System and method of locating identity providers in a data network

摘要

A distributed computer system is disclosed and includes a plurality of identity provider servers and a plurality of service provider servers coupled to a data network. Further, an identity provider locator server is coupled to the data network. In response to a request from one of the plurality of service provider servers, the identity provider locator server can provide an identifier of at least one of the plurality of identity provider servers. The identity provider locator server can include a memory that stores a list of active identity provider servers for a particular end-user having access to the data network. Further, one or more of the plurality of identity provider servers is able to add or remove itself from the list of active identity provider servers.