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Ultimately it is up to the identity provider and service provider to agree on a set of attributes to be released by the IdP, SURFconext only mediates. However, it is strongly recommend to stick to the above attributes as they are standardized and ensure greater interoperability.

The table below lists the attributes that have been defined for use within SURFfederatie. This list was created in consultation with the connected institutions, specifically within the 3TU partnership. With a view to the expected future international collaboration, this table is largely based on the EduPerson and SCHAC tables. A number of attributes that are specific to SURFfederatie and the Netherlands have been added.

Info

Note that the attributes described on this page are the standardised attributes that an identity provider may provide to the SURFnet federation gateway. If you are a service provider connecting to SURFconext, please refer to the attribute description on ?Authentication using SAML page.

Attributes overview

A more detailed description of each attribute can be found in the next section.

Attribute Name
(abbreviated)

Description

Example value(s)

 

uid

user id/login name

joebloggs

4236712

sn

surname

Bloggs

Smith

givenName

given name

Joe

Prof. H.A.B.

cn

full name

Joseph Bloggs

 

displayName

display name

Joey

 

mail

e-mail address

j.bloggs@rug.nl

H.A.B.Smith@tudelft.nl
smith_78@hotmail.com

eduPersonAffiliation

affiliation type

student

employee

eduPersonEntitlement

entitlement

?depends on service provider

 

eduPersonPrincipalName

unique name

joebloggs@rug.nl

 

preferredLanguage

preferred language

nl

en

schacHomeOrganization

domain name

tudelft.nl

 

schacHomeOrganizationType

type of organisation

urn:mace:terena.org:schac: homeOrganizationType:eu: higherEducationInstitution

 

nlEduPersonHomeOrganization
(deprecated)

name of institution

Delft University of Technology

Utrecht University of Applied Sciences

nlEduPersonStudyBranch

ROHO code

52734

 

nlEduPersonOrgUnit

department name

Faculty of Humanities

Library

nlStudielinkNummer

studielink number

xxxxxxxxxx

 

nlDigitalAuthorIdentifier

DAI number

070014345

 

Detailed attribute descriptions

The names of the attributes in the above table are the commonly used abbreviations. In the description below the attributes are listed using their full name. The SURFfederatie gateway will always provide the attributes by their full name. The attributes are defined in three different namespaces: urn:mace:dir:attribute-def, urn:mace:terena.org:schac and urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def.

Attributes defined in urn:mace:dir:attribute-def

International standardised attributes according to the EduPerson schema have been defined within the namespace urn:mace:dir:attribute-def: http://middleware.internet2.edu/urn-mace/urn-mace-dir-attribute-def.html. The version of the EduPerson  schema used is: MACE-Dir/Educause, eduPerson Object Class Specification (200806), http://middleware.internet2.edu/eduperson/docs/internet2-mace-dir-eduperson-200806.html, June 2008

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:uid

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

The unique code for a person that is used as the login name within the institution.

Notes

  • Ideally the uid is not only a login name/code but also an identifier that is guaranteed as being unique within the institution over the course of time. At the moment, there is no such guarantee.
  • Use the eduPersonPrincipalName attribute if uniqueness over multiple institutions is required.
  • A uid may contain any unicode character. E.g. "org:surfnet.nl:joe" is a valid uid.

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:sn

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

The surname of a person (including any words such as "van", "de", "von" etc.) used for personalisation; this can be a combination of existing attributes.

Notes

 

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:givenName

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

Given name / "name known by"; combinations of title, initials, and "name known by" are possible.

Notes

 

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:cn

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

Full given name.

Notes


urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:displayName

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

Display name as displayed in applications

Notes

 

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:mail

Multiplicity

multi-value

Description

e-mail address; syntax in accordance with RFC 1274 and RFC 822.

Notes

  • This is a multi-value attribute.
  • An email address is not necessarily the email address of this person at the institution, it can also be a @google.com, @hotmail.com or @vanitydomain.org address.
  • The mail may change over time for a user, also an IdP may allow a user to set this value. This makes that attribute unsuitable for authentication and authorization purposes.

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:eduPersonAffiliation

Multiplicity

multi-value

Description

indicates the relationship between the user and his/her own organisation; possible values:

  • student - student
  • employee - all employees
  • staff - academic staff
  • alum - alumnus
  • affiliate - third party; no direct work relationship with the institution (either paid or unpaid)

Notes

Note that you must not allow alum or affiliate users to access SURFfederatie. Providing this attribute is not sufficient to deny these users access to SURFfederatie as many service providers do not receive this attribute. Please contact federatie-beheer@surfnet.nl if you have questions about this.

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:eduPersonEntitlement

Multiplicity

multi-value

Description

entitlement; URI (URL or URN) that indicates an entitlement to something; is determined by a contract between the service provider and the institution.

Notes

 

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:eduPersonPrincipalName

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

Unique "net ID" beyond the scope of the particular institution, in the form "<user>@<scope>".E.g. "s012001234@student.example.com".

Notes

  • Although this value resembles an email address, it should not be used as such. In many cases mail cannot be delivered to this "address".
  • This value should never be reassigned to another user. I.e. after a user leaves an institution, it should not be assigned to another (future) user.

urn:mace:dir:attribute-def:preferredLanguage

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

a two-letter abbreviation for the preferred language according to the ISO 639 language abbreviation code table; no subcodes.

Notes

 

Attributes defined in urn:mace:terena.org:attribute-def

International standardised attributes according to the Terena SCHAC schema have been defined within the namespace urn:mace:terena.org:schac: http://www.terena.org/activities/tf-emc2/schacreleases.html. The version of the SCHAC table used is 1.3.0 (12 December 2006).

urn:mace:terena.org:attribute-def:schacHomeOrganization

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

designation for the person's organisation using the organisation's domain name; syntax in accordance with RFC 1035.

Notes

 

urn:mace:terena.org:attribute-def:schacHomeOrganizationType

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

designation of the type of organisation to which a person belongs, using the values registered by Terena on: http://www.terena.org/registry/terena.org/schac/homeOrganizationType

Notes

 

Attributes defined in urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def

Nationally standardised attributes within SURFfederatie have been defined within the namespace urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def. The name of all these attributes starts with the prefix "nl"

urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def:nlEduPersonHomeOrganization

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

 

Notes

This attribute is deprecated. It has been replaced by the urn:mace:terena.org:attribute-def:schacHomeOrganization attribute

urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def:nlEduPersonOrgUnit

Multiplicity

multi-value

Description

Name of the department

Notes

 

urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def:nlEduPersonStudyBranch

Multiplicity

multi-value

Description

Study programme; numerical string containing the CROHO code. Empty if the programme is not a regular one.

Notes

 

urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def:nlStudielinkNummer

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

A student's Studielink number as registered at www.studielink.nl

Notes

 

urn:mace:surffederatie.nl:attribute-def:nlDigitalAuthorIdentifier

Multiplicity

single-value

Description

Digital Author Identifier (DAI) as described here

Notes