Chapter 4. Advanced Concepts

These cover additional configuration topics, such as seting up keystores and a truststore for the Red Hat Single Sign-On server, creating an administrator account, an overview of available Red Hat Single Sign-On client registration methods, and guidance on configuring clustering.

4.2. Customizing the Hostname for the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server

The hostname SPI introduced a flexible way to configure the hostname for the Red Hat Single Sign-On server. The default hostname provider one is default. This provider provides enhanced functionality over the original request provider which is now deprecated. Without additional settings, it uses the request headers to determine the hostname similarly to the original request provider.

For configuration options of the default provider, refer to the Server Installation and Configuration Guide. The frontendUrl option can be configured via SSO_FRONTEND_URL environment variable.

Note

For backward compatibility, SSO_FRONTEND_URL settings is ignored if SSO_HOSTNAME is also set.

Another option of hostname provider is fixed, which allows configuring a fixed hostname. The latter makes sure that only valid hostnames can be used and allows internal applications to invoke the Red Hat Single Sign-On server through an alternative URL.

Run the following commands to set the fixed hostname SPI provider for the Red Hat Single Sign-On server:

  1. Deploy the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift image with SSO_HOSTNAME environment variable set to the desired hostname of the Red Hat Single Sign-On server. 

    $ oc new-app --template=sso74-x509-https \
  -p SSO_HOSTNAME="rh-sso-server.openshift.example.com"

  2. Identify the name of the route for the Red Hat Single Sign-On service. 

    $ oc get routes
NAME     HOST/PORT
sso      sso-sso-app-demo.openshift.example.com

  3. Change the host: field to match the hostname specified as the value of the SSO_HOSTNAME environment variable above.

    Note

    Adjust the rh-sso-server.openshift.example.com value in the following command as necessary. 

    $ oc patch route/sso --type=json -p '[{"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/host", "value": "rh-sso-server.openshift.example.com"}]'

    If successful, the previous command will return the following output: 

    route "sso" patched

4.3. Connecting to an external database

Red Hat Single Sign-On can be configured to connect to an external (to OpenShift cluster) database. In order to achieve this, you need to modify the sso-{database name} Endpoints object to point to the proper address. The procedure is described in the OpenShift manual.

Tip: The easiest way to get started is to deploy Red Hat Single Sign-On from a template and then modify the Endpoints object. You might also need to update some of the datasource configuration variables in the DeploymentConfig. Once you’re done, just roll a new deployment out.

4.4. Using Custom JDBC Driver

To connect to any database, the JDBC driver for that database must be present and Red Hat Single Sign-On configured properly. Currently, the only JDBC driver available in the image is the PostgreSQL JDBC driver. For any other database, you need to extend the Red Hat Single Sign-On image with a custom JDBC driver and a CLI script to register it and set up the connection properties. The following steps illustrate how to do that, taking MariaDB driver as an example. Update the example for other database drivers accordingly.

  1. Create an empty directory.
  2. Download the JDBC driver binaries into this directory.

  3. Create a new Dockerfile file in this directory with the following contents. For other databases, replace mariadb-java-client-2.5.4.jar with the filename of the respective driver: 

    FROM rh-sso-7/sso74-openshift-rhel8:latest

COPY sso-extensions.cli /opt/eap/extensions/
COPY mariadb-java-client-2.5.4.jar /opt/eap/extensions/jdbc-driver.jar

