Alfresco 1.4, ACEGI,CAS SSO and LDAP integration.Help needed

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01-03-2007 04:19 AM
This is a call to those developers or integrators that have or have had the same need than me which is the topic subject. Both those that have been successful in this task and those that are still looking for a solution, are invited to collaborate. I think there is a lot of "un-wired" information that generates a lot of confusion about this subject and nobody seems to have the definitive solution to something that is very important to integrate Alfresco as an enterprise tool, in any serious enterprise I mean. We (dpalmeira, me and others) have been about 1 month or more trying to find a definitive solution but it has become a very painful task for us :?, so we think that we need the help from the community and we're going to start from the beginning again and we'll try to report our progress with a lot of details about it. And we hope too, that other people could contribute with ideas and code.
That's all by now. Thanks for helping us. I hope we reach our target.
You'll have news from me soon but I don't know if good or bad ones

Regards. Pakin
P.D: If you reply this message with relevant information, please, specify version information from the libraries you've used.
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01-03-2007 08:04 AM
We have a JA-SIG Central Authentication Service (CAS) service perfectly running that is using an Active Directory LDAP to perform authentication. This service is working perfectly because we currently have several applications with their authentication integrated with CAS using the ACEGI CAS Adapter. The problems came up when we wanted integrate CAS authentication with Alfresco using the ACEGI CAS Adapter.
First we begin to research what do we need to integrate CAS with Alfresco, so let me show you what we have thought about the general tasks that we must tackle to achieve our goal and correct me if I'm wrong, please:
1. First of all we have to import users and groups from LDAP to Alfresco database.
2. Integrate the ACEGI CAS Processing filter to manage the SSO ticket generated by CAS.
3. Create another filter which using the ACEGI Security Context to get the user and password information, it'll perform all the tasks that must be done in the Alfresco authentication.
Well, now I'm going to specify the version of the programs and libraries I'm using:
* Java 1.5.0_05
* Tomcat 5.5.20
* PostgreSQL 8.0.4
* Alfresco 1.4 Community Edition
* CAS 3.0.5
* Acegi Security 0.8.2 patched which comes with the Alfresco 1.4 distribution
* maybe I'm forgetting something

In the next post I'll put the steps to perform the first task.
See you later, and don't forget to reply if you see something wrong. Thanks a lot
Regards, Pakin

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01-05-2007 05:35 AM
I assume that you have started the default Alfresco war distribution without problems. The only thing that I'd do before going on, is to create an space called "Users" inside the "company_home" space. The reason is because I want to import all the LDAP users into that folder to have them better organized. For this task I've followed this post:
http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=4666&highlight=ldap
To accomplish this first task, all we need to do is to modify three files, as well as having a working LDAP service

