kanboard_ynh/sources/doc/ldap-authentication.markdown

LDAP authentication

Requirements

• LDAP extension for PHP
• LDAP server:
  • OpenLDAP
  • Microsoft Active Directory
  • Novell eDirectory

Workflow

When the LDAP authentication is activated, the login process work like that:

1. Try first to authenticate the user by using the database
2. If the user is not found inside the database, a LDAP authentication is performed
3. If the LDAP authentication is successful, by default a local user is created automatically with no password and marked as LDAP user.

Differences between a local user and a LDAP user are the following:

• LDAP users have no local passwords
• LDAP users can't modify their password with the user interface
• By default, all LDAP users have no admin privileges
• To become administrator, a LDAP user must be promoted by another administrator

The full name and the email address are automatically fetched from the LDAP server.

Configuration

You have to create a custom config file named config.php (you can also use the template config.default.php). This file must be stored in the root directory of Kanboard.

LDAP bind type

There is 3 possible ways to browse the LDAP directory:

Anonymous browsing

define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'anonymous');
define('LDAP_USERNAME', null);
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', null);

This is the default value but some LDAP servers don't allow that.

Proxy user

A specific user is used to browse the LDAP directory. By example, Novell eDirectory use that method.

define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'proxy');
define('LDAP_USERNAME', 'my proxy user');
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', 'my proxy password');

User credentials

This method use the credentials provided by the end-user. By example, Microsoft Active Directory doesn't allow anonymous browsing by default and if you don't want to use a proxy user you can use this method.

define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'user');
define('LDAP_USERNAME', '%s@mydomain.local');
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', null);

Here, the LDAP_USERNAME is use to define a replacement pattern:

define('LDAP_USERNAME', '%s@mydomain.local');

// Another way to do the same:

define('LDAP_USERNAME', 'MYDOMAIN\\%s');

Example for Microsoft Active Directory

Let's say we have a domain KANBOARD (kanboard.local) and the primary controller is myserver.kanboard.local. Microsoft Active Directory doesn't allow anonymous binding by default.

First example with a proxy user:

<?php

// Enable LDAP authentication (false by default)
define('LDAP_AUTH', true);

// Credentials to be allowed to browse the LDAP directory
define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'proxy');
define('LDAP_USERNAME', 'administrator@kanboard.local');
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', 'my super secret password');

// LDAP server hostname
define('LDAP_SERVER', 'myserver.kanboard.local');

// LDAP properties
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_BASE', 'CN=Users,DC=kanboard,DC=local');
define('LDAP_USER_PATTERN', '(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName=%s))');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_FULLNAME', 'displayname');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_EMAIL', 'mail');

Another way with no proxy user:

<?php

// Enable LDAP authentication (false by default)
define('LDAP_AUTH', true);

// Credentials to be allowed to browse the LDAP directory
define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'user');
define('LDAP_USERNAME', '%s@kanboard.local'); // or 'KANBOARD\\%s'
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', null);

// LDAP server hostname
define('LDAP_SERVER', 'myserver.kanboard.local');

// LDAP properties
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_BASE', 'CN=Users,DC=kanboard,DC=local');
define('LDAP_USER_PATTERN', '(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName=%s))');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_FULLNAME', 'displayname');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_EMAIL', 'mail');

Example for OpenLDAP

Our LDAP server is myserver.example.com and all users are stored in the hierarchy ou=People,dc=example,dc=com.

For this example with use the anonymous binding.

<?php

// Enable LDAP authentication (false by default)
define('LDAP_AUTH', true);

// LDAP server hostname
define('LDAP_SERVER', 'myserver.example.com');

// LDAP properties
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_BASE', 'ou=People,dc=example,dc=com');
define('LDAP_USER_PATTERN', 'uid=%s');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_FULLNAME', 'displayname');
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_EMAIL', 'mail');

The %s is replaced by the username for the parameter LDAP_USER_PATTERN, so you can define a custom Distinguished Name (example: (&(objectClass=user)(uid=%s)(!(ou:dn::=trainees)))).

Disable automatic account creation

By default, Kanboard will create automatically a user account if nothing is found.

You can disable this behavior if you prefer to create user accounts manually to restrict Kanboard to only some people.

Just change the value of LDAP_ACCOUNT_CREATION to false:

// Automatically create user account
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_CREATION', false);

SELinux on RHEL-based like CentOS

If SELinux is enabled, you have to allow Apache to reach out your LDAP server.

• You can switch SELinux to the permissive mode or disable it (not recomemnded)
• You can allow all network connections, by example setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect=1 or have a more restrictive rule

In any case, refer to the official Redhat/Centos documentation.

Available configuration parameters

// Enable LDAP authentication (false by default)
define('LDAP_AUTH', false);

// LDAP server hostname
define('LDAP_SERVER', '');

// LDAP server port (389 by default)
define('LDAP_PORT', 389);

// By default, require certificate to be verified for ldaps:// style URL. Set to false to skip the verification.
define('LDAP_SSL_VERIFY', true);

// Enable LDAP START_TLS
define('LDAP_START_TLS', false);

// LDAP bind type: "anonymous", "user" (use the given user/password from the form) and "proxy" (a specific user to browse the LDAP directory)
define('LDAP_BIND_TYPE', 'anonymous');

// LDAP username to connect with. null for anonymous bind (by default).
// Or for user bind type, you can use a pattern like that %s@kanboard.local
define('LDAP_USERNAME', null);

// LDAP password to connect with. null for anonymous bind (by default).
define('LDAP_PASSWORD', null);

// LDAP account base, i.e. root of all user account
// Example: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_BASE', '');

// LDAP query pattern to use when searching for a user account
// Example for ActiveDirectory: '(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName=%s))'
// Example for OpenLDAP: 'uid=%s'
define('LDAP_USER_PATTERN', '');

// Name of an attribute of the user account object which should be used as the full name of the user.
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_FULLNAME', 'displayname');

// Name of an attribute of the user account object which should be used as the email of the user.
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_EMAIL', 'mail');

// Name of an attribute of the user account object which should be used as the id of the user.
// Example for ActiveDirectory: 'samaccountname'
// Example for OpenLDAP: 'uid'
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_ID', 'samaccountname');

// By default Kanboard lowercase the ldap username to avoid duplicate users (the database is case sensitive)
// Set to true if you want to preserve the case
define('LDAP_USERNAME_CASE_SENSITIVE', false);

// Automatically create user account
define('LDAP_ACCOUNT_CREATION', true);