How to setup an MVC client for IdentityServer3

Question

I'm trying to use the IdentityServer3 therefore I'm going over the official examples. I have created an authorization server which is very simple:

namespace SimpleIdentityServer
{
    public class Startup
    {
        public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
        {
            var options = new IdentityServerOptions
            {
                Factory = new IdentityServerServiceFactory()
                                .UseInMemoryClients(Clients.Get())
                                .UseInMemoryScopes(Scopes.Get())
                                .UseInMemoryUsers(Users.Get()),
                RequireSsl = false
            };
            app.UseIdentityServer(options);
        }
    }
}

This is my in memory user:

new Client
{
    ClientName = "MVC application",
    ClientId = "mvc",
    Enabled = true,
    AccessTokenType = AccessTokenType.Jwt,
    Flow = Flows.Implicit,
    ClientSecrets = new List<Secret>
    {
        new Secret("secret".Sha256())
    },
    AllowedScopes = new List<string>
    {
        "openId",
        "profile"
    },
    RedirectUris = new List<string>
    {
        "http://localhost:12261/"
    }
}

Now, I want to use the aforementioned server to authenticate the users of an MVC application, so I have done this:

    public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
    {
        app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
        {
            AuthenticationType = "Cookies"
        });
        app.UseOpenIdConnectAuthentication(new OpenIdConnectAuthenticationOptions
        {
            Authority = "http://localhost:47945/",
            ClientId = "mvc",
            RedirectUri = "http://localhost:12261/",
            ResponseType = "id_token",
            SignInAsAuthenticationType = "Cookies"
        });
    }

And this is a sample controller action annotated with the Authorize attribute:

[Authorize]
public ActionResult About()
{
    ViewBag.Message = "Your application description page.";

    return View();
}

But when I go to home/about in my mvc application it shows me 401 error and it seems (from the serilog) that it doesn't even call the authorization server.

Are you getting any errors from the Identity Server? Assuming that your identity server is running as default and bound to /core/ the Authority in your client should be http://localhost:47945/core/. Also, you probably need to tell the client site to allow external cookies: app.UseExternalSignInCookie(DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ExternalCookie); — Nick Bork, Dec 15 '16 at 04:53
@NickBork Actually, I've implemented the Identity Server on a console application which is self-hosted: `WebApp.Start("http://localhost:47945")`. Anyway, I'm not getting any error. And, I've not added any mapping (in server's Startup config method). — Mohsen Kamrani, Dec 15 '16 at 05:00
@NickBork `app.UseExternalSignInCookie(DefaultAuthenticationTypes.Exter‌nalCookie); ` didn't change anything. — Mohsen Kamrani, Dec 15 '16 at 05:06

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 15 '16 at 05:10

What I think could happen is that your OWIN pipeline is not executed. Could you try to put a breakpoint in your Startup class, kill IIS or IIS Express - whichever you're using - and starting again?

If this is the case, then the IODC middleware doesn't catch the HTTP 401 response, thus doesn't redirect you to your IdentityServer instance.

A possible explanation for this would be that you didn't include the necessary NuGet package that enables OWIN when running an ASP.NET app on IIS. That package is Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb.

How to setup an MVC client for IdentityServer3

1 Answers1