Accessing AWS Accounts Using Identity Federation with SAML 2.0 and Microsoft AD

In this section, we discuss another option that leverages an existing IdP: Microsoft AD and SAML 2.0 for authentication with your AWS account. SAML 2.0 is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization tokens between an IdP such as Microsoft AD FS and a service provider (SP), in this case, AWS. SAML 2.0 is often used to facilitate single-sign-on (SSO) capabilities, which enables users to access multiple services with a single set of credentials without having to log in separately to each service.

Many businesses use an AD environment to manage authentication and authorization for on-premises-hosted services. In large organizations with thousands to millions of users, their credentials, permission policies, and access across multiple platforms can become increasingly difficult to manage. Identity federation enables you to grant permissions to external identities to use the AWS Management...