1. ldap-authentication-context.xml: this file has to be located at "…/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/extension/", if not, look for it at your alfresco distribution with the name: "ldap-authentication-context.xml.sample".
2. file-servers.xml: this file has to be located at "…/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/". I don't understand why, but there is no mention about this file in the wiki section that explains LDAP sync with Alfresco :?
3. authentication-service-context.xml: this file has to be located at "…/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/", but you only have to modify it if you have created the "Users" space as I've suggested before.
I have uploaded the files into this location for anyone who wants them:
http://www.box.net/public/xcvloz04fc
Anyway, I'll try to explain what have I changed in the files, but always considering that many of the changes are "environment depending":
1. Changes in ldap-authetication-context.xml: I've only put the changed beans.
…. <!– This bean is used to support general LDAP authentication. It is also used to provide read only access to users and groups to pull them out of the LDAP reopsitory –> <bean id="ldapInitialDirContextFactory" class="org.alfresco.repo.security.authentication.ldap.LDAPInitialDirContextFactoryImpl"> <property name="initialDirContextEnvironment"> <map> <!– The LDAP provider –> <entry key="java.naming.factory.initial"> <value>com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory</value> </entry> <!– The url to the LDAP server –> <!– Note you can use space separated urls - they will be tried in turn until one works –> <!– This could be used to authenticate against one or more ldap servers (you will not know which one ….) –> <entry key="java.naming.provider.url"> <value>ldap://???.???.???.???:389</value> </entry> <!– The authentication mechanism to use –> <!– Some sasl authentication mechanisms may require a realm to be set –> <!– java.naming.security.sasl.realm –> <!– The available options will depend on your LDAP provider –> <entry key="java.naming.security.authentication"> <value>simple</value> </entry> <!– The id of a user who can read group and user information –> <!– This does not go through the pattern substitution defined above and is used "as is" –> <entry key="java.naming.security.principal"> <value>user</value> </entry> <!– The password for the user defined above –> <entry key="java.naming.security.credentials"> <value>password</value> </entry> </map> </property> </bean> …. <!– Extract user information from LDAP and transform this to XML –> <bean id="ldapPeopleExportSource" class="org.alfresco.repo.security.authentication.ldap.LDAPPersonExportSource"> <!– The query to select objects that represent the users to import. For Open LDAP, using a basic schema, the following is probably what you want: (objectclass=inetOrgPerson) For Active Directory: (objectclass=user) –> <property name="personQuery"> <value>(objectclass=user)</value> </property> <!– The seach base restricts the LDAP query to a sub section of tree on the LDAP server. –> <property name="searchBase"> <value>ou=General,dc=sf,dc=local</value> </property> <!– The unique identifier for the user. THIS MUST MATCH WHAT THE USER TYPES IN AT THE LOGIN PROMPT For simple LDAP authentication this is likely to be "cn" or, less friendly, "distinguishedName" In OpenLDAP, using other authentication mechanisms "uid", but this depends on how you map from the id in the LDAP authentication request to search for the inetOrgPerson against which to authenticate. In Active Directory this is most likely to be "sAMAccountName" This property is mandatory and must appear on all users found by the query defined above. –> <property name="userIdAttributeName"> <value>sAMAccountName</value> </property> <!– Services –> <property name="LDAPInitialDirContextFactory"> <ref bean="ldapInitialDirContextFactory"/> </property> <property name="personService"> <ref bean="personService"></ref> </property> <property name="namespaceService"> <ref bean="namespaceService"/> </property> <!– This property defines a mapping between attributes held on LDAP user objects and the properties of user objects held in the repository. The key is the QName of an attribute in the repository, the value is the attribute name from the user/inetOrgPerson/.. object in the LDAP repository. –> <property name="attributeMapping"> <map> <entry key="cm:userName"> <!– Must match the same attribute as userIdAttributeName –> <value>sAMAccountName</value> </entry> <entry key="cm:firstName"> <!– OpenLDAP: "givenName" –> <!– Active Directory: "givenName" –> <value>givenName</value> </entry> <entry key="cm:lastName"> <!– OpenLDAP: "sn" –> <!– Active Directory: "sn" –> <value>sn</value> </entry> <entry key="cm:email"> <!– OpenLDAP: "mail" –> <!– Active Directory: "???" –> <value>mail</value> </entry> <entry key="cm:organizationId"> <!– OpenLDAP: "o" –> <!– Active Directory: "???" –> <value>ou</value> </entry> <!– Always use the default –> <entry key="cm:homeFolderProvider"> <null/> </entry> </map> </property> <!– Set a default home folder provider –> <!– Defaults only apply for values above –> <property name="attributeDefaults"> <map> <entry key="cm:homeFolderProvider"> <value>personalHomeFolderProvider</value> </entry> </map> </property> </bean> …. <!– Extract group information from LDAP and transform this to XML –> <bean id="ldapGroupExportSource" class="org.alfresco.repo.security.authentication.ldap.LDAPGroupExportSource"> <!– The query to select objects that represent the groups to import. For Open LDAP, using a basic schema, the following is probably what you want: (objectclass=groupOfNames) For Active Directory: (objectclass=group) –> <property name="groupQuery"> <value>(objectclass=group)</value> </property> <!– The seach base restricts the LDAP query to a sub section of tree on the LDAP server. –> <property name="searchBase"> <value>ou=General,dc=sf,dc=local</value> </property> <!– The unique identifier for the user. This must match the userIdAttributeName on the ldapPeopleExportSource bean above. –> <property name="userIdAttributeName"> <value>sAMAccountName</value> </property> <!– An attribute that is a unique identifier for each group found. This is also the name of the group with the current group implementation. This is mandatory for any groups found. OpenLDAP: "cn" as it is mandatory on groupOfNames Active Directory: "cn" –> <property name="groupIdAttributeName"> <value>cn</value> </property> <!– The objectClass attribute for group members. For each member of a group, the distinguished name is given. The object is looked up by its DN. If the object is of this class it is treated as a group. –> <property name="groupType"> <value>organizationalUnit</value> </property> <!– The objectClass attribute for person members. For each member of a group, the distinguished name is given. The object is looked up by its DN. If the object is of this class it is treated as a person. –> <property name="personType"> <value>person</value> </property> <property name="LDAPInitialDirContextFactory"> <ref bean="ldapInitialDirContextFactory"/> </property> <property name="namespaceService"> <ref bean="namespaceService"/> </property> <!– The repeating attribute on group objects (found by query or as sub groups) used to define membership of the group. This is assumed to hold distinguished names of other groups or users/people; the above types are used to determine this. OpenLDAP: "member" as it is mandatory on groupOfNames Active Directory: "member" –> <property name="memberAttribute"> <value>member</value> </property> <property name="authorityDAO"> <ref bean="authorityDAO"/> </property> </bean> ….
The other changes in this file are relative to the ldapPeopleTrigger and ldapGroupTrigger where I've changed the "startDelay" property to 10000 milliseconds and where is VERY IMPORTANT to dis-comment the "scheduler" property in both beans.2. Changes in file-servers.xml: all you have to do is change this definition
<config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Filesystem Security"> <authenticator type="alfresco"> </authenticator> </config>
to
<config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Filesystem Security"> <authenticator type="passthru"> <Server>???.???.???.???</Server> </authenticator> </config>
where ???.???.???.??? is the LDAP server IP, which should be the same defined in the file before. I don't know exactly what have we done with this step but is necessary

