# External credentials


External credentials is a generic authentication plugin that you can use to connect to any external SAML based identity provider. To use the plugin, you pass an executable file that returns a SAML response.

## Authentication type



****  

| **Connection string name** | **Parameter type** | **Default value** | **Connection string example** | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | 
| AuthenticationType | Required | IAM Credentials | AuthenticationType=External Credentials; | 

## Executable path


The path to the executable that has the logic of your custom SAML-based credential provider. The output of the executable must be the parsed SAML response from the identity provider.


****  

| **Connection string name** | **Parameter type** | **Default value** | **Connection string example** | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | 
| ExecutablePath | Required | none | ExecutablePath=C:\$1Users\$1user\$1name\$1external\$1credential.exe | 

## Argument list


The list of arguments that you want to pass to the executable.


****  

| **Connection string name** | **Parameter type** | **Default value** | **Connection string example** | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | 
| ArgumentList | Optional | none | ArgumentList=arg1 arg2 arg3 |