---
title: Google Apps SAML single sign-on (SSO)
description: Google apps supports SAML 2.0.  That is basically all you need to know to achieve single sign on.  In our whitepaper....
image: https://blog.empowerid.com/hs-fs/file-18495668-jpg/images/google_apps_saml_single_sign-on_(sso).jpg
---

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# All-In-One Identity Management and Cloud Security

Emerging technologies are challenging old paradigms and unveiling new ways of approaching the security discipline that enables the right individuals to access the right resources at the right times for the right reasons.

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# Google Apps SAML single sign-on (SSO)

Posted by [Edward Killeen](https://blog.empowerid.com/blog-1/author/edward-killeen) on Wed, Jun 13, 2012

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

Google apps supports SAML 2.0.  That is basically all you need to know to achieve single sign on.  In our Whitepaper, [Top 5 Federated Single Sign on Scenarios](https://blog.empowerid.com/top-5-federated-single-sign-on-sso-scenarios/), federating with Google apps falls under three scenarios:

- Scenario 1: Corporate login to Cloud Application
- Scenario 2: Cloud login to Internal Application
- Scenario 5: Identity as a Service (IdaaS) Hub

But all of these scenarios follow the same basic principle -- the user goes to the service provider (Google Apps) which sends a SAML request to the identity provider (in this case EmpowerID) which sends an encoded SAML response which the service provider accepts and then, boom, the user is logged in.

[This is federation](https://blog.empowerid.com/blog-1/bid/164625/What-is-federation-And-how-is-it-different-from-SSO) which means the user doesn't even necessarily need to know their service provider username and password.  Here's a nice diagram from [Google's developer page](https://developers.google.com/google-apps/sso/saml_reference_implementation) on how this works:

![Google Apps SAML single sign on (SSO)](https://blog.empowerid.com/hs-fs/file-18495668-jpg/images/google_apps_saml_single_sign-on_(sso).jpg)

Google apps is growing by leaps and bounds in the enterprise and there is no reason to not have federated single sign-on for your users.  Choosing your [identity provider](http://www.empowerid.com/products/ssomanager) wisely gives your users an easy way to access their services without re-authenticating.

Of course, you are going to have other issues with Google Apps such as the fact that their Google Active Directory Sync (GADS) only synchronizes 5 attributes natively and doesn't address how to synch your AD groups over to Google Apps.  EmpowerID can help you solve that as well, but in the meantime, get your users logged in and federated!

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 Tags: [Single Sign-on (SSO)](https://blog.empowerid.com/blog-1/topic/single-sign-on-sso), [Identity and Access Management (IAM)](https://blog.empowerid.com/blog-1/topic/identity-and-access-management-iam)

### About EmpowerID

EmpowerID is the all-in-one Identity Management and Cloud Security platform designed for people.  Globally managing millions of identities in diverse enterprises, EmpowerID offers comprehensive provisioning, single sign-on and access governance coupled with an industry leading user experience. 

Built on a single codebase for manageability and scalability, EmpowerID ships with a powerful API, a visual workflow designer and over 400 ready-to-use workflows for rapid deployment.

 

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