eduGAIN :: REANNZ

eduGAIN provides international connectivity for Tuakiri subscribers who want to connect their Identity Provider (IdP) or Service Providers (SP) to eduGAIN. eduGAIN (Education Global Authentication Infrastructure) enables researchers, educators and students in one country to collaborate with their colleagues and access applications, tools and datasets in other countries.

eduGAIN is a global initiative to connect federations around the world. Subscribers to Tuakiri can access international services or open their services to other international researchers and collaborators.

Why should my organisation connect to eduGAIN?

By connecting to eduGAIN, your organisation will benefit from:

end-users gain access to a growing number of services connected to international federations,
your researchers can easily share their applications, tools and data sets with their international colleagues,
they can also access global research projects and collaboration opportunities available through eduGAIN, and
eduGAIN provides simple and secure access that removes the need for direct integration with applications and multiple login credentials.

What's the difference between Tuakiri & eduGAIN?

Tuakiri:

allows an end-user to consume services, access resources and otherwise collaborate within New Zealand while using their home institution's identity,
this is possible without needing a unique identity (set of login credentials) for each service, simplifying the workflow of both the end-user and their organisation's technology teams.
The same capability of Tuakiri is recreated in many nations worldwide - each operating their own equivalent service.

A full list of the services and websites that subscribers can access through Tuakiri can be found here in the Tuakiri Service Catalogue.

eduGAIN:

These national level services like Tuakiri can be linked together using eduGAIN,
this enables the same simplified workflow to happen across the globe.
eduGAIN provides students, researchers and educators access to online services, while minimising the number of accounts that users have to manage – reducing costs, complexity and security risks.
With just one trusted identity, provided by the user's home institution and their national identity provider, users can access services from other participating organisations.
This opens up a whole world of resources to the end-user with new global services being added everyday - a complete list of these can be found here.

How to connect:

Step 1: Complete the Connect to eduGAIN form (linked here) to indicate your organisation’s intent to connect to eduGAIN. The Primary Representative for your organisation’s Tuakiri Subscription must complete this form.

Step 2: Complete the requirements to connect to eduGAIN (refer to the table below).

Step 3: Notify Tuakiri Support that you have completed the necessary requirements. An email template is available here in the eduGAIN Information Pack - send this through to tuakiri@reannz.co.nz.

Technical requirements and steps to connect:

For a Service Provider to join eduGAIN:

Run the latest SP software.
We recommend declaring the Research and Scholarship category (R&S) where applicable.
We also recommend declaring SIRTFI - the security incident response framework. (You can find more information on these steps in the eduGAIN Information Pack).
Provide a logo representing the service.
Provide a page with further information about the service (InformationURL).
Consume eduGAIN metadata.
Record requested attributes in Federation Registry.
Configure Discovery for eduGAIN.
Finally, send the request to join eduGAIN to REANNZ Tuakiri - tuakiri@reannz.co.nz

For an Identity Provider to join eduGAIN:

Run the latest IdP software.
Declare support for the Research and Scholarship category (R&S).
Declare SIRTFI - the security incident response framework - and provide SIRTFI contact. (You can find more information on these steps in the eduGAIN Information Pack).
Provide a logo representing the organisation.
Consume eduGAIN metadata.
Release attributes to eduGAIN services.

Please see the eduGAIN Information Pack for the full technical processes for joining eduGAIN and if you have any questions please contact tuakiri@reannz.co.nz.Find out more about REANNZ Products and Services.