Enterprise SSO
What is enterprise SSO?
Enterprise SSO lets your customers sign in to the
This is appropriate when:
- Your organization mandates a single corporate IdP
- You need centralized access control, MFA, or conditional access policies
- Customers should not receive separate
passwords or magic links
Supported identity providers
- Okta, Auth0
- Microsoft Entra (Azure AD), Active Directory federation
- Google Workspace
- PingIdentity, OneLogin
- Other SAML 2.0–compliant providers (including self-hosted or on-prem IdPs)
If your IdP is not listed, contact
Sign-in flows
Customers can reach the portal through either flow once SAML is configured:
| Flow | How it works |
|---|---|
| SP-initiated | Customer starts at the |
| IdP-initiated | Customer starts from your IdP application menu or intranet bookmark. The IdP sends an unsolicited SAML response to |
User matching and accounts
For SSO to succeed, the assertion must identify the customer in a way
- An email address must be present in the SAML assertion (as a named attribute or as a
NameIDin email format). Assertions without a usable email are rejected. - The email should match the contact email used when the customer was onboarded via the Partner API.
- Automatic linking between SSO and other sign-in methods (such as magic link) for the same email is not performed. Plan for one primary sign-in path per customer, or coordinate with
if you need to migrate users.
mail instead of email).
Sessions and logout
- After a successful SAML sign-in, the customer receives a portal session (access and refresh tokens). Access tokens are typically valid for one hour; the portal refreshes the session while the customer is active.
- Your IdP may impose additional session limits (maximum session duration, idle timeout, or step-up MFA). Those policies apply at your IdP;
honours forced re-authentication when reflected in the assertion or IdP session state. - Single logout (SLO) from the portal back to your IdP is not supported. To require regular re-authentication, configure session timeouts or conditional access at your IdP, and direct customers to sign out of the portal when needed.
What configures
Every enterprise SSO deployment is different: IdP vendor, attribute names, domain restrictions, MFA requirements, and staging vs production cutover all affect the integration.
During setup,
- Entity ID and metadata URL (or metadata XML) for the
auth endpoint - Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) URL where your IdP posts SAML responses
- Expected NameID format (email-based identifier)
- Redirect URLs allowed after sign-in
You provide identity provider (IdP) details, such as SAML metadata (URL or XML file), email domains used for routing, and any required attribute mappings.
What to provide when contacting
- IdP vendor and SAML metadata (URL or XML file)
- Email domains or attribute rules used to identify your customers (for example
company.com) - Attribute mapping notes if your IdP does not send a standard
emailclaim - Required redirect URLs after sign-in (staging and production)
- Whether you need SP-initiated, IdP-initiated, or both
- Target go-live date and environments (staging vs production)
Contact your
SAML terminology
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Metadata | XML (or URL) describing your IdP or |
| Entity ID | Globally unique identifier for your IdP or |
| ACS URL | Where your IdP sends the SAML response after the user authenticates. |
| Binding | How SAML messages are transported (commonly HTTP Redirect for requests and HTTP POST for responses). |
| RelayState | Opaque state passed through the SAML round trip to restore context (for example return URL). |
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Sign-in succeeds at IdP but fails at | Email missing from assertion, or email does not match an onboarded customer |
| “Invalid redirect” after SSO | Post-login URL not allow-listed for your environment |
| User cannot access portal after IdP login | Customer not onboarded, or contact email in |
| Staging works, production does not | Separate SAML app or metadata not registered for production |
Ask your IdP administrator to confirm that the user’s email is released in the SAML assertion (common attribute names include email, mail, or WS-Federation-style email claims).
Alternative: magic link
If you do not need corporate IdP integration, you can sign customers in programmatically with the magic link API. This is self-serve via the Partner API and does not require
Single sign-on (SSO)
Overview of customer authentication options for partners: enterprise SSO via your IdP and magic link sign-in through the Partner API.
Magic link sign-in POST
Request a one-time magic link URL for a customer via the Partner API. The customer opens the URL to sign in to the SafeWeb portal.