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Yandex Cloud Organization

Authentication using Active Directory

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With an identity federation, you can use Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to authenticate in the cloud.

To set up authentication:

  1. Create a federation in your organization.

  2. Add certificates to a federation.

  3. Get a console login link.

  4. Configure authentication on the ADFS server.

  5. Add users to your organization.

  6. Test the authentication process.

Before you start

To use the instructions in this section, you will need:​

  1. A working ADFS farm. If you didn't configure ADFS on your server, install and configure it now. To deploy ADFS, you also need to install and configure Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).

    If you don't have a Windows machine to deploy an ADFS server, you can create a VM in Yandex Cloud.

    Tip

    We recommend that you include more than one server in the farm to ensure more reliable authentication.

  2. A valid certificate that is used for signing in the ADFS service. If you don't have a valid SSL certificate, get one.

    The subject name in the certificate must contain the FQDN of the Identity Provider (IdP) server, for example, fs.contoso.com, to prevent the browser from blocking the authentication page.

Create a federation in your organization

To create a federation:

  1. Go to Yandex Cloud Organization.

  2. In the left panel, select Federations .

  3. Click Create federation.

  4. Enter a name for the federation. The name must be unique within the folder.

  5. Add a description if necessary.

  6. In the Cookie lifetime field, specify the period of time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate.

  7. In the IdP Issuer field, enter a link in http://<ADFS>/adfs/services/trust format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

  8. In the SSO method field, choose POST.

  9. In the Link to the IdP login page field, enter a link in https://<ADFS>/adfs/ls/, format where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

  10. Enable Automatically create users to add authenticated users to your organization automatically. If you don't enable this option, you will need to manually add your federated users.

If you don't have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

  1. See the description of the create federation command:

    yc organization-manager federation saml create --help

  2. Create a federation:

    yc organization-manager federation saml create --name my-federation \
    --organization-id <organization ID> \
    --auto-create-account-on-login \
    --cookie-max-age 12h \
    --issuer "http://example.com/adfs/services/trust" \
    --sso-binding POST \
    --sso-url "https://example.com/adfs/ls/"

    Where:

    • name: Federation name. The name must be unique within the folder.

    • organization-id: Your organization ID.

    • auto-create-account-on-login: A flag to enable the automatic creation of new cloud users following authentication on the IdP server.

      This option makes it easier to create users, but users created this way won't be able to do anything with cloud resources. Exceptions are the resources that the allUsers or allAuthenticatedUsers system group roles are assigned to.

      If this option is disabled, users who aren't added to the organization can't log in to the management console, even if they authenticate with your server. In this case, you can manage a list of users allowed to use Yandex Cloud resources.

    • cookie-max-age: Time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate.

    • issuer: IdP server ID to be used for authentication.

      Enter a link in http://<ADFS>/adfs/services/trust format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • sso-url: URL of the page that the browser redirects the user to for authentication.

      Enter a link in https://<ADFS>/adfs/ls/ format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • sso-binding: Specify the Single Sign-on binding type. Most Identity Providers support the POST binding type.

  1. Get the ID of the folder to create a federation in.

  2. Create a file with the request body (for example, body.json).

    {
  "folderId": "<folder ID>",
  "name": "my-federation",
  "organizationId": "<organization ID>",
  "autoCreateAccountOnLogin": true,
  "cookieMaxAge":"43200s",
  "issuer": "http://example.com/adfs/services/trust",
  "ssoUrl": "https://example.com/adfs/ls/",
  "ssoBinding": "POST"
}

    Where:

    • folderId: ID of the folder.

    • name: Federation name. The name must be unique within the folder.

    • organizationId: Organization ID.

    • autoCreateAccountOnLogin: A flag to activate the automatic creation of new cloud users after authenticating on the IdP server.
      This option makes it easier to create users, but users created this way won't be able to do anything with cloud resources. Exceptions are the resources that the allUsers or allAuthenticatedUsers system group roles are assigned to.

      If this option is disabled, users who aren't added to the organization can't log in to the management console, even if they authenticate with your server. In this case, you can manage a list of users allowed to use Yandex Cloud resources.

    • cookieMaxAge: Time that must elapse before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate.

    • issuer: IdP server ID to be used for authentication.

      Enter a link in http://<ADFS>/adfs/services/trust format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • sso-url: URL of the page that the browser redirects the user to for authentication.