  4. Create a new sso-extensions.cli file in this directory with the following contents. Update the values of the variables in italics according to the deployment needs: 

    batch

set DB_DRIVER_NAME=mariadb
set DB_USERNAME=username
set DB_PASSWORD=password
set DB_DRIVER=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
set DB_XA_DRIVER=org.mariadb.jdbc.MariaDbDataSource
set DB_JDBC_URL=jdbc:mariadb://jdbc-host/keycloak
set DB_EAP_MODULE=org.mariadb

set FILE=/opt/eap/extensions/jdbc-driver.jar

module add --name=$DB_EAP_MODULE --resources=$FILE --dependencies=javax.api,javax.resource.api
/subsystem=datasources/jdbc-driver=$DB_DRIVER_NAME:add( \
  driver-name=$DB_DRIVER_NAME, \
  driver-module-name=$DB_EAP_MODULE, \
  driver-class-name=$DB_DRIVER, \
  driver-xa-datasource-class-name=$DB_XA_DRIVER \
)
/subsystem=datasources/data-source=KeycloakDS:remove()
/subsystem=datasources/data-source=KeycloakDS:add( \
  jndi-name=java:jboss/datasources/KeycloakDS, \
  enabled=true, \
  use-java-context=true, \
  connection-url=$DB_JDBC_URL, \
  driver-name=$DB_DRIVER_NAME, \
  user-name=$DB_USERNAME, \
  password=$DB_PASSWORD \
)

run-batch

  5. In this directory, build your image by typing the following command, replacing the project/name:tag with arbitrary name. docker can be used instead of podman. 

    podman build -t docker-registry-default/project/name:tag .
  6. After the build finishes, push your image to the registry used by OpenShift to deploy your image. Refer to the OpenShift guide for details.

4.5. Creating the Administrator Account for Red Hat Single Sign-On Server

Red Hat Single Sign-On does not provide any pre-configured management account out of the box. This administrator account is necessary for logging into the master realm’s management console and perform server maintenance operations such as, creating realms or users, or registering applications intended to be secured by Red Hat Single Sign-On.

The administrator account can be created:

Note

Red Hat Single Sign-On allows an initial administrator account to be created via the Welcome Page web form, but only if the Welcome Page is accessed from localhost; this method of administrator account creation is not applicable for the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift image.

4.5.1. Creating the Administrator Account Using Template Parameters

When deploying Red Hat Single Sign-On application template, the SSO_ADMIN_USERNAME and SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD parameters denote the username and password of the Red Hat Single Sign-On server’s administrator account to be created for the master realm.

Note

Both of these parameters are required. If not specified, they are auto generated and displayed as an OpenShift instructional message when the template is instantiated.

Important

The lifespan of the Red Hat Single Sign-On server’s administrator account depends upon the storage type used to store the Red Hat Single Sign-On server’s database:

  • For an in-memory database mode (sso74-https and sso74-x509-https templates), the account exists throughout the lifecycle of the particular Red Hat Single Sign-On pod (stored account data is lost upon pod destruction),
  • For an ephemeral database mode sso74-postgresql templates), the account exists throughout the lifecycle of the database pod. Even if the Red Hat Single Sign-On pod is destructed, the stored account data is preserved under the assumption that the database pod is still running,
  • For persistent database mode (sso74-postgresql-persistent, and sso74-x509-postgresql-persistent templates), the account exists throughout the lifecycle of the persistent medium used to hold the database data. This means that the stored account data is preserved even when both the Red Hat Single Sign-On and the database pods are destructed.

It is a common practice to deploy an Red Hat Single Sign-On application template to get the corresponding OpenShift deployment config for the application, and then reuse that deployment config multiple times (every time a new Red Hat Single Sign-On application needs to be instantiated).

Warning

In the case of ephemeral or persistent database mode, after creating the RH_SSO server’s administrator account, remove the SSO_ADMIN_USERNAME and SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD variables from the deployment config before deploying new Red Hat Single Sign-On applications.

