Shibboleth support in my application

[Peter Schober]

* mmichaelchn <mmichaelchn at gmail.com> [2013-09-03 14:49]:
> For my testing can I create a idp server and SP on my same machine
> and keep a open ds db for accounts?

Subjects coming in via SAML won't have credentials in any of your
databases, so I'm not sure what this buys you.  Also you should focus
on the SP side of things and how the Shibboleth SP is intented to be
used.  You'll need to consider all of the issues relevant for such an
integration including any interactions with your existing login
methods and code: session management, session establishment, UX (esp
when more than one IdP comes into play, i.e. "IdP discovery"), etc.
E.g.
https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/NativeSPEnableApplication
https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/NativeSPProtectContent

> Could not find an example that describes how to setup all this locally.

It's part of the documentation, as a child page of "Installation":
https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/IdPSPLocalTestInstall

Other than testshib.org there's also https://openidp.feide.no/ which
is not running the Shibboleth software but also allows you to create
an account there and self-register your SAML SP.

For the uninitiated getting an IdP to do something useful, quickly,
if you're only interested in learning about the SP is rather
difficult, IMO.  So either use one of the aforementioned self-service
IdPs, or (even better, IMO) simply ask the institution you're doing the
integration for for a test account and use their actual IdP.

If you're serious about SAML and the integration and want more control
over the IdP than any of the other IDPs offer (e.g. when testing
different failure scenarios) you can always install your own IdP and
make it do whatever you want.
-peter