      Enter a link in https://<ADFS>/adfs/ls/ format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • ssoBinding: Specify the Single Sign-on binding type. Most Identity Providers support the POST binding type.

  3. Create a federation using the create method:

    curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <IAM token>" \
  -d '@body.json' \
  https://organization-manager.api.cloud.yandex.net/organization-manager/v1/saml/federations
{
 "done": true,
 "metadata": {
  "@type": "type.googleapis.com/yandex.cloud.organization-manager.v1.saml.CreateFederationMetadata",
  "federationId": "ajeobmje4dgj0belagb9"
 },
 ...

    The federationId property of the response contains the federation ID to save. You'll need this ID in the next steps.

If you don't have Terraform, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

  1. Specify the federation parameters in the configuration file:

    • name: Federation name. The name must be unique within the folder.

    • description: Federation description.

    • organization_id: Organization ID.

    • labels: A set of key/value label pairs assigned to the federation.

    • issuer: IdP server ID to be used for authentication.

      Enter a link in http://<ADFS>/adfs/services/trust format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • sso_binding: Specify the Single Sign-on binding type. Most Identity Providers support the POST binding type.

    • sso_url: URL of the page that the browser redirects the user to for authentication.

      Enter a link in https://<ADFS>/adfs/ls/ format, where <ADFS> is the FQDN of your ADFS server.

    • cookie_max_age: Time, in seconds, before the browser asks the user to re-authenticate. The default value is 8 hours.

    • auto_create_account_on_login: A flag to activate the automatic creation of new cloud users after authenticating on the IdP server.
      This option makes it easier to create users, but users created this way won't be able to do anything with cloud resources. Exceptions are the resources that the allUsers or allAuthenticatedUsers system group roles are assigned to.

      If this option is disabled, users who aren't added to the organization can't log in to the management console, even if they authenticate with your server. In this case, you can manage a list of users allowed to use Yandex Cloud resources.

    • case_insensitive_name_ids: A flag that indicates if usernames are case-insensitive.
      If the option is enabled, the IDs of federated users' names are case-insensitive.

    • security_settings: Federation security settings:

      • encrypted_assertions: Sign authentication requests.
        If this option is enabled, all authentication requests from Yandex Cloud will have a digital signature. You need to download and install a Yandex Cloud certificate.

    Example configuration file structure:

    resource "yandex_organizationmanager_saml_federation" federation {
 name            = "my-federation"
 organization_id = "<organization ID>"
 auto_create_account_on_login = "true"
 issuer          = "http://example.com/adfs/services/trust"      
 sso_url         = "https://example.com/adfs/ls/"
 sso_binding     = "POST"
 security_settings {
    encrypted_assertions = "true"
    }
}

  2. Make sure that the configuration files are correct.

    1. In the command line, go to the directory where you created the configuration file.

    2. Run the check using the command:

      $ terraform plan

    If the configuration is described correctly, the terminal displays the federation parameters. If there are errors in the configuration, Terraform points them out.

  3. Create a federation.

    1. If the configuration doesn't contain any errors, run the command:

      $ terraform apply

    2. Confirm that you want to create the federation.

    This creates the federation in the specified organization. You can check that the federation is there and its settings are correct in the organization's Federations section.

Specify certificates for the federation

When the identity provider (IdP) informs Yandex Cloud Organization that a user has been authenticated, they sign the message with their certificate. To enable Organization to verify this certificate, add it to the created federation.

To get an ADFS certificate:

  1. Log in to your ADFS server and open Server Manager.

  2. Open the ADFS management console: Tools → ADFS Management.

  3. In the window that opens, click Services → Certificates in the tree on the left.

  4. Right-click the certificate in the Token-signing section and select View certificate.

  5. In the window that opens, go to the Details tab.

  6. Click the Copy to file button.

  7. Click Next.

  8. Select the format Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER) and click Next.

  9. Specify where to save the certificate and under what name, then click Next.

  10. Check the certificate export settings and click Finish.

To add a certificate to a federation:

  1. Go to Yandex Cloud Organization.

  2. In the left panel, select Federations .

  3. Click the name of the federation to add a certificate to.

  4. At the bottom of the page, click Add certificate.

  5. Enter the certificate's name and description.

  6. Choose how to add the certificate:

    • To add a certificate as a file, click Choose a file and specify the path to it.
    • To paste the contents of a copied certificate, select the Text method and paste the contents.

