Certified: The CompTIA CloudNetX Audio Course

Federation and SSO appear in CloudNetX scenarios because modern hybrid environments rely on shared identity across many services, and correct protocol selection affects both security and user experience. This episode defines SAML as a protocol commonly used for enterprise single sign-on where an identity provider issues assertions to service providers, OAuth 2.0 as a framework for delegated authorization that grants scoped access to resources, and OpenID Connect as an identity layer built on OAuth that enables authentication and user identity claims. The first paragraph focuses on what each protocol is “for,” because scenarios often test whether you can distinguish authentication from authorization and select the protocol that matches the requirement. It also explains the operational implications of federated identity: session behavior, token lifetimes, and trust relationships become critical dependencies, and failures in identity services can cause widespread access disruption across networks and applications.