3. Changes in authentication-service-context.xml: remember!!, only if you have created the "Users" space. The change is only at the personalHomeFolderProvider bean, which must be as follows:
…. <bean name="personalHomeFolderProvider" class="org.alfresco.repo.security.person.UIDBasedHomeFolderProvider"> <property name="serviceRegistry"> <ref bean="ServiceRegistry" /> </property> <property name="path"> <value>/${spaces.company_home.childname}/cm:Users</value> </property> <property name="storeUrl"> <value>${spaces.store}</value> </property> <property name="homeFolderManager"> <ref bean="homeFolderManager" /> </property> <property name="inheritsPermissionsOnCreate"> <value>false</value> </property> <property name="ownerPemissionsToSetOnCreate"> <set> <value>All</value> </set> </property> <property name="userPemissions"> <set> <value>All</value> </set> </property> </bean> …
Well, that's all by now. Soon I'll put the steps to achieve task 2. The problems will begin on task 3 
Regards pakin.

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01-08-2007 05:13 PM

One of my concerns … the ldap synchronization; I might have potentialy thousands of users in ldap. From what I can see the users will be created regardless if they use the system or not…..is this correct ?
I am using Liferay and OTRS, what they do : the account get's only created if the user logs in. Can this be done somehow in Alfresco ?
Chris
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01-09-2007 04:24 PM

Keep up the good work, and thanks!

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01-09-2007 04:35 PM
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01-10-2007 12:05 PM
My big concern is the synchronization… as I said I have potentialy 100K users and I can't synchronize ldap with Alfresco all the time
I agree. After testing out the ldap synch with our production ldap tree (ActiveDirectory, actually), this just isn't going to work. I'm going to look into writing a custom login module that simply imports successfully authenticated users from ldap as they sign in. If anyone finds a post related to that, please PM it to me; I've searched and come up blank.
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01-10-2007 12:31 PM
http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=4379

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01-17-2007 02:48 AM
I have an admin Java application that maintains the users in LDAP. Upon a modification in LDAP I am planing to update Alfresco with this info via Web Services or the Java Service API
Has anyone done this ?
Chris

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06-08-2007 10:14 AM
We are trying to joint CAS with Alfresco integrated by Liferay. We have liferay 4.2.1, Alfresco 1.4 and JA-SIG CAS 3.0.7. CAS service is using an ApacheDS 1.0.1 (LDAP) to perform authentication. CAS works fine for Liferay, but not with Alfresco.
We get the following error:
“CIFS server configuration error, Wrong authentication setup for passthru authenticator (can only be used with LDAP/JAAS auth component)
org.alfresco.error.AlfrescoRuntimeException: Wrong authentication setup for passthru authenticator (can only be used with LDAP/JAAS auth component)â€
Regarding the general tasks to integrate CAS with Alfresco, please could you tell us the steps to perform the second and third tasks?
Thanks in advance. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
