that strings only contain ASCII codes. // If strings include Unicode characters, use Unicode, UTF7, or UTF8 // encoding. byte[] initVectorBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(initVector); byte[] saltValueBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(saltValue); // Convert our plaintext into a byte array. // Let us assume that plaintext contains UTF8-encoded characters. byte[] plainTextBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(plainText); // First, we must create a password, from which the key will be derived. // This password will be generated from the specified passphrase and // salt value. The password will be created using the specified hash // algorithm. Password creation can be done in several iterations. PasswordDeriveBytes password = new PasswordDeriveBytes( passPhrase, saltValueBytes, hashAlgorithm, passwordIterations); // Use the password to generate pseudo-random bytes for the encryption // key. Specify the size of the key in bytes (instead of bits). byte[] keyBytes = password.GetBytes(keySize / 8); // Create uninitialized Rijndael encryption object. RijndaelManaged symmetricKey = new RijndaelManaged(); // It is reasonable to set encryption mode to Cipher Block Chaining // (CBC). Use default options for other symmetric key parameters. symmetricKey.Mode = CipherMode.CBC; // Generate encryptor from the existing key bytes and initialization // vector. Key size will be defined based on the number of the key // bytes. ICryptoTransform encryptor = symmetricKey.CreateEncryptor( keyBytes, initVectorBytes); // Define memory stream which will be used to hold encrypted data. MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(); // Define cryptographic stream (always use Write mode for encryption). CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(memoryStream, encryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Write); // Start encrypting. cryptoStream.Write(plainTextBytes, 0, plainTextBytes.Length); // Finish encrypting. cryptoStream.FlushFinalBlock(); // Convert our encrypted data from a memory stream into a byte array. byte[] cipherTextBytes = memoryStream.ToArray(); // Close both streams. memoryStream.Close(); cryptoStream.Close(); // Convert encrypted data into a base64-encoded string. string cipherText = Convert.ToBase64String(cipherTextBytes); // Return encrypted string. return cipherText; } /// <summary> /// Decrypts specified ciphertext using Rijndael symmetric key algorithm. /// </summary> /// <param name="cipherText"> /// Base64-formatted ciphertext value. /// </param> /// <param name="passPhrase"> /// Passphrase from which a pseudo-random password will be derived. The /// derived password will be used to generate the encryption key. /// Passphrase can be any string. In this example we assume that this /// passphrase is an ASCII string. /// </param> /// <param name="saltValue"> /// Salt value used along with passphrase to generate password. Salt can /// be any string. In this example we assume that salt is an ASCII string. /// </param> /// <param name="hashAlgorithm"> /// Hash algorithm used to generate password. Allowed values are: "MD5" and /// "SHA1". SHA1 hashes are a bit slower, but more secure than MD5 hashes. /// </param> /// <param name="passwordIterations"> /// Number of iterations used to generate password. One or two iterations /// should be enough. /// </param> /// <param name="initVector"> /// Initialization vector (or IV). This value is required to encrypt the /// first block of plaintext data. For RijndaelManaged class IV must be /// exactly 16 ASCII characters long. /// </param> /// <param name="keySize"> /// Size of encryption key in bits. Allowed values are: 128, 192, and 256. /// Longer keys are more secure than shorter keys. /// </param> /// <returns> /// Decrypted string value. /// </returns> /// <REMARKS> /// Most of the logic in this function is similar to the Encrypt /// logic. In order for decryption to work, all parameters of this function /// - except cipherText value - must match the corresponding parameters of /// the Encrypt function which was called to generate the /// ciphertext. /// </REMARKS> public string Decrypt(string cipherText) { string plainText = string.Empty; if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(cipherText)) { cipherText = cipherText.Replace(" ", "+"); // Convert strings defining encryption key characteristics into byte // arrays. Let us assume that strings only contain ASCII codes. // If strings include Unicode characters, use Unicode, UTF7, or UTF8 // encoding. byte[] initVectorBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(initVector); byte[] saltValueBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(saltValue); // Convert our ciphertext into a byte array. byte[] cipherTextBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(cipherText); // First, we must create a password, from which the key will be // derived. This password will be generated from the specified // passphrase and salt value. The password will be created using // the specified hash algorithm. Password creation can be done in // several iterations. PasswordDeriveBytes password = new PasswordDeriveBytes( passPhrase, saltValueBytes, hashAlgorithm, passwordIterations); // Use the password to generate pseudo-random bytes for the encryption // key. Specify the size of the key in bytes (instead of bits). byte[] keyBytes = password.GetBytes(keySize/8); // Create uninitialized Rijndael encryption object. RijndaelManaged symmetricKey = new RijndaelManaged(); // It is reasonable to set encryption mode to Cipher Block Chaining // (CBC). Use default options for other symmetric key parameters. symmetricKey.Mode = CipherMode.CBC; // Generate decryptor from the existing key bytes and initialization // vector. Key size will be defined based on the number of the key // bytes. ICryptoTransform decryptor = symmetricKey.CreateDecryptor( keyBytes, initVectorBytes); // Define memory stream which will be used to hold encrypted data. MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(cipherTextBytes); // Define cryptographic stream (always use Read mode for encryption). CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(memoryStream, decryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Read); // Since at this point we don't know what the size of decrypted data // will be, allocate the buffer long enough to hold ciphertext; // plaintext is never longer than ciphertext. byte[] plainTextBytes = new byte[cipherTextBytes.Length]; // Start decrypting. int decryptedByteCount = cryptoStream.Read(plainTextBytes, 0, plainTextBytes.Length); // Close both streams. memoryStream.Close(); cryptoStream.Close(); // Convert decrypted data into a string. // Let us assume that the original plaintext string was UTF8-encoded. plainText = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(plainTextBytes, 0, decryptedByteCount); } // Return decrypted string. return plainText; } } }
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