Introduction
LDAP authentication for the JOC Cockpit is offered from the JS7 - LDAP Identity Service and relies on a connection between the JS7 - REST Web Service API and the LDAP Server.
- Early JS7 releases make use of JS7 - Shiro Identity Service, for migration see JS7 - Shiro Identity Service Migration.
- The connection to the LDAP Server be secured, see JS7 - LDAP over TLS (STARTTLS) and LDAP over SSL (LDAPS).
This article describes the steps for configuration with an LDAP Directory Service:
- Step 1: LDAP Configuration
- Step 2: Authentication
- Step 3: Authorization
- Define roles
- Define groupRolesMapping
- Define the LDAP attribute search for groups
Relevant Tools
- An LDAP Browser:
- The screenshots used in this article were made with the Softerra LDAP Browser that was configured to use the relevant LDAP Directory Service.
- A command line utility:
- The examples used in this article are executed with ldapSearch.
Proceeding
The following diagram provides an overview of the setup proceeding:
Step 1: Basic LDAP Configuration
The LDAP configuration can be managed from the Administration->Manage Identity Services view like this:
Add Identity Service
In a first step click the Add Identity Service button that brings up the following popup window.
- A Name has to be specified that identifies the LDAP Identity Service.
- The Identity Service Type gives a choice
LDAP
: to map user/role assignments from security group membership in the LDAP Server,LDAP-JOC
: to manage user/role assignments from the Identity Service.
- Do not make the Identify Service Required before you are certain that the service configuration works fine.
- Select the
single-factor
Authentication Scheme.
Manage Identity Service Settings
In a next step set up the configuration of the service:
- Select the Manage Settings action menu item like this:
This brings forward a popup window with the following tabs:
- Simple Mode: The most frequently used settings are available.
- Expert Mode:: The full set of settings is available.
Specify general Settings
The following table lists the general items used to configure an LDAP connection.
Name | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
LDAP Server URL |
| The host and the port of the LDAP Server. |
LDAP Start TLS | true|false | To enable Starttls set the value to Please note that the server must be prepared to serve with StartTls. To check this, you can use an LDAP browser. Configure your LDAP Server there and click the "Enable Starttls Button" On client side you will need the certificate and you have to add the certificate to your truststore. The path to your truststore is defined in the
Example values:
Note: we habe had difficulties when using Starttls with the JRE 1.8.0_151 and have overcome these by installing the corresponding JDK. |
Host Name Verification | true|false | Enables the host name verification of the certificate. The default value is off. |
LDAP Truststore Path | ||
LDAP Truststore Password | ||
LDAP Truststore Type |
Step 2: LDAP Authentication
Specify Authentication Settings
The following table lists possible values for authentication with an LDAP Server:
Name | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
LDAP User DN Template |
| Should work from scratch for Microsoft Active Directory®. For login use |
uid={0},ou=People,dc=sos | Use with Microsoft Active Directory® and other LDAP Servers. Look up the For login use | |
cn={0},ou=Users,dc=sos,dc=berlin,dc=com | Use with Microsoft Active Directory® and other LDAP Servers. The Common Name For login use | |
uid={0},dc=example,dc=com | Use with Public LDAP Server. For login use |
- Add the User Search
Verify Authentication Settings
Verify by use of LDAP Browser
Possible values for the LDAP User DN Template can be derived from an account's properties. The below screenshot displays such properties from an LDAP Browser:
In a first step search with the value from the LDAP User DN Template in the Search DN input field. The query should return only one entry.
From the properties of the resulting entry the setting for the account is used and the uid
value is replaced with: {0}
.
Verify by use of ldapSearch
Users can check the value of the LDAP User DN Template setting by use of the ldapSearch utility:
Example for use of a public LDAP Server
The following example uses a publicly available LDAP Server. To our experience this server provides a good example to make an initial LDAP configuration work.
