Authentication Domain

An authentication domain is a federation of service providers (with at least one identity provider) that is configured technologically. The providers interact using the Liberty Alliance Project specifications. The term authentication domain does not encompass the prerequisite business agreements established between providers in a circle of trust. After the circle of trust is established, an authentication domain can be configured and single sign-on can be enabled.

An authentication domain is not a domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) sense of the word.