7

They seem to be similar on the surface, but I'm not sure how deep the differences are.

Can someone explain to me the difference between SAMLp and WS-Trust? ADFSv2 gives me a choice between these options and I'm not sure which to choose.

Scott Pack
  • 15,167
  • 5
  • 61
  • 91
makerofthings7
  • 50,090
  • 54
  • 250
  • 536

2 Answers2

7

WSTrust is a standard which is specifies how to encrypt/decrypt/sign SOAP messages and how to bind security tokens to a SOAP message.

SAML tokens are an example of a security token that could be bound to a SOAP message.

The SAML protocol provides a standard way to acquire, release and renew SAML tokens using SSL to protect communications and the XmlDsig standard to protect the token.

blowdart
  • 859
  • 4
  • 5
2

AFAIK, They are similar WRT the end-goal.

  • WS-Trust is SOAP-based involving front-channel (browser) and back-channel (among services) communication, SAML-Passive can optionally use SOAP for backchannel communication,
  • SAML-P can involve no backchannel at all.
  • The XML documents involved have different name spaces: WST vs SAML
  • SAML-P is the name for the process of redirection and communication that achieves the federated login goal using SAML docs, but it seems that 'SAML' has come to be synonymous with 'SAML-Passive'
Rondo
  • 217
  • 1
  • 4