Note:
The option -x
is used in the ldapSearch examples in this article. It is possible that an LDAP Directory Service does not allow this option and instead an account and a password have to be specified. In this case the command would look like this:
ldapsearch -h ldap.forumsys.com -p 389 -b "uid=gauss,dc=example,dc=com" -W -D "uid=gauss,dc=example,dc=com"
Verify by use of JOC Cockpit
Try to login with an LDAP Account/Password combination. Use an Account that you have verified to be correct by executing the ldapSearch command described above. If there are no Role(s) configured for the Account but the authentication works then you will see the following screen that complains about missing authorization after successful authentication:
Step 3: Authorization
Authorization includes the assignment of roles to user accounts. Roles, in turn, hold permissions. For details see JS7 - Manage Roles and Permissions.
There are two options for assignment of roles to user accounts depending on the Identity Service Type:
LDAP
: add a Group/Roles mapping: membership of a user account in a security group of the LDAP Server is mapped to a role in the Identity Service.LDAP-JOC
: add a user account and assign roles. Accounts are managed with the Identity Service in parallel to the LDAP Server. No user passwords are managed with JOC Cockpit as authentication is performed with the LDAP Directory Service.
Assign Roles with Identity Service
Map Roles from LDAP Security Groups
If the Roles are assigned with the JOC Cockpit Account Management, i.e. there is a [users]
section available in the shiro.ini
configuration file, then you can skip this chapter.
How substitutions will be done
In the groupSearchFilter
and the userSearchFilter
you can specify e.g.
(uid=%s)
The %s will be substituted with the account from the login. If you login with domain\account
oder account@domain
the value for the user
is account
.
You can specify e.g.
(uid=^s)
The placeholder ^s
will be substituted with the original value from the login e.g. account@domain.
The Group/Roles mapping
Settings:
ldapRealm.groupRolesMap
If the Roles are assigned with the JOC Cockpit Account Management, i.e. there is a [users]
section available in the shiro.ini
configuration file, then you can skip this chapter.
shiro.ini
configuration file. This is done in the a [main]
section with the groupRolesMap
setting.shiro ini
file will look like this:The groupRolesMap
looks like this.
# Mapping of a LDAP group to roles. You can assign more than one role with separator character |
ldapRealm.groupRolesMap = \
group1 : list_of_roles, \
group2 : list_of_roles
where list_of_roles
is a list of Roles that are configured in the [roles]
section of the shiro.ini
configuration file. Multiple Roles are separated with a bar |.
Note that the value of the group depends on the result of the group search. It is the value of the attribute that you have specified with the groupNameAttribute
. Default for the groupNameAttribute
is memberOf. This indicates that if you are retrieving group memberships by use of the memberOf attribute of an account then you have to specify the complete value of the memberOf attribute value, i.e. the distinguished names of group hits.
Example for Group Mapping with Microsoft Active Directory by memberOf Attribute
A typical mapping when using Microsoft Active Directory with the memberOf attribute for group memberships includes to specify group hts by their distinguished name like this:
ldapRealm.groupRolesMap = \
"CN=Group1,OU=SpecialGroups,OU=Groups,OU=Company,DC=sos-berlin,DC=com" : all, \
"CN=AnotherGroup,OU=SpecialGroups,OU=Groups,OU=CompanyDC=sos-berlin,DC=com" : all, \
"CN=Beginners,OU=SecurityGroups,OU=Groups,OU=Company,DC=sos-berlin,DC=com" : business_user
Example for Group Mapping by cn Attribute
A mapping that is based on group search would identify group hits by the value of their common name like this:
ldapRealm.groupRolesMap = \
sos : it_operator, \
apl : administrator|application_manage
Retrieving the Groups an Account is a member of
If the Roles are assigned with the JOC Cockpit Account Management, i.e. there is a [users]
section availab le in the shiro.ini
configuration file, then you can skip this chapter.
There are two options to find the Group membership(s) for a User Account:
- The Account has a memberOf attribute. Then you can retrieve the list of groups with the User Search. Then proceed with Using memberOf with User Search.
