Federation Guides › Partnership Federation Guide › Federation Entity Configuration › Exporting a Local Entity

Exporting a Local Entity

You can use metadata as a basis for creating remote entities and forming a partnership. Metadata makes partnership configuration more efficient because many aspects of an entity are already defined in the metadata file. The metadata file can be imported to create a partnership or remote entity.

You can export metadata from an existing local asserting or relying entity. When you export SAML 1.1 data, the terms used in the resulting metadata file are SAML 2.0 terms. This convention adheres to the SAML specification. When you import the SAML 1.1 data, the terms are imported correctly using SAML 1.1 terminology.

Follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Administrative UI
2. Select Federation, Partnership Federation, Entities.
3. Click the Action pull-down menu next to any local entity in the list and select Export Metadata.

   The Export Metadata dialog opens.

   Note: When you export metadata from a local entity, you are asked to specify a new partnership name.

4. Complete the fields on the dialog. Be sure to fill in the settings in the Metadata Export Options section of the dialog.

   Note: Click Help for a description of fields, controls, and their respective requirements.

5. Click Export.
6. A dialog prompting you to open or save the metadata file displays.

   Only open it to view it.

7. Save the data to an XML file on your local system.

The metadata is exported to the specified XML file. You can send this file to any partner.