Description of Update Rollup 2 for Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0

This article describes the hotfixes and the updates that are included in this Update Rollup 2 update for AD FS 2.0 Release to Web (RTW). This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by AD FS 2.0. For more information about AD FS 2.0 RTW, visit the following Microsoft website: Important Install Windows PowerShell 2.0 before you install the update rollup on a Windows Server 2008-based computer. If Windows PowerShell 2.0 is not installed, you cannot perform certain certificate operations for Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0.

To install Windows PowerShell 2.0, visit the link below.
For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The Update Rollup 2 update is a cumulative update package that contains all the fixes and new features that were contained in Update Rollup 1. Additionally, this update fixes the following issues.

For more information about the Update Rollup 1 update for AD FS 2.0, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Issue 1

There is a reliability issue in AD FS 2.0 in which AD FS 2.0 Federation Service stops responding to requests in certain cases, especially when there is a large load on AD FS 2.0 federation server or federation server proxy. This issue can occur in both federation passive and federation active scenarios.

This issue occurs because, when the cached AD FS 2.0 federation server or federation server proxy settings expire, all incoming requests try to obtain a cache lock, and are blocked. This lasts until the cache is successfully refreshed. If there is a slow SQL connection, dozens to hundreds of requests are blocked, and eventually time out while the requests wait for the cache to refresh.

Update Rollup 2 resolve this issue so that only the first thread that detects that the cache is expired will request to lock and update the cache. Then, other threads continue to process requests by using the expired cache data. If you have a federation server proxy deployed, you must install the Update Rollup 2 update on both the federation server and the federation server proxy.

Issue 2

The whr parameter that is specified by an application for a home realm discovery scenario overwrites the previously set home realm discovery cookie. This causes a user to be redirected to a different identity provider that the user cannot use to sign in when the user uses a different application.

The Update Rollup 2 for AD FS 2.0 update resolves this issue by not overwriting data in the home realm cookie when home realm information is provided through the whr parameter. To set a home realm cookie that contains the whr parameter when the home realm cookie is not present, set the following configuration in the Web.config file:When the setting is configured, AD FS 2.0 will create a home realm cookie with the identity provider that is specified in the whr parameter when the whr request is sent, and when there is no home realm cookie. The whr request does not overwrite the cookie when there is already an existing home realm cookie.

Issue 3

The AD FS 2.0 service stops unexpectedly when a valid certificate is set to the archived state.

AD FS 2.0 uses certificates to sign and encrypt tokens. These certificates periodically expire, and must be renewed. If the Self-signed option in AD FS 2.0 is selected, AD FS 2.0 can handle certificate roll-over automatically. This includes synching with other AD FS 2.0 RP or claims provider trust partners. However, if the certificates that are issued by Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) are used for token signing and for token encryption, then Windows auto-enrollment behavior causes a time-valid certificate to be archived. Therefore, AD FS 2.0 cannot access the certificate that it needs in order to sign and encrypt tokens. This causes an AD FS 2.0 service outage until a new certificate is installed, and then communicated to the partners..

Issue 4

When you add an AD FS 2.0 federation server to a Windows Internal Database (WID) farm, you receive an error message. This issue occurs when the federation server is in a time zone that is later than the primary federation server in the WID farm.

Issue 5

AD FS 2.0 does not fully support the RelayState parameter for Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) protocol. The Update Rollup 2 for AD FS 2.0 update adds a new capability that enables AD FS 2.0 to consume relay state in order to redirect the user to the RP application.

For more information about this new capability, visit the following Microsoft website:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft website: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must be running one of the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

For more information about how to obtain a Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to obtain a Windows Server 2008 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Registry information

To apply this update, you do not have to change the registry.

Restart requirement

You must restart the computer after you apply this update.

Update replacement information

This update does not replace a previously released update.

File information

The global version of this hotfix installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The dates and the times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time together with your current daylight saving time (DST) bias. Additionally, the dates and the times may change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 file information notes

Important Windows 7 hotfixes and Windows Server 2008 R2 hotfixes are included in the same packages. However, hotfixes on the Hotfix Request page are listed under both operating systems. To request the hotfix package that applies to one or both operating systems, select the hotfix that is listed under "Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2" on the page. Always refer to the "Applies To" section in articles to determine the actual operating system that each hotfix applies to.

Important Windows Vista hotfixes and Windows Server 2008 hotfixes are included in the same packages. However, only "Windows Vista" is listed on the Hotfix Request page. To request the hotfix package that applies to one or both operating systems, select the hotfix that is listed under "Windows Vista" on the page. Always refer to the "Applies To" section in articles to determine the actual operating system that each hotfix applies to.

• The files that apply to a specific product, milestone (RTM, SPn), and service branch (LDR, GDR) can be identified by examining the file version numbers as shown in the following table:
  Collapse this tableExpand this table

  Version	Product	Milestone	Service branch
  6.1.760 0.20xxx	Windows Server 2008 R2	RTM	LDR
  6.1.760 1.21xxx	Windows Server 2008 R2	SP1	LDR
  6.0.600 1. 22 xxx	Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008	SP1	LDR

• The MANIFEST files (.manifest) that are installed for each environment are listed separately in the "Additional file information for Windows Server 2008 R2" section. MANIFEST files and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are extremely important to maintain the state of the updated components. The security catalog files, for which the attributes are not listed, are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.