- The Account does not have a memberOf attribute. The group contains the Accounts that are members of the group, Then proceed with Using Group Search.
These options cannot be mixed.
a) Using memberOf with User Search
If the Account entries do not have the memberOf attribute then you can skip this section and proceed with Using Group Search.
Settings:
ldapRealm.searchBase
ldapRealm.userSearchFilter
After specifying the User Search the shiro.ini.active
configuration file will look like this:
This approach looks for the Account entry and reads the memberOf attribute. This attribute is often used when, for example, configuring Microsoft Active Directory® LDAP servers.
Define a userSearchFilter
and a searchBase
that will find the account (%s will be replaced by the Account name from the login without the domain part).
Example for User Search
ldapRealm.searchBase = ou=People,dc=sos
ldapRealm.userSearchFilter = (uid=%s)
Example for User Search in Active Directory®
ldapRealm.searchBase = dc=example,dc=com
ldapRealm.userSearchFilter = (sAMAccountName=%s)
An LDAP Browser can be used to get the correct values for the searchBase
and the userSearchFilter
. Perform a directory search with the values. You should find only one entry.
The searchBase
is the value of the base DN (or ParentDN in the screenshot above).
Hint: if the attribute name in your environment is not the default memberOf then you can specify the name of the attribute with the groupNameAttribute
key as described in the next section.
b) Using Group Search
If the Account entries have the memberOf attribute then you can skip this section and proceed with Using memberOf with User Search. Settings:
ldapRealm.groupSearchBase
ldapRealm.groupNameAttribute
ldapRealm.groupSearchFilter
After defining the Group Search the shiro.ini
configuration file will look like this:
When the memberOf attribute is not available for the Account then you can use the Group Search.
Define the groupSearchBase
and the groupSearchFilter
. For example:
ldapRealm.groupSearchBase = ou=Groups,dc=sos
ldapRealm.groupSearchFilter = (uniqueMember=uid=%s,ou=People,dc=sos)
Getting the value for the groupSearchBase
Identify the location where the groups are stored. This is your groupSearchBase
.
Getting the value for the groupSearchFilter
Click one group Entry (in the screenshot, cn=apl
) and see how the members are stored there.
The groupSearchFilter is configured with attr=val
where attr
is name of the attribute and val
is the content. In this example, the attr
is uniqueMember
and the val
uid=%s,ou=People,dc=sos
, where the userid
is replaced with %s
. This results in:
ldapRealm.groupSearchFilter = (uniqueMember=uid=%s,ou=People,dc=sos)
Verifing the groupSearchFilter with the ldapSearch command
ldapsearch -h localhost -p 389 -b "ou=Groups,dc=sos" -s sub "uniqueMember=uid=ur,ou=People,dc=sos" -x
This search should return the group entries the Account is a member of. Identify the attribute containing the group name that is to be used in the user roles mapping. This can be seen in the next listing
Verifing the groupSearchBase and groupSearchFilter with an LDAP Browser
groupSearchBase
and groupSearchFilter
values by using them to perform a directory search. The result should show all groups the account is a member of.Now set the groupNameAttribute
to the name of the attribute that contains the group name.
ldapRealm.groupNameAttribute = cn
Hint: The complete content of this attribute must be used in the groupRolesMap
attribute. Typical content of the attribute could be ou=Groups,dc=sos,cn=groupname
.
Substitution of the account name
If the roles are assigned with the JOC Account Manager (i.e. there is a [users]
section in the shiro.ini configuration file) you can skip this chapter.
If the value of the member of the groups contains the Account name from the login then you can skip this chapter
Sometimes the values of the member do not contain the Account Name from the login but, for example, the cn
of the Account. In this case you have to search for the Account first and then specify the name of the attribute that should be used instead of the Account name from the login .
To achieve this, specify a searchBase
, a userSearchFilter
and a userNameAttribute
.
ldapRealm.searchBase = ou=People,dc=sos
ldapRealm.userSearchFilter = (uid=%s)
Verify by use of ldapSearch
This search should return the Account with the given Account name. Identify the attribute that should be used for substitution in the Group Search base if it is not the Account name from the login.
