man
5 sssd-ipa
SSSD-IPA(5) File Formats and Conventions SSSD-IPA(5)
NAME
sssd-ipa - SSSD IPA provider
DESCRIPTION
This manual page describes the configuration of the IPA provider for
sssd(8). For a detailed syntax reference, refer to the "FILE FORMAT"
section of the sssd.conf(5) manual page.
The IPA provider is a back end used to connect to an IPA server. (Refer
to the freeipa.org web site for information about IPA servers.) This
provider requires that the machine be joined to the IPA domain;
configuration is almost entirely self-discovered and obtained directly
from the server.
The IPA provider enables SSSD to use the sssd-ldap(5) identity provider
and the sssd-krb5(5) authentication provider with optimizations for IPA
environments. The IPA provider accepts the same options used by the
sssd-ldap and sssd-krb5 providers with some exceptions. However, it is
neither necessary nor recommended to set these options.
The IPA provider primarily copies the traditional ldap and krb5
provider default options with some exceptions, the differences are
listed in the "MODIFIED DEFAULT OPTIONS" section.
As an access provider, the IPA provider has a minimal configuration
(see "ipa_access_order") as it mainly uses HBAC (host-based access
control) rules. Please refer to freeipa.org for more information about
HBAC.
If "auth_provider=ipa" or "access_provider=ipa" is configured in
sssd.conf then the id_provider must also be set to "ipa".
The IPA provider will use the PAC responder if the Kerberos tickets of
users from trusted realms contain a PAC. To make configuration easier
the PAC responder is started automatically if the IPA ID provider is
configured.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
Refer to the section "DOMAIN SECTIONS" of the sssd.conf(5) manual page
for details on the configuration of an SSSD domain.
ipa_domain (string)
Specifies the name of the IPA domain. This is optional. If not
provided, the configuration domain name is used.
ipa_server, ipa_backup_server (string)
The comma-separated list of IP addresses or hostnames of the IPA
servers to which SSSD should connect in the order of preference.
For more information on failover and server redundancy, see the
"FAILOVER" section. This is optional if autodiscovery is enabled.
For more information on service discovery, refer to the "SERVICE
DISCOVERY" section.
ipa_hostname (string)
Optional. May be set on machines where the hostname(5) does not
reflect the fully qualified name used in the IPA domain to identify
this host. The hostname must be fully qualified.
dyndns_update (boolean)
Optional. This option tells SSSD to automatically update the DNS
server built into FreeIPA with the IP address of this client. The
update is secured using GSS-TSIG. The IP address of the IPA LDAP
connection is used for the updates, if it is not otherwise
specified by using the "dyndns_iface" option.
NOTE: On older systems (such as RHEL 5), for this behavior to work
reliably, the default Kerberos realm must be set properly in
/etc/krb5.conf
NOTE: While it is still possible to use the old ipa_dyndns_update
option, users should migrate to using dyndns_update in their config
file.
Default: false
dyndns_ttl (integer)
The TTL to apply to the client DNS record when updating it. If
dyndns_update is false this has no effect. This will override the
TTL serverside if set by an administrator.
NOTE: While it is still possible to use the old ipa_dyndns_ttl
option, users should migrate to using dyndns_ttl in their config
file.
Default: 1200 (seconds)
dyndns_iface (string)
Optional. Applicable only when dyndns_update is true. Choose the
interface or a list of interfaces whose IP addresses should be used
for dynamic DNS updates. Special value "*" implies that IPs from
all interfaces should be used.
NOTE: While it is still possible to use the old ipa_dyndns_iface
option, users should migrate to using dyndns_iface in their config
file.
Default: Use the IP addresses of the interface which is used for
IPA LDAP connection
Example: dyndns_iface = em1, vnet1, vnet2
dyndns_auth (string)
Whether the nsupdate utility should use GSS-TSIG authentication for
secure updates with the DNS server, insecure updates can be sent by
setting this option to 'none'.
Default: GSS-TSIG
dyndns_auth_ptr (string)
Whether the nsupdate utility should use GSS-TSIG authentication for
secure PTR updates with the DNS server, insecure updates can be
sent by setting this option to 'none'.
Default: Same as dyndns_auth
ipa_enable_dns_sites (boolean)
Enables DNS sites - location based service discovery.
If true and service discovery (see Service Discovery paragraph at
the bottom of the man page) is enabled, then the SSSD will first
attempt location based discovery using a query that contains
"_location.hostname.example.com" and then fall back to traditional
SRV discovery. If the location based discovery succeeds, the IPA
servers located with the location based discovery are treated as
primary servers and the IPA servers located using the traditional
SRV discovery are used as back up servers
Default: false
dyndns_refresh_interval (integer)
How often should the back end perform periodic DNS update in
addition to the automatic update performed when the back end goes
online. This option is optional and applicable only when
dyndns_update is true.
