Confluence Server
With Privileged Access Service, you can choose single-sign-on (SSO) access to the Confluence web application with SP-initiated SAML SSO for SSO access directly through the Confluence web application). Enabling both methods ensures that users can log in to Confluence Server in different situations such as clicking through a notification email.
Confluence does not support SAML, but it accepts a custom plugin for individual companies to modify the authentication process to their own needs, including implement Single Sign-On. A custom plugin is a set of .jar
files that are implemented using Atlassian's Seraph library, and will be deployed in the Confluence Server. A system administrator must change the Confluence configuration to use the plugin.
For more information about Single Sign-on Integration with JIRA and Confluence, see: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DEV/Single+Sign-on+Integration+with+JIRA+and+Confluence
With Centrify Confluence SAML plugin deployed in Confluence Server, any unauthenticated access to Confluence resources will be redirected to Centrify Admin Portal for authentication. After that, users will be redirected back to the requested resources.
Centrify Confluence SAML plugin has been tested in Confluence Server versions 5.6.6 and 6.1.2.
If Confluence is the first application you are configuring for SSO through Privileged Access Service, read these topics before you get started:
Confluence Server SSO requirements
Before you configure the Confluence Server web application for SSO, you need the following:
- A Confluence Server (On-Premise).
- A system administrator account to the Confluence Server computer to deploy and configure the plugin.
Configuring Confluence Server in Admin Portal

-
In Admin Portal, click Apps, then click Add Web Apps.
The Add Web Apps screen appears.
-
On the Search tab, enter the partial or full application name in the Search field and click the search icon.
- Next to the application, click Add.
-
In the Add Web App screen, click Yes to confirm.
Admin Portal adds the application.
-
Click Close to exit the Application Catalog.
The application that you just added opens to the Application Settings page.
Note: The description of how to choose and download a signing certificate in this document might differ slightly from your experience. See Choose a certificate file for the latest information.
-
Configure the following:
Field
Set it to
What you do
Assertion Consumer Service URL
Your Confluence Server host and port number.
Replace
YOUR-CONFLUENCE-HOST-AND-PORT
with your Confluence Server host and port number, if any. For example, if your Confluence Server URL is:https://confluence.acme.com:8443
Replace
YOUR-CONFLUENCE-HOST-AND-PORT
withconfluence.acme.com:8443
.Note: If your Confluence Server is hosted over HTTP, change
https
tohttp
.
Note: For information on optional Centrify Admin Portal configuration settings that you may wish to customize for your app, see Optional configuration settings.
Downloading the Centrify Confluence SAML plugin and signing certificate

- Go to the Application Settings page for the Confluence Server app in Admin Portal.
- Copy your IdP Issuer and save it where you can find it in the next step.
- Copy your IdP Post URL and save it where you can find it in the next step.
- Click Download Signing Certificate and save the
.cer
file where you can find it in the next step. - Click Download this plugin to be installed into your Confluence Server instance to download a
.zip
file containing the SAML plugin files, and save the file where you can find it in the next step.
Deploying and configuring Confluence SAML plugin in Confluence Server
This section requires a system administrator to place new files in the Confluence Server file system and modify Confluence configuration files. Note that this is a system administrator to the server hosting Confluence, not a Confluence (application) administrator.
Note: These instructions assume:
- Confluence on Windows.
- Your Confluence Server is installed at:
C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence
.

