Join as Federation Member
Federation Member - A Definition
A Federation Member is an organization that runs an Identity Provider and any number of AAI-enabled web resources. All Federation Members agree on a common set of policies and rules defined in the AAI Service Agreement in order to allow for a smooth and proper functioning of AAI and compliance with legal obligations.
Membership Requirements
In alignment with chapter "2.2.1 Federation Members" of the AAI Policy the following two categories of organizations can become Federation Members of the SWITCHaai federation:
- Category A: Education and Research
- Category A "Education and Research" relates to all cantonal universities, Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, research institutes in the FIT sector, Fachhochschulen, public research institutes and teaching hospitals. It comprises all organizations which, pursuant to the Law on Promotion of Higher Education, the Law on Research, and the Federal Law on Fachhochschulen, are supported by public subsidies. It also includes organizations engaging predominantly in primary and pre-competition research.
- Category B: Supporting Organizations
- Category B "Supporting Organizations" comprises public institutions with which the users in category A collaborate by way of practice and support of their activities in education and research (e.g. libraries, Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss University Conference).
Already Participating Federation Members
See list of Federation Members
Becoming a Federation Member
An organization that wants to become a SWITCHaai Federation Member has to fit into one of the categories of the "Membership Requirements" as listed above. Then, it has to agree to and sign two copies of the AAI Service Agreement [PDF, 11 pages, 95 kByte]
This Agreement is supplemented by a total of five exhibits listed below.
All five exhibits in one file [PDF, 33 pages, 324 kByte]
Exhibit 1: Glossary
A glossary of all AAI specific terms used throughout this document and the exhibits.
Glossary [PDF, 4 pages, 92 kByte]
Exhibit 2: AAI Services (Base Package) and Dependencies
A description of the services provided by SWITCH in its function as the AAI service provider. These services are considered essential for a proper development and functioning of the AAI and are called the "base package". It is mandatory for all AAI participants to subscribe thereto. In addition, the rights and obligations of both SWITCH and the Federation Members related to these services are defined. Optional AAI services provided by SWITCH (such as the operation of a Virtual Home Organization or others) are also available but they are not part of this agreement and need to be ordered separately.
AAI Services (Base Package) and Dependencies [PDF, 4 pages, 93 kByte]
Exhibit 3: AAI Policy
This document defines concepts related to the AAI federation and establishes a firm set of rules that all AAI participants are expected to follow. It also lays the groundwork for the exchange of attributes between organizations in accordance with data protection laws.
AAI Policy [PDF, 6 pages, 79 kByte]
Exhibit 4: Software Licenses
This exhibit reproduces the software licenses required for the provision of the services. In particular, it lists the OpenSAML-, Shibboleth-, Curl-, Log4cpp- and OpenSSL-License.
Software Licenses [PDF, 16 pages, 132 kByte]
Exhibit 5: End User Sample Clauses
In order to satisfy the data protection laws and regulations, and in order to limit the mutual liabilities arising from the use of the AAI services by an end user, clauses as proposed in Exhibit 5 have to be included into the agreements between a home organizations and the end user.
End User Sample Clauses [PDF, 3 pages, 96 kByte]
In case of questions please contact the SWITCHaai team at aai@switch.ch.
Technical Information
In order to technically join the federation it is of course necessary to install and configure Shibboleth. For that purpose we provide installation instructions and How-To manuals for all major platforms.