LDAP authentication

LDAP Authentication is similar to password authentication, except that it uses the LDAP protocol to verify the password. Therefore, before LDAP can be used for authentication, the user must already exist in the database and have appropriate permissions.

You enable LDAP authentication in the YugabyteDB cluster by setting the LDAP configuration with the --ysql_hba_conf_csv flag.

This section describes how to configure YugabyteDB Anywhere to use an LDAP server such as Active Directory with TLS.

For more information on LDAP in YugabyteDB, refer to LDAP authentication.

Bind to the LDAP server using TLS

To bind to the LDAP server using TLS, you set the ldaptls=1 option and the ysql_hba_conf_csv flag to the following value:

host all yugabyte 127.0.0.1/0 password,"host all all 0.0.0.0/0 ldap ldapserver=ldapserver.example.org ldapbasedn=""dc=example,dc=org"" ldapsearchattribute=uid ldapbinddn=""cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org"" ldapbindpasswd=secret ldaptls=1"

For more information, see Edit configuration flags.

When entering the flag value in YugabyteDB Anywhere, do not enclose it in single quotes, as you would in a Linux shell.

The first host-based authentication (HBA) rule host all yugabyte 127.0.0.1/0 password allows access to the admin user (yugabyte) from localhost (127.0.0.1) using password authentication. This allows the administrator to login as yugabyte to set up the roles and permissions for LDAP users.

The second HBA rule configures LDAP authentication for all other user-host pairs using a search+bind configuration. The YB-TServer binds to the LDAP directory using a fixed user name and password specified with ldapbinddn and ldapbindpasswd. The search is performed over the subtree at ldapbasedn and tries to find an exact match of the attribute specified in ldapsearchattribute.

Once the user is found, to verify that the login is correct, the server disconnects and rebinds to the directory as this user using the password specified by the client.

For more information on the ysql_hba_conf_csv flag, refer to --ysql_hba_conf_csv flag. For more information on HBA, refer to Host-based authentication.

Example

Consider the following example:

  1. Configure YugabyteDB Anywhere with the ysql_hba_conf_csv flag, as outlined in Bind to the LDAP server using TLS.

  2. Create a user in the Active Directory and validate a successful search for that user, as follows:

    ldapsearch -x -H ldaps://ldapserver.example.org -b dc=example,dc=org 'uid=adam' -D "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org" -w adminpassword

    You should see a response similar to the following:

    # extended LDIF
#
# LDAPv3
# base <dc=example,dc=org> with scope subtree
# filter: uid=adam
# requesting: ALL

# adam, example.org
dn: uid=adam,dc=example,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: account
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
cn: adam
uid: adam
uidNumber: 16859
gidNumber: 100
homeDirectory: /home/adam
loginShell: /bin/bash
gecos: adam
userPassword:: e2NyeXB0fXg=
shadowLastChange: 0
shadowMax: 0
shadowWarning: 0

# search result
search: 2
result: 0 Success

# numResponses: 2
# numEntries: 1

    If instead you see a message similar to ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1), then you have a network, certificate, or binding (authentication) problem.

  3. Create the user in YugabyteDB, as follows:

    ysqlsh exampledb

    Password for user yugabyte: yugabyte
ysqlsh (11.2-YB-2.5.1.0-b0)
Type "help" for help.

    exampledb=# CREATE USER adam;

  4. Verify that the user can authenticate to the database using LDAP, as follows:

    ysqlsh -U adam exampledb

    Password for user adam: supersecret
ysqlsh (11.2-YB-2.5.1.0-b0)
Type "help" for help.

    exampledb=# \conninfo

    Expect the following output:

    You are connected to database "exampledb" as user "adam" on host "localhost" at port "5433".