Federated Identity and Microsoft ADFS – Explained and Illustrated with Microsoft Paint
Ah, the language of the Web economy. A world where words like “interoperability”, “accelerators”, “streamlined” and “enterprise” are thrown around as often as ketchup packets in a fast food fight.
When you work with technology, it’s both easy and fun to create catchphrases for the mainstream Internet lexicon. Who ever thought 4 years ago that we would say we were “tweeting“? That one still makes me laugh, but I digress.
“Federated Identity” from Microsoft is nicely buttoned-up, corporate style tech lingo that makes you scratch your head at first glance – but this technology is going to be very important to how businesses cooperate in the future. Here’s Microsoft’s description of Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS). I’ve highlighted the awesome words for fun:
Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) provides the interoperability required to simplify the broad, federated sharing of digital identities and policies across organizational boundaries. Seamless yet secure, customers, partners, suppliers, and mobile employees can all securely gain access to the information they need, when they need it.
I would like to open up today’s story with my own version:
Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services makes it easy for your staff to securely access and share internal data with other companies. It does this by providing a platform that uses a common security protocol within each company.
ADFS – explained in pixels
Here are the complex benefits that “Federated Identity” will provide for your Enterprise, explained in a series of illustrations and riveting storyline I have painstakingly developed for you. Enjoy.
Jimbob owns a company selling red balls. Jane owns a company selling sticks.
Jimbob and Jane work together to sell sticks & balls to each others’ customers.
Of course, Jimbob and Jane want to share their computer data with each other (since, naturally, this sounds easy and profitable…)
Doug the I.T. dinosaur knows this is NOT easy. He will be up for 10 months straight developing and managing a system that Jimbob and Jane will slowly realize has a mass of security problems that Doug, of course, knew all along – this makes Doug very cranky.
Just when Doug the I.T. Dinosaur was about to lose all hope… Microsoft Active Directory Federated Services (MS ADFS) steps in to save the day!
With MS ADFS, users on either end establish digital trust with keys and tokens…
These keys and tokens travel the Internet and approve the access to the partners’ shared data.
Jimbob and Jane’s staff get to access data between the companies without a hot steaming eruption of new I.T. burden.
They can use PC’s and cool gadgets like Mobile Blackberry or other neat tools!
Now, Doug the Evil I.T. Dinosaur only has management of ID’s and Passwords for the staff – easy peasy – leaving him time to sleep and vacation.
Jimbob and Jane make money, Doug gets sleep and vacation. Everyone lives happily ever after!
lol… nice illustrations
Paint rulez!
Hee.
I understand all of this about as well as Jimbob and Jane, so here’s my (probably stupid) question:
Why are there security problems if Doug the IT Dinosaur codes this himself? Why can’t Doug make his own keys and tokens?
You are simply awesome… OMG…. Ill get into MS with your help..