Important

Run the following commands to prepare the previously created deployment config of the Red Hat Single Sign-On application for reuse after the administrator account has been created:

  1. Identify the deployment config of the Red Hat Single Sign-On application. 

    $ oc get dc -o name
deploymentconfig/sso
deploymentconfig/sso-postgresql

  2. Clear the SSO_ADMIN_USERNAME and SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD variables setting. 

    $ oc set env dc/sso \
  -e SSO_ADMIN_USERNAME="" \
  -e SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=""

4.5.2. Creating the Administrator Account via Remote Shell Session to Red Hat Single Sign-On Pod

Run following commands to create an administrator account for the master realm of the Red Hat Single Sign-On server, when deploying the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift image directly from the image stream (without the template), after the Red Hat Single Sign-On application pod has been started:

  1. Identify the Red Hat Single Sign-On application pod. 

    $ oc get pods
NAME                     READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
sso-12-pt93n             1/1       Running   0          1m
sso-postgresql-6-d97pf   1/1       Running   0          2m

  2. Open a remote shell session to the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift container. 

    $ oc rsh sso-12-pt93n
sh-4.2$

  3. Create the Red Hat Single Sign-On server administrator account for the master realm at the command line with the add-user-keycloak.sh script. 

    sh-4.2$ cd /opt/eap/bin/
sh-4.2$ ./add-user-keycloak.sh \
        -r master \
        -u sso_admin \
        -p sso_password
Added 'sso_admin' to '/opt/eap/standalone/configuration/keycloak-add-user.json', restart server to load user
    Note

    The 'sso_admin' / 'sso_password' credentials in the example above are for demonstration purposes only. Refer to the password policy applicable within your organization for guidance on how to create a secure user name and password.

  4. Restart the underlying JBoss EAP server instance to load the newly added user account. Wait for the server to restart properly. 

    sh-4.2$ ./jboss-cli.sh --connect ':reload'
{
    "outcome" => "success",
    "result" => undefined
}
    Warning

    When restarting the server it is important to restart just the JBoss EAP process within the running Red Hat Single Sign-On container, and not the whole container. This is because restarting the whole container will recreate it from scratch, without the Red Hat Single Sign-On server administration account for the master realm.

  5. Log in to the master realm’s administration console of the Red Hat Single Sign-On server using the credentials created in the steps above. In the browser, navigate to http://sso-<project-name>.<hostname>/auth/admin for the Red Hat Single Sign-On web server, or to https://secure-sso-<project-name>.<hostname>/auth/admin for the encrypted Red Hat Single Sign-On web server, and specify the user name and password used to create the administrator user.

4.6. Customizing the default behavior of the Red Hat Single Sign-On image

You can change the default behavior of the Red Hat Single Sign-On image such as enabling TechPreview features or enabling debugging. This section describes how to make this change by using the JAVA_OPTS_APPEND variable.

Prerequisites

This procedure assumes that the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift image has been previously deployed using one of the following templates:

  • sso74-postgresql
  • sso74-postgresql-persistent
  • sso74-x509-postgresql-persistent

Procedure

You can use the OpenShift web console or the CLI to change the default behavior.

If you use the OpenShift web console, you add the JAVA_OPTS_APPEND variable to the sso deployment config. For example, to enable TechPreview features, you set the variable as follows: 

JAVA_OPTS_APPEND="-Dkeycloak.profile=preview"

If you use the CLI, use the following commands to enable TechPreview features when the Red Hat Single Sign-On pod was deployed using a template that is mentioned under Prerequisites.

  1. Scale down the Red Hat Single Sign-On pod: 

    $ oc get dc -o name
deploymentconfig/sso
deploymentconfig/sso-postgresql

$ oc scale --replicas=0 dc sso
deploymentconfig "sso" scaled
    Note

    In the preceding command, sso-postgresql appears because a PostgreSQL template was used to deploy the Red Hat Single Sign-On for OpenShift image.

  2. Edit the deployment config to set the JAVA_OPTS_APPEND variable. For example, to enable TechPreview features, you set the variable as follows: 

    oc env dc/sso -e "JAVA_OPTS_APPEND=-Dkeycloak.profile=preview"

  3. Scale up the Red Hat Single Sign-On pod: 

    $ oc scale --replicas=1 dc sso
deploymentconfig "sso" scaled
  4. Test a TechPreview feature of your choice.