  7. Click Add.

If you don't have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

  1. View a description of the add certificate command:

    yc organization-manager federation saml certificate create --help

  2. Add a federation certificate by specifying the certificate file path:

    yc organization-manager federation saml certificate create --federation-name my-federation \
  --name "my-certificate" \
  --certificate-file test.pem

To add a certificate, use the create method for the Certificate resource:

  1. Create a request body by specifying the contents of the certificate's data property:

    {
  "federationId": "<federation ID>",
  "name": "my-certificate",
  "data": "MII...=="
}

  2. Send the add certificate request:

    $ export IAM_TOKEN=CggaATEVAgA...
$ curl -X POST \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
    -d '@body.json' \
    "https://organization-manager.api.cloud.yandex.net/organization-manager/v1/saml/certificates"

Tip

To ensure that authentication isn't interrupted when the certificate expires, we recommend adding several certificates to the federation: the current one and the ones that will be used after. If a certificate turns out to be invalid, Yandex Cloud will attempt to verify the signature with another certificate.

When you set up federation authentication, users can log in to the management console from a link containing the federation ID. The same link must be provided when configuring the authentication server.

Obtain and save this link:

  1. Get the federation ID:

    1. Go to Yandex Cloud Organization.

    2. In the left panel, select Federations .

    3. Copy the ID of the federation you're configuring access for.

  2. Generate a link using this ID:

    https://console.cloud.yandex.com/federations/<federation ID>

Configure authentication on the ADFS server

After you obtained your management console login link, you can configure the ADFS server to notify the management console of each successful authentication session and forward the user to the specified address to log in to the management console.

The instructions in this section are written for Windows Server 2016 (different steps might be needed for other versions).

To set up authentication on the ADFS server:

  1. Create a relying party trust

  2. Configure Claims Mapping

Create a relying party trust

ADFS requires a relying party trust for each Service Provider (SP) that uses ADFS for authentication.

Create a relying party trust for the federation you created in the cloud:

  1. Log in to your ADFS server and open Server Manager.

  2. Open the ADFS management console: Tools → ADFS Management.

  3. In the list of actions, select Add Relying Party Trust.

  4. The wizard window opens. On the first page, select Claims aware and click Start.

  5. Select Enter data about the relying party manually and click Next.

  6. Enter a name like Yandex Cloud and click Next.

  7. In the next step, you are asked to specify a certificate for signing tokens. This step is optional, so click Next.

  8. In the Configure URL step, select Enable support for the SAML 2.0 WebSSO protocol and specify the console login link you obtained earlier. Then click Next.

    image

  9. On the next page, enter the same console login link as an identifier and click Add. Then click Next.

  10. On the next page, you can choose who can authenticate using this federation. By default, the Permit for everyone policy is selected enabling access for all users.

    You can choose a different policy. For example, to grant access to a specific group of users, select Permit specific group and click on the word <parameter> to select the groups to allow access to. Read more about access control policies.

    image

  11. Click Next.

  12. On the Ready to Add Trust page, check the data entered and click Close.

Configure Claims Mapping

When ADFS authenticates a user, it sends a SAML message to Yandex Cloud to confirm successful authentication. The message must contain the Name ID that uniquely identifies the user and may also contain some other user data, such as the user's name or email address. Make sure to set up a mapping between the user attributes and Outgoing Claim Types. Types of personal data supported by Yandex Cloud Organization are given below.

User data Comment Outgoing Claim Type
Unique user ID Required attribute. We recommend using the User-Principal-Name or email address. Name ID
Last name Displayed in Yandex Cloud services. We recommend using the Surname attribute. Surname
Name Displayed in Yandex Cloud services. We recommend using the Given-Name attribute. Given Name
Full name Displayed in Yandex Cloud services. Example: John Smith.
We recommend using the Display-Name attribute.		 Name
Email Used to send notifications from Yandex Cloud services. Example: smith@example.com
We recommend using the E-Mail-Address attribute.		 E-Mail Address
Phone Used to send notifications from Yandex Cloud services. Example: +71234567890
We recommend using the Telephone-Number attribute.		 Type phone in the Outgoing Claim Type field.
Profile image Displayed in Yandex Cloud services.
We recommend using the thumbnailPhoto attribute. How to add a profile image		 Type thumbnailPhoto in the Outgoing Claim Type field.

Warning

The Name ID must be unique for every federation user. We recommend specifying the User Principal Name (UPN) or email address as the ID.

