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I have been reading some article on Windows Identity foundation and there are some vague definitions on federation provider(may be my understanding is not accurate). However I didn't come across one article which dilettantes between Identity provider and Federation provider clearly. Can anyone please explain me the difference clearly?

Lost
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There are different WEB authentication mechanisms and protocols. Each has its own (always changing) terminology. At times someone invents new terminology to clarify/confuse things.

In the WIF/Microsoft world "Identity Provider" (IP or IdP) is the term for a server that authenticates a user (the server is connected to some account database, AD in the current case of ADFS).

Federation server/provider is often used for a server that receives a SAML Token from another server. And then forwards it to the next Relying Party.

An ADFS server is often/typically *both*.

paullem
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  • Does your use of capital letters for "WEB authentication" indicate it is an acronym for some phrase, or is it [Web Authentication](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Authentication_API), which I believe means simply "web" like found in "www"? – 1252748 Aug 02 '18 at 21:24