- Access the server hosting Confluence.
-
Stop the Confluence application. For example, in Windows 7, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, then right-click Atlassian Confluence the service and select Stop.
Note: The following instructions assume that your Confluence Server is located in
C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence
. If you choose to specify a different location, substitute that location forC:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence
from here forward. -
Copy the
.cer
signing certificate file downloaded in the previous step and place it in:C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF.
- Copy the
.zip
file downloaded in the previous step and place it in a temporary location (any location other than where it will be moved to in the next few steps). -
Extract the
.zip
file.You will get a
readme
file and alib
directory containing several .jar
files. -
Copy all the .
jar
files and paste them in:C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\
confluence
\WEB-INF\lib - Go to
C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\classes\seraph-config.xml
. - Comment out the line with:
<authenticator class=
that is not commented out. -
Below that line add the following lines:
<!-- Centrify SAML -->
<authenticator class="com.centrify.cloud.saas.
confluence
saml.SamlAuthenticator"/> - Save
seraph-config.xml
. - Open
C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\web.xml
. - Find the last
<servlet>
defined. -
Place your cursor below the last
<servlet>
defined, then copy/paste the following:<!-- Centrify SAML -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>samlServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.centrify.cloud.saas.confluencesaml.SamlServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>idpIssuerName</param-name>
<param-value><!-- Copy IdP Issuer from Application Settings in Privileged Access Service and paste it here. --></param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>idpCertFile</param-name>
<param-value><!-- Absolute file path to your signing certificate file --></param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>audience</param-name>
<!-- After setting the audience value below, make sure you also set the same audience value in Admin Portal. -->
<param-value>Confluence</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
- Set the
<param-value>
ofidpIssuerName
to the IdP Issuer that you copied from your Confluence Server SAML application in the previous step. -
Set the
<param-value>
ofidpCertFile
to the absolute file path to your signing certificate file. If you used the recommended path name and if your certificate file is namedConfluence.cer
, you would set<param-value>
to:C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\Confluence.cer.
As shown here:
<init-param>
<param-name>idpCertFile</param-name>
<param-value>C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\Confluence.cer<param-value>
</init-param>
- Find the last
<servlet-mapping>
defined. -
Place your cursor below the last
<servlet-mapping> and copy/paste
the following:<!-- Centrify SAML -->
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>samlServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/saml</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
- Find the last
<filter>
defined. -
Below the last
<filter>
add the following lines:<!-- CentrifySAML -->
<filter>
<filter-name>samlFilter</filter-name>
<filter-class>com.centrify.cloud.saas.confluencesaml.SamlFilter</filter-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>idpPostUrl</param-name>
<param-value></param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>spIssuerName</param-name>
<param-value>Confluence</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>allowedURIs</param-name>
<param-value>
/saml,
/plugins/servlet/applinks/*,
/plugins/servlet/oauth/*,
/rest/*
</param-value>
</init-param>
</filter>
- Set the
<param-value>
ofidpPostUrl
by copying the IdP Post URL from your Confluence Server SAML application in Admin Portal and pasting it inside<param-value></param-value>
in the code you added in Confluence Server. -
Above the
<filter-mapping>
with the<filter-name>
oflogin
, add the following lines:<!-- CentrifySAML -->
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>samlFilter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
- Save
web.xml
. -
Start the Confluence application. For example, in Windows 7, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, then right-click Atlassian Confluence the service and select Start.
Wait a few minutes for the service to start. The new settings that you just configured will be used after Confluence starts.
Note: After configuration for SP-initiated SSO is complete, the Confluence application is automatically ready to link to other Atlassian apps released in that have also been configured for SP-initiated SSO. For information about how to link the apps, see: https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver073/using-applinks-to-link-to-other-applications-861253079.html
Note: You can add additional paths to the list of
<param-value>
values forallowedURIs
in theweb.xml
file for Atlassian apps released in Privileged Access Service Cloud 17.10 or later. It is important that you do not change the/saml <param-value>
.
For more information about Confluence Server
- Single Sign-on Integration with JIRA and Confluence:
- https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DEV/Single+Sign-on+Integration+with+JIRA+and+Confluence
- For configuration between Centrify SAML Plug-in and Confluence Server, contact Centrify Support.
Confluence Server specifications
Each SAML application is different. The following table lists features and functionality specific to Confluence Server.
Capability |
Supported? |
Support details |
Web browser client |
Yes |
|
Mobile client |
No |
|
SAML 2.0 |
Yes |
|
SP-initiated SSO |
Yes |
|
IdP-initiated SSO |
Yes |
|
Force user login via SSO only |
Yes |
|
Separate administrator login |
No |
|
User or Administrator lockout risk |
Yes |
Because SP-initiated SSO always redirects users to Centrify and disables the function of Confluence login pages, users run the risk of being locked out of Confluence. |
Automatic user provisioning |
No |
|
Multiple User Types |
Yes |
SSO works the same way for all admin and non-admin user types. |
Self-service password |
Yes |
Users can reset their own passwords. Resetting another user’s password requires administrator rights. |
Access restriction using a corporate IP range |
Yes |
You can specify an IP Range in the Admin Portal Policy page to restrict access to the application. |