Access Control Service, or

Windows Azure Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as ...

Access Control Service (ACS) was a

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-owned cloud-based service that provided an easy way of authenticating and authorizing users to gain access to

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

s and services while allowing the features of

authentication Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicat ...

and authorization to be factored out of the application code. This facilitates application development while at the same time providing users the benefit of being able to log into multiple applications with a reduced number of authentications, and in some cases only one authentication. The system provides an authorization store that can be accessed programmatically as well as via a

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

portal. Once authorizations are configured, a user coming to an application via ACS arrives at the application entrance with not only an authentication token, but also a set of authorization

claims Claim may refer to: * Claim (legal) * Claim of Right Act 1689 * Claims-based identity * Claim (philosophy) * Land claim * A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law * Patent claim * The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton ...

attached to the token. ACS was retired by Microsoft on November 7, 2018.

Features

ACS has the following features * Integration with Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) * Support for the

SAML 1.1 Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XML standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains. SAML is a product of the OASIS (organization)br>Security Services Technical Committee ''SAML 1.1'' w ...

, SAML 2.0, Simple Web Token (SWT) and

JSON Web Token JSON Web Token (JWT, pronounced , same as the word "jot") is a proposed Internet standard for creating data with optional signature and/or optional encryption whose payload holds JSON that asserts some number of claims. The tokens are signed ei ...

(JWT) token formats (JWT still in beta) * Integrated and customizable Home Realm Discovery that allows users to choose their identity provider * A browser-based management portal that allows administrative access to the ACS configuration

Web platform support

ACS supports all modern web platforms such as

.NET Framework The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...

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, Python,

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and

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. It can be used with both web applications and web services.

References

{{Reflist Authentication methods Access control software

Features

Web platform support

See also

References