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Secure Service Consumption Across Hyperscalers


To enable compliant and secure integration with hyperscaler services, SAP recommends using federated identity mechanisms instead of long-lived credentials. By leveraging standards such as OIDC and X.509 certificate-based authentication, SAP BTP workloads can access services on hyperscaler with traceable, short-lived credentials that align with enterprise security and audit requirements.

The following reference architectures illustrate how federated authentication can be implemented for corresponding hyperscaler.

Architecture

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Solution Diagram Resources
You can download the Solution Diagram as a .drawio file for offline use. Alternatively, you may view and edit the Solution Diagram directly on draw.io.
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Flow

  1. Identity Federation: SAP IAS or certificate authority is registered with the hyperscaler as a trusted source.
  2. Token or Certificate Exchange: The workload presents a signed token or client certificate to the hyperscaler.
  3. Temporary Credential Issuance: Based on the verified identity, short-lived credentials are issued to assume a scoped role or service account.
  4. Resource Access: The workload uses these credentials to access cloud-native services securely, with full auditability and revocability.

Characteristics

CharacteristicDescription
No long-lived secretsUses short-lived tokens or signed certificates instead of static credentials.
Strong isolationEach workload is assigned a scoped identity and tightly controlled role.
Seamless credential flowEliminates manual secret rotation; credentials are derived dynamically.