REFEDS is an organization that works to help academic federations work more effectively together. It was established in 2010 and is funded by several national research and education networks and federations. REFEDS has established a steering committee, work plans, and reporting processes. It aims to standardize and simplify policies, metadata, and processes across federations through projects like policy reviews, discovery, and a proposed metadata registry called PEER or REEP. The overall goal is to reduce barriers to effective federation use and improve interfederation.

1. MAKING FEDERATIONS WORK EFFECTIVELY TOGETHER
A SHORT HISTORY OF REFEDS
Nicole Harris, REFEDS Coordinator number 2
FAM12, 6th November 2012
1

2. IN THE BEGINNING…
2

3. IN THE BEGINNING…
3

4. FEDERATION LANDSCAPE
5498 entities registered within 34 federations
4

5. HOW WOULD I SUMMARISE OUR EXPERIENCE?
5

6. OTHER PROBLEMS?
6

7. HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP (TALKING) AND
LOVE THE BOMB
7

8. REFEDS EPIPHANY, 2010
• If we want stuff to happen, we need:
• Money;
• Workpackages;
• Decision Makers;
• Minions;
• Focus.
• From 2010, REFEDS has been funded by several
NRENS / FEDERATIONS to help carry work forward.
• Has established a steering committee, plans,
reporting.
• Is helping to make change happen. 8

9. IS IT REALLY WORKING?
9

10. REFEDS AS A VO
10

11. BEING AN SP ADMINISTRATOR
https://tnc2012.terena.org/core/presentation/106
11

12. TERENA AS A SERVICE PROVIDER
12

13. SORRY
13

14. WHAT DOES REFEDS DO?
REF1: Raising the Profile of REFEDS.
REF2: Barriers to Effective Federation Use.
REF3: Boundary Solutions.
REF4: Federation Harmonisation.
REF5: Interfederation.
REF6: Identity Assurance.
14

15. BARRIERS – FEDERATION POLICIES
F ED
TERMO DE COMPROMISSO PARA ADESÃO À FEDERAÇÃO CAFe
ERA
T IO
T he
N RU L
A
Pelo presente, a organização identificada neste Termo, ora denominada PARTICIPANTE,
fr am u st r al
e ia
t r u st w o r k an n A cc e
ES
adere a este documento e assume a responsabilidade pela utilização dos serviços e ss F
w it h d el ect d su p p ed e
r at
disponibilizados pela Comunidade Acadêmica Federada, doravante denominada in an r on o
in st d b ic co r t in fr as io n p r
simplesmente CAFe, ciente da “Política de Uso da Federação CAFe: provedores de it u t t r u ct o vi d e
io n s et w een m m u n sa
serviço”, e da “Política de Uso da Federação CAFe: provedores de identidade”, in A u ic at u
io n r e t o fa
T h is u st r n iv er si
conforme adiante descrito. d o cu al ia t ies s an d ci
to b co ll li t at e
e m m en t o an d
o ve
an d
r ab
ser vi et u t li r se as e se ar ch o r at io n
PARTICIPANTE: [nome da instituição], com sede na [endereço], neste ato representada ce p b y p ar nes
th .
r o vi t ic ip
por [nome completo], [função], doravante denominada [sigla da instituição] T h is d er at in e r u les
d o cu s. g id an d
Par en t ob
it y
t icip m en t
su p an d li gat io
an t s e r se ns
24 M d es
t he
O presente Termo considera que: ay 2 Fed
011 er at
io n
Ru le
a) A Federação CAFe é composta por um conjunto de instituições que, sobre uma s fo
r
infraestrutura de autenticação e autorização multidomínios, estabelece uma rede de
confiança que simplifica o acesso a serviços federados oferecidos;
b) A RNP tem como atribuição o gerenciamento dos processos de disponibilidade,
confiabilidade e melhoria continua do Serviço da CAFe, além de apoiar a
homologação visando a adesão de novos Provedores de Identidade e Provedores de
Serviço na federação CAFe, bem como o suporte a atualizações e melhorias
contínuas;
c) a RNP e a PARTICIPANTE têm interesse comum na manutenção e desenvolvimento
da Federação CAFe com o objetivo de simplificar o processo de Autenticação e
Autorização entres as instituições participantes;
d) a PARTICIPANTE tem interesse em integrar a Federação CAFe como Provedor de
[Identidade ou Serviço], para benefício da comunidade de educação, pesquisa e RedIRIS Identity Service Conditions of Use for Identity Providers
cultura.
Para tanto, a PARTICIPANTE dá ciência e se compromete ao que se segue: RedIRIS Identity Service
©A
Conditions of Use for Identity Providers ustr
alian
Acces
1 - DO OBJETO
Version 1.0 – 20080220 s Fe
dera
tion
Inc.
1.1 – O presente Termo tem por objeto estabelecer as diretrizes de participação, a serem
realizadas com o apoio recíproco, na CAFe;
___________________________________________________________________, as applicant for
1 the identity transfer services provided by the RedIRIS Identity Service (SIR), to be used by the identity
provider identified by its URL, unique ID, and public key included at the end of this document
(referred in the rest of this document as “the Applicant”) declares that:
1. Knows and accepts the rules, procedures and technical requirements for the connection of
their identity management system with the RedIRIS Identity Service, as specified at
http://www.rediris.es/sir/. Applicants accept the appropriate changes that may take place, and
that shall be communicated with sufficient time through the service website, and directly to the
UK Access Management Federation for RedIRIS Official Liaisons (“Personas de Enlace con RedIRIS”, referred as “PERs” in the rest
of this document) of the corresponding affiliated institution.
Education and Research
2. Knows that breaking these conditions can imply the discontinuation of the service.
3. Declares that data included in this document are accurate, apart error or omission in good
faith.
Rules of Membership 4. Commits to permanently update the information included in this document, informing the
PERs of any change that takes place.
5. Assumes that RedIRIS, in all procedures related to service provision, will act according to the
data provided in this document.
6. Knows and accepts that any falsity or error in the data included in this document can be
1st August 2011 cause of the discontinuation of the service.
7. Knows and accepts that once the service is active it can be revoked in case of violation of the
requirements.
8. Knows and assumes that the service can be revoked in case of serious technical negligence.
9. Declares that, according to their best knowledge, the connection of the identity provider
identified below with the RedIRIS Identity Service does not harm the rights of any third party.
10. Knows and accepts that the service is provided by RedIRIS in non-commercial terms for its
users in the research and academic community, and that RedIRIS shall not be held liable for
any damage caused, directly or indirectly, by the usage of the service.
11. Knows and assumes that RedIRIS will perform personal data processing according to Ley
Orgánica 15/1999 on Personal Data Protection and the regulations developing it.
12. Knows and assumes that the rights to access and rectification can be exercised according to
the above mentioned regulations. The rights to cancellation and opposition can only be
exercised after the discontinuation of the service, since personal data processing by Red.es is
required for the use of the RedIRIS Identity Service.
Version 2.1
15
ST/AAI/UKF/DOC/001
1/2