Default: 0 (disabled)
dyndns_update_ptr (bool)
Whether the PTR record should also be explicitly updated when
updating the client's DNS records. Applicable only when
dyndns_update is true.
This option should be False in most IPA deployments as the IPA
server generates the PTR records automatically when forward records
are changed.
Note that dyndns_update_per_family parameter does not apply for PTR
record updates. Those updates are always sent separately.
Default: False (disabled)
dyndns_force_tcp (bool)
Whether the nsupdate utility should default to using TCP for
communicating with the DNS server.
Default: False (let nsupdate choose the protocol)
dyndns_server (string)
The DNS server to use when performing a DNS update. In most setups,
it's recommended to leave this option unset.
Setting this option makes sense for environments where the DNS
server is different from the identity server or when we use
encrypted DNS.
The parameter can be a simple string containing DNS name or IP
address. It can also be an URI. The URI can look like
dns://servername/ or dns+tls://1.2.3.4:853#servername/.
The second example enables DNS-over-TLS protocol for DNS updates.
The nsupdate utility must support DoT - check the man nsupdate
before enabling it in SSSD.
Please note that this option will be only used in fallback attempt
when previous attempt using autodetected settings failed or when
DNS-over-TLS is enabled.
Default: None (let nsupdate choose the server)
dyndns_update_per_family (boolean)
DNS update is by default performed in two steps - IPv4 update and
then IPv6 update. In some cases it might be desirable to perform
IPv4 and IPv6 update in single step.
Default: true
dyndns_dot_cacert (string)
This option specifies the file of the certificate authorities
certificates (in PEM format) in order to verify the remote server
TLS certificate when using DoT.
Default: None (use global certificate store)
dyndns_dot_cert (string)
This option sets the certificate(s) file for authentication for the
DoT transport to the remote server. The certificate chain file is
expected to be in PEM format.
The dyndns_dot_cert and dyndns_dot_key options must be both set to
achieve mutual TLS authentication.
Default: None (Do not use TLS authentication)
dyndns_dot_key (string)
This option sets the key file for authenticated encryption for the
DoT transport to the remote server. The private key file is
expected to be in PEM format.
Default: None (Do not use TLS authentication)
ipa_access_order (string)
Comma separated list of access control options. Allowed values are:
expire: use IPA's account expiration policy.
pwd_expire_policy_reject, pwd_expire_policy_warn,
pwd_expire_policy_renew: These options are useful if users are
interested in being warned that password is about to expire and
authentication is based on using a different method than passwords
- for example SSH keys.
The difference between these options is the action taken if user
password is expired:
o pwd_expire_policy_reject - user is denied to log in,
o pwd_expire_policy_warn - user is still able to log in,
o pwd_expire_policy_renew - user is prompted to change their
password immediately.
Please note that 'access_provider = ipa' must be set for this
feature to work.
ipa_deskprofile_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for Desktop Profile
related objects.
Default: Use base DN
ipa_hbac_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for HBAC related
objects.
Default: Use base DN
ipa_host_search_base (string)
Deprecated. Use ldap_host_search_base instead.
ipa_selinux_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for SELinux user
maps.
See "ldap_search_base" for information about configuring multiple
search bases.
Default: the value of ldap_search_base
ipa_subdomains_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for trusted domains.
See "ldap_search_base" for information about configuring multiple
search bases.
Default: the value of cn=trusts,%basedn
ipa_master_domain_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for master domain
object.
See "ldap_search_base" for information about configuring multiple
search bases.
Default: the value of cn=ad,cn=etc,%basedn
ipa_views_search_base (string)
Optional. Use the given string as search base for views containers.
See "ldap_search_base" for information about configuring multiple
search bases.
Default: the value of cn=views,cn=accounts,%basedn
krb5_realm (string)
The name of the Kerberos realm. This is optional and defaults to
the value of "ipa_domain".
The name of the Kerberos realm has a special meaning in IPA - it is
converted into the base DN to use for performing LDAP operations.
krb5_confd_path (string)
Absolute path of a directory where SSSD should place Kerberos
configuration snippets.
To disable the creation of the configuration snippets set the
parameter to 'none'.
Default: not set (krb5.include.d subdirectory of SSSD's pubconf
directory)
ipa_deskprofile_refresh (integer)
The amount of time between lookups of the Desktop Profile rules
against the IