BizTalk SSO Enables Enterprise Log-On

BizTalk 2004 includes a component called Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO), which allows users and processes to access heterogeneous applications through a single log-on. At the core of SSO is a SQL Server database, which securely stores and correlates Windows user credentials with non-Windows credentials, and a server component that can validate credentials in the database and pass these credentials to other applications (such as a BizTalk application).

In this example, a Windows-based human resources (HR) self-service application allows employees to access, via a BizTalk orchestration, information in the company’s mainframe-based HR system, which requires separate log-on credentials. A user accesses the self-service application with his Windows user credentials and requests salary information for a list of employees. The application then submits the request as a message to BizTalk Server. The BizTalk adapter receives the message and provides the user’s credentials to BizTalk Server’s SSO component, which returns a unique SSO ticket corresponding to the user’s credentials (Step 1). The ticket is attached to the message and the message is published to the MessageBox.