16. Wouldn’t it be great if these were standardised and
simplified?
16

17. REFEDS POLICY REVIEW
• Painstakingly taking apart every clause in every
federation policy.
• Mapping these to generic content ‘blocks’ and
‘elements’ within each block.
• Making recommendations about structure and
unnecessary language.
• NOT a legal review.
• Working with GEANT on a lite version of a policy
template.
17

18. DISCOVERY PROJECT
18

19. DISCOVERY PROJECT
19

20. PEER (1)
Federations have a variety of roles relating to the
management of metadata:
• Metadata Registrar;
• Metadata Aggregator;
• Metadata Publisher.
As well as fulfilling other roles:
• Technical support;
• Auditor / Vetting;
• Infrastructure. Etc.
20

21. UK FEDERATION METADATA AGGREGATION
http://iay.org.uk/blog/2012/08/uk-federation-metadata-aggregation
21

22. PEER (2)
• A metadata registry – a bucket;
• Can be used as a registry for an individual federation;
• Can be used as a registry for multiple federations;
• Sps only have to register and maintain in 1 place;
• Federations can still accept members, but fetch
metadata from another place;
• Federations can parse, enhance, mangle metadata as
they wish once fetched.
22

23. PEER (3)
23

24. PEER TO REEP
• REEP will be a service instance of PEER run for research
and education federations and their entities.
• Pilot for 2012 / 13.
• Proof of concept to see if federations and entities can
cope with this work flow.
• Follow REFEDS or your federation for more information.
24

25. REEP or eduGAIN?
• REEP is just a metadata registry – still relies on other
parties to publish the metadata.
• Main benefit for SPs in multiple federations at the
moment.
• Not full interfederation, but a lightweight improvement
on current situation.
• Doesn’t address policy.
25

26. The Message? Don’t Sue Unicorns
26

27. Questions?
http://access.jiscinvolve.org/wp/you-cant-sue-
unicorns/
27