4.7. Deployment Process

Once deployed, the sso74-https and sso74-x509-https templates create a single pod that contains both the database and the Red Hat Single Sign-On servers. The sso74-postgresql, sso74-postgresql-persistent, and sso74-x509-postgresql-persistent templates create two pods, one for the database server and one for the Red Hat Single Sign-On web server.

After the Red Hat Single Sign-On web server pod has started, it can be accessed at its custom configured hostnames, or at the default hostnames:

  • http://sso-<project-name>.<hostname>/auth/admin: for the Red Hat Single Sign-On web server, and
  • https://secure-sso-<project-name>.<hostname>/auth/admin: for the encrypted Red Hat Single Sign-On web server.

Use the administrator user credentials to log in into the master realm’s administration console.

4.8. Red Hat Single Sign-On Clients

Clients are Red Hat Single Sign-On entities that request user authentication. A client can be an application requesting Red Hat Single Sign-On to provide user authentication, or it can be making requests for access tokens to start services on behalf of an authenticated user. See the Managing Clients chapter of the Red Hat Single Sign-On documentation for more information.

Red Hat Single Sign-On provides OpenID-Connect and SAML client protocols.
OpenID-Connect is the preferred protocol and utilizes three different access types:

  • public: Useful for JavaScript applications that run directly in the browser and require no server configuration.
  • confidential: Useful for server-side clients, such as EAP web applications, that need to perform a browser login.
  • bearer-only: Useful for back-end services that allow bearer token requests.

It is required to specify the client type in the <auth-method> key of the application web.xml file. This file is read by the image at deployment. Set the value of <auth-method> element to:

  • KEYCLOAK for the OpenID Connect client.
  • KEYCLOAK-SAML for the SAML client.

The following is an example snippet for the application web.xml to configure an OIDC client: 

...
<login-config>
        <auth-method>KEYCLOAK</auth-method>
</login-config>
...

4.8.1. Automatic and Manual Red Hat Single Sign-On Client Registration Methods

A client application can be automatically registered to an Red Hat Single Sign-On realm by using credentials passed in variables specific to the eap64-sso-s2i, eap71-sso-s2i, and datavirt63-secure-s2i templates.

Alternatively, you can manually register the client application by configuring and exporting the Red Hat Single Sign-On client adapter and including it in the client application configuration.

4.8.1.1. Automatic Red Hat Single Sign-On Client Registration

Automatic Red Hat Single Sign-On client registration is determined by Red Hat Single Sign-On environment variables specific to the eap64-sso-s2i, eap71-sso-s2i, and datavirt63-secure-s2i templates. The Red Hat Single Sign-On credentials supplied in the template are then used to register the client to the Red Hat Single Sign-On realm during deployment of the client application.

The Red Hat Single Sign-On environment variables included in the eap64-sso-s2i, eap71-sso-s2i, and datavirt63-secure-s2i templates are:

VariableDescription

HOSTNAME_HTTP

Custom hostname for http service route. Leave blank for default hostname of <application-name>.<project>.<default-domain-suffix>

HOSTNAME_HTTPS

Custom hostname for https service route. Leave blank for default hostname of <application-name>.<project>.<default-domain-suffix>

SSO_URL

The Red Hat Single Sign-On web server authentication address: https://secure-sso-<project-name>.<hostname>/auth

SSO_REALM

The Red Hat Single Sign-On realm created for this procedure.

SSO_USERNAME

The name of the realm management user.

SSO_PASSWORD

The password of the user.

SSO_PUBLIC_KEY

The public key generated by the realm. It is located in the Keys tab of the Realm Settings in the Red Hat Single Sign-On console.

SSO_BEARER_ONLY

If set to true, the OpenID Connect client is registered as bearer-only.

SSO_ENABLE_CORS

If set to true, the Red Hat Single Sign-On adapter enables Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS).