To set up a mapping between the user data and Outgoing Claim Types:

  1. In the ADFS management console under Relying Party Trusts, right-click on the relying party trust created earlier and select Edit Claim Issuance Policy.

  2. In the window that opens, click Add Rule.

  3. Select Send LDAP Attributes as Claims and click Next.

  4. On the next page, set up the data to send in the message:

    1. In the Claim rule name field, enter a name for the rule, like Claims mapping

    2. In the Attribute Store field, click Active Directory.

    3. Specify what the server will return as Name ID to uniquely identify the user. To do this, add a line to the Mapping of LDAP attributes list:

      In the LDAP Attribute column, select User-Principal-Name or E-Mail Addresses.

      In the Outgoing Claim Type column, select Name ID.

    4. For a user to be able to contact Yandex Cloud technical support from the management console, add the user's email address (the E-Mail Address claim type) or name (the Name claim type).

    5. To pass the user's first and last name separately, add the Given Name and Surname claim types.

    6. To add the user's phone number or profile image, enter the phone or thumbnailPhoto type, respectively, in the Outgoing Claim Type field.

      image

  5. Click Finish, then click OKto close the Edit Claim Issuance Policy window.

How to add a profile image to Active Directory

To add a user's profile image to Active Directory, write the image to the thumbnailPhoto attribute using PowerShell.

Note

The thumbnailPhoto attribute supports files of up to 100 KB. The recommended file size is up to 10 KB and the recommended image size is up to 96×96 pixels.

  1. Start PowerShell.

  2. Connect the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell with the command:

    Import-Module ActiveDirectory

  3. To add a profile image for a single user, run the command:

    Set-ADUser <username> -Replace @{thumbnailPhoto=([byte[]](Get-Content "<image path>" -Encoding byte))}

  4. To bulk add profile images for multiple users:

    1. Create a CSV file with a list of usernames and image paths.

      Sample CSV file:

      AD_username, Photo
smith, C:\Photo\smith.jpg
jones, C:\Photo\jones.jpg

    2. Run the command:

      Import-Csv <CSV file path> |%{Set-ADUser -Identity $_.AD_username -Replace @{thumbnailPhoto=([byte[]](Get-Content $_.Photo -Encoding byte))}}

Add users to your organization

If you did not enable the Automatically create users option when creating a federation, federated users must be manually added to your organization.

To do this, you need to know the Name IDs of the users that the Identity Provider Server (IdP) returns along with the successful authentication confirmation. This is usually the user's primary email address. If you don't know what the server returns as the Name ID, contact the administrator who configured authentication for your federation.

To add federation users to an organization:

  1. Log in to the organization's administrator account.

  2. Go to Yandex Cloud Organization.

  3. In the left panel, select Users .

  4. In the upper-right corner, click on the arrow next to the Add user button. Select Add federated users.

  5. Select the identity federation to add users from.

  6. List the Name IDs of users, separating them with line breaks.

  7. Click Add. This will give the users access to the organization.

If you don't have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

  1. View a description of the add user command:

    yc organization-manager federation saml add-user-accounts --help

  2. Add users by listing their Name IDs separated by a comma:

    yc organization-manager federation saml add-user-accounts --name my-federation \
  --name-ids=alice@example.com,bob@example.com,charlie@example.com

To add identity federation users to the cloud:

  1. Create a file with the request body (for example, body.json). In the request body, specify the array of Name IDs of users you want to add:

    {
  "nameIds": [
    "alice@example.com",
    "bob@example.com",
    "charlie@example.com"
  ]
}

  2. Send the request by specifying the Federation ID in the parameters:

    $ curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <IAM token>" \
  -d '@body.json' \
  https://organization-manager.api.cloud.yandex.net/organization-manager/v1/saml/federations/<federation ID>:addUserAccounts

Test the authentication process

Now that you finished configuring authentication with Active Directory, test that it runs properly:

  1. Open the browser in guest or incognito mode to simulate being a new user.

  2. Follow the management console login link you obtained earlier. The browser forwards you to the ADFS authentication page, which by default looks as follows:

    image

  3. Enter your authentication data. By default, you must enter the UPN and password. Then click Sign in.

  4. On successful authentication, ADFS redirects you back to the management console login link and then to the management console home page. In the upper-right corner, you can see that you are logged in to the console under an Active Directory account.

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