Verification by use of LDAP Browser
Perform a directory search with your LDAP client to check the User Search configuration. You should find only one Account entry with the given Account name.
Then identify the name of the attribute that contains the value for substitution. For example:
ldapRealm.userNameAttribute = cn
The configuration will look like this:
Examples and special configurations
Example LDAP Configuration with mixed LDAP and Shiro Authentication
Add the iniRealm to
securityManager.realms = $ldapRealm, $iniRealm
Behavior Notes:
- By default roles from the shiro ini are added to the roles of an authenticated LDAP user with the same name. This happens regardless of whether or not a password is set for the account in the shiro ini file. However, a number of options can be configured to modify this behavior. These are described in the Multi-Realm Authentication and Authorization article.
Example LDAP Configuration for Active Directory with mixed LDAP and Shiro Authentication
Login with sAMAccountName
specified for domain\account
or account@domain
:
ldapRealm.userDnTemplate = {0}
Consider use of uppercase/lowercase spelling for domain and account
Add the ldapRealm and iniRealm like this:
securityManager.realms = $ldapRealm, $iniRealm
Add domain\account
to the [users]
section. Assign roles but omit passwords for LDAP authenticated users like this:
COMPANY\account = ,role [,role]
Example LDAP Configuration with several LDAP Servers
LDAP configuration with several LDAP servers is achieved by defining more than one LDAP realm as shown in the next code block.
Define two realms and assign them like this:
securityManager.realms = $ldapRealm1, $ldapRealm2
A full shiro.ini example with Group Search
A full shiro.ini example with Group Search where the member attribute does not contain the account name but the common name
A full shiro.ini example with memberOf in the account record
A public LDAP Server for testing the connection
An online public LDAP server which can be accessed using a relatively simple configuration is available from Forum Systems. This server can be used to set up a test environment with LDAP authentication. In this article we will refer to the authentication of two user accounts on this server - gauss and newton - that are each members of a different LDAP group as shown in the following table:
Account Name | Password | LDAP Group | Shiro Role |
---|---|---|---|
gauss | password | mathematicians | all |
newton | password | scientists | it_operator |
To implement the authentication configuration - or realm - for accessing this public LDAP server, add the following lines to the [main]
section of the shiro.ini
file:
publicLdapRealm = com.sos.auth.shiro.SOSLdapAuthorizingRealm publicLdapRealm.userDnTemplate = uid={0},dc=example,dc=com publicLdapRealm.searchBase = dc=example,dc=com publicLdapRealm.contextFactory.url = ldap://ldap.forumsys.com:389 publicLdapRealm.groupNameAttribute = ou publicLdapRealm.userNameAttribute = uid publicLdapRealm.rolePermissionResolver = $rolePermissionResolver publicLdapRealm.userSearchFilter = (uniqueMember=uid=%s,dc=example,dc=com) publicLdapRealm.groupRolesMap = \ scientists : it_operator, \ mathematicians: all rolePermissionResolver = com.sos.auth.shiro.SOSPermissionResolverAdapter rolePermissionResolver.ini = $iniRealm securityManager.realms = $publicLdapRealm, $iniRealm cacheManager = org.apache.shiro.cache.MemoryConstrainedCacheManager securityManager.cacheManager = $cacheManager
Save the modified shiro.ini
file. (It is not required to restart the Jetty web server.)
You will now be able to use JOC Cockpit to authenticate the two User Account name:password combinations listed in the table above with the LDAP server.
The Shiro authentication (using, for example, the default root:root User Account) will still be active alongside the LDAP accounts listed above.
The LDAP group memberships will be mapped to the default Roles configured in the shiro.ini
[roles]
section as can be seen in lines 15-17 of the code listing above. This can be checked in the JOC Cockpit by looking at the Permissions section of the relevant User Profiles - the User Account gauss, for example, will have all permissions.