Force Panopto to SSO With Blackboard When Not Using a Tool Link

Problem

As our university migrates to Panopto, one issue we noticed is that students would have to authenticate twice when viewing a video embedded in SoftChalk or via a text link in the WYSIWYG editor. Since we wanted to take advantage of video analytics and keep the sessions restricted to our university, we needed to identify a solution without making them “publicly available with the link.”

Solution

In our Panopto environment, we have several identify providers enabled for internal accounts, Blackboard Production SSO, and Blackboard Test SSO. Initially, we hid our Bb Test Server from the login dropdown box, which left the Panopto and Blackboard options visible on our login page. After determining the issue with SoftChalk and text links, we did some testing to find a workaround.

Based on our testing, if you disable the “show this in Sign-in Dropdown” setting for all identity providers, expect one, Panopto will automatically redirect to that provider. Therefore, when a user clicks on a Panopto video text link in Blackboard (before being authenticated in Panopto), they will be automatically redirected to Blackboard, authenticated via SSO, then be redirected to the requested video — thus removing the need for the student to login again.

To be able to access Panopto using your local Panopto account or another identity provider, you will need to visit:

https://<your-institution>.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Auth/Login.aspx?support=true

By adding ‘?support=true’ at the end of your URL, this will allow you to login using any identity provided you have enabled in your environment.

Authentication Process

1. User logs into Blackboard.
2. User clicks on a Panopto video text link.
3. Panopto video opens in a new tab.
4. Panopto redirects to Blackboard for authentication.
5. User is authenticated automatically via SSO (without interaction from the user).
6. User is directed back to the Panopto video.