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  This documentation supports the 21.3 version of BMC Helix Single Sign-On.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Configuring LDAP authentication

You can configure BMC Helix SSO server to authenticate end users through the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). You can also configure LDAP authentication for external administrators, see Configuring-the-BMC-Helix-SSO-server for details.

BMC Helix SSO supports strong LDAP bind with Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL). In SASL, a challenge-response authentication protocol enables data exchange between the client and the server. Data exchange supports authentication and establishes a security layer for communications.

LDAP v3 also uses SASL for pluggable authentication. By using pluggable authentication, you can select an authentication mechanism that enables a strong bind. For example, a mechanism such as External with SSL and client certificate establishes a strong bind. The mechanism gets the client certificate from the client (browser), and passes it to BMC Helix SSO server. The client certificate is then used to create an SSL connection to the LDAP server.

BMC Helix SSO supports providing additional information about LDAP users and groups. The additional information can be used by an integrated application such as TrueSight Orchestration (formerly BMC Atrium Orchestrator) for administration and authorization.

Important

BMC Helix SSO does not follow LDAP referrals. 

Related topics

Roles-and-permissions

Troubleshooting authentication issues

Related blogs in BMC Communities

Single Sign-On LDAP authentication



Before you begin

  • Add a realm for LDAP authentication. For information about how to add a realm, see Adding-and-configuring-realms.
  • You must have the LDAP server configured.
  • Obtain the following information from the LDAP administrator:
    • Host name of the LDAP server
    • Port number of the LDAP server
    • Distinguished name of the bind LDAP user
    • Password of the bind LDAP user
    • Starting location within the LDAP directory for performing user searches
    • User attribute on which search is performed.
  1. In the left navigation pane of the Add Realm or Edit Realm page, click Authentication.

  2. In the Authentication Type field, click LDAP, and enter the following LDAP details:

    Field

    Description

    Example

    LDAP server information

    Server Host(s)

    The IP address or host name of the LDAP sever.

    To use SASL, enter the host name (not the domain name).

    If you have LDAP failover configuration, add several LDAP server hosts. This will help to handle a situation when one of the servers is down, and the other server is up and running. If the connection to the first server fails, BMC Helix SSO will automatically redirect the request to another server.

    Not applicable

    Server Port

    Port number of the LDAP server.

    389

    Use TLS connection

    To enable TLS communication with the LDAP server, select this check box.

    Not applicable

    User information If you plan to use SASL authentication with the LDAP server, you do not need to specify the following fields:

    Bind DN

    Type the distinguished name (DN) of an LDAP user.

    This is the bind distinguished name for querying LDAP, and hence this account must have privileges to search the directory.

    CN=User,CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com

    Bind Password

    Enter the password of the LDAP user with the Bind DN.

    Not applicable

    Users Base DN

    Starting location within the LDAP directory for performing user searches.

    The search DNs should be as specific as possible for performance reasons. The depth of the search that is performed can be configured. If an object search is specified, then the Base DN should be the DN of the node containing the users.

    CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com

    Server search and filtering options

    Page Size

    The page size of the LDAP server. By default, this value is set to 2000 entries. If your LDAP server is configured to return less than 2000 entries, you need to modify this value accordingly.

    2000

    Enable Group Retrieval

    EnablesBMC Helix SSO to retrieve the groups list of an authenticated user as a part of the login process. Groups retrieval might be required by applications such as TrueSight Orchestration (formerly BMC Atrium Orchestrator) to support BMC Helix SSOauthorization.

    Not applicable

    Search Scope

    Specify the scope for search by selecting one of the available options.

    • One Level
    • Subtree

    LDAP Filter preset

    Select a preset to fill the LDAP filters with predefined values for the most common LDAP implementations.

    To search within nested groups, select AD Hierarchical. You can clear the filters, and type queries for User Authentication and Group Support fields.

    • Active Directory
    • AD Hierarchical

    SASL configuration

    Use SASL

    Select to enable SASL.

    Note that if you select Use SASL as the first field, after switching to the Authentication window (omitting all other fields), the fields Bind DN, Bind Password, and Users Base DN are disabled.

    Additionally, if Bind DN and Users Base DN are disabled, then you must manually populate the User Search Filter and Get All Users Filter filters, and do not use the Preset button.

    If you click the Preset button, the fields Bind DN and Bind Password are enabled and are marked as required.

    Not applicable

    SASL Mechanism

    Select a SASL authentication method.


    • DIGEST-MD5
    • GSSAPI

    Quality of Protection

    Specify the integrity and privacy protection that SASL mechanism should support.

    • Authentication only
    • Authentication with integration protection
    • Authentication with integrity and privacy protection

    User Authentication

    User Search Filter

    Enter the LDAP query to search for the user to be authenticated and if found to display the user's distinguished name.

    User is specified by $USER$ macro, for example - (&(objectCategory=user)(sAMAccountName=$USER$)).

    Not applicable

    Identity Attribute

    Enter the attribute to be used as a user name. It will be later provided as a user's name to the integrated systems with Remedy SSO.

    This field is not displayed if selected the Use SASL check box.

    sAMAccountName

    Get All Users Filter

    Enter the LDAP query to display all LDAP users.

    The filter can be used by integrated application for administration purposes to browse all users in LDAP to be considered as authorization subjects.

    (objectCategory=user)

    Group Support

    Users of Group Filter

    Enter the LDAP query to return the groups list for a particular group.

    The group is specified by the $GROUP$ macro.

    Groups information can be used by an integrated application for administration and authorization purposes.

    (&(objectCategory=user)(memberOf=$GROUP$))

    Groups Base DN

    Enter a Base DN for a group search.

    If you do not specify any value, users Base DN is used.

    Not applicable

    Group Search Filter

    Enter the LDAP query to display the list of all groups.

    The filter can be used by an integrated application for administration purposes to browse all groups to be considered as authorization subjects.

    (objectCategory=group)

    Group Name Attribute

    Enter the attribute to be used as group name.

    cn

    Groups of User Filter

    In this field, enter the LDAP query to return the list of groups for a particular user.

    The user is specified by the $DN$ macro.

    The value that you specify in this field can be used by an integrated application for administration purposes, such as browsing for groups of a particular user.

    (&(objectCategory=group)(member=$USER$))

  3. (Optional) Click Test to verify the settings.
  4. Click Save.

Related videos

Watch the video on how to configure LDAP in BMC Helix SSO.

Important

The following video shows an older version of BMC Helix SSO. Although there might be minor changes in the user interface, the overall functionality remains the same.


icon-play.png https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClbpS_acLuQ?rel=0


Where to go from here

To enable authentication chaining mode for the realm, see Enabling-authentication-chaining-mode.

To enable AR for bypassing authentication, see Enabling-AR-authentication-for-bypassing-other-authentication-methods.

To transform the User ID value, see Transforming-userID-to-match-login-ID.