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NFDI AAI Documentation#

Welcome to the IAM4NFDI project! As a Base4NFDI project we provide an Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI) for the NFDI.

Goals#

NFDI AAI Architecture addresses three key goals:

  1. Architecture that provides a solution for organisation of individual NFDI consortia and the whole of NFDI

  2. Ensure compatibility with external / international partners

    • Follow the AARC Blueprint Architecture
    • Be compatible with the EOSC AAI

  3. Provide an initial Proof of Concept installation

Background Information#

The NFDI AAI (architecture, policies, attributes, etc.) described in this context, is based on the work, the experience, and standardisation made in previous projects.

In the European context these are most notably AARC and the EOSC-Taskforce on AAI Architecture.

In the German context, several different projects have contributed their experience to this AAI:

  • Helmholtz AAI by HIFIS, which uses Unity in an AARC / EOSC compatible configuration.
  • AcademicID by GWDG, which is used to offer all IT services of GWDG to education in Lower Saxony.
  • didmos by DAASI International, which integrates expandable open source modules that can be custom tailored to infrastructures
  • RegApp by KIT, which is used to provide access to several educational and infrastructure services to academia in Baden Württemberg.

Info

For more details about IAM4NFDI please look into our Project Proposals: - Integration Phase - Initialisation Phase

The Target Audience#

This documentation is targeted at system administrators and technical people working on the integration of services with the federated IAM / AAI infrastructure.

There will be documentation for end users, once the initial set of services is integrated, which may be used to guide users. It is expected that login will not be more complex than a standard web login.

How can NFDI Consortia join?#

NFDI Consortia (=Communities) will need to use a so called “Community AAI” service at which they can organise themselves (i.e. they manage their Virtual Organisation Membership and the subgroups in them). Therefore, the four software products, which are available in this context in Germany, are suggested for use within the NFDI context: AcademicID, didmos, RegAPP, and Unity (HIFIS).

Info

Community and Virtual Organisation (VO) are often used synonymously. Generally, here we understand an NFDI Consortium to be a Community. This community uses the “Community-AAI” to represent its internal structure in the form of VOs and sub-VOs.

An overview of all Community AAIs used to date depending on the NFDI consortium can be found on our NFDI Consortia: Overview Community AAI Usage page.

How can Services be connected?#

For details, please see the architecture page. Services may be integrated at three levels, depending on their needs:

  • Home-IdPs (via eduGAIN): but then (of course) no community attributes (ID, VO-Membership is available)
  • Community AAIs: For services that only need to be accessible for a single community / NFDI
  • Infrastructure Proxy: For services that want to be accessible for more than a single community / NFDI.

The Infrastructure Proxy is foreseen to be available as a development version soon. It will be extended along the beginning of Base4NFDI/IAM.

Before the funding situation of the Base4NFDI/IAM consortium is clarified, it is not possible to make any statement regarding the responsibility for the operation of the Community AAIs.

Last change: Nov 15, 2024 10:13:13