If the Red Hat Single Sign-On client uses the SAML protocol, the following additional variables need to be configured:

VariableDescription

SSO_SAML_KEYSTORE_SECRET

Secret to use for access to SAML keystore. The default is sso-app-secret.

SSO_SAML_KEYSTORE

Keystore filename in the SAML keystore secret. The default is keystore.jks.

SSO_SAML_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD

Keystore password for SAML. The default is mykeystorepass.

SSO_SAML_CERTIFICATE_NAME

Alias for keys/certificate to use for SAML. The default is jboss.

See Example Workflow: Automatically Registering EAP Application in Red Hat Single Sign-On with OpenID-Connect Client for an end-to-end example of the automatic client registration method using an OpenID-Connect client.

4.8.1.2. Manual Red Hat Single Sign-On Client Registration

Manual Red Hat Single Sign-On client registration is determined by the presence of a deployment file in the client application’s ../configuration/ directory. These files are exported from the client adapter in the Red Hat Single Sign-On web console. The name of this file is different for OpenID-Connect and SAML clients:

OpenID-Connect

../configuration/secure-deployments

SAML

../configuration/secure-saml-deployments

These files are copied to the Red Hat Single Sign-On adapter configuration section in the standalone-openshift.xml at when the application is deployed.

There are two methods for passing the Red Hat Single Sign-On adapter configuration to the client application:

  • Modify the deployment file to contain the Red Hat Single Sign-On adapter configuration so that it is included in the standalone-openshift.xml file at deployment, or
  • Manually include the OpenID-Connect keycloak.json file, or the SAML keycloak-saml.xml file in the client application’s ../WEB-INF directory.

See Example Workflow: Manually Configure an Application to Use Red Hat Single Sign-On Authentication, Using SAML Client for an end-to-end example of the manual Red Hat Single Sign-On client registration method using a SAML client.

4.9. Using Red Hat Single Sign-On vault with OpenShift secrets

Several fields in the Red Hat Single Sign-On administration support obtaining the value of a secret from an external vault, see Server Administration Guide. The following example shows how to set up the files plaintext vault in OpenShift and set it up to be used for obtaining an SMTP password.

  1. Specify a directory for the vault using the SSO_VAULT_DIR environment variable. You can introduce the SSO_VAULT_DIR environment variable directly in the environment in your deployment configuration. It can also be included in the template by addding the following snippets at the appropriate places in the template: 

    "parameters": [
    ...
    {
        "displayName": "RH-SSO Vault Secret directory",
        "description": "Path to the RH-SSO Vault directory.",
        "name": "SSO_VAULT_DIR",
        "value": "",
        "required": false
    }
    ...
]

env: [
    ...
    {
        "name": "SSO_VAULT_DIR",
        "value": "${SSO_VAULT_DIR}"
    }
    ...
]
    Note

    The files plaintext vault provider will be configured only when you set SSO_VAULT_DIR environment variable.

  2. Create a secret in your OpenShift cluster: 

    $ oc create secret generic rhsso-vault-secrets --from-literal=master_smtp-password=mySMTPPsswd

  3. Mount a volume to your deployment config using the ${SSO_VAULT_DIR} as the path. For a deployment that is already running: 

    oc set volume dc/sso --add --mount-path=${SSO_VAULT_DIR} --secret-name=rhsso-vault-secrets
  4. After a pod is created you can use a customized string within your Red Hat Single Sign-On configuration to refer to the secret. For example, for using mySMTPPsswd secret created in this tutorial, you can use ${vault.smtp-password} within the master realm in the configuration of the smtp password and it will be replaced by mySMTPPsswd when used.

4.10. Limitations

OpenShift does not currently accept OpenShift role mapping from external providers. If Red Hat Single Sign-On is used as an authentication gateway for OpenShift, users created in Red Hat Single Sign-On must have the roles added using the OpenShift Administrator oc adm policy command.

For example, to allow an Red Hat Single Sign-On-created user to view a project namespace in OpenShift: 

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user view <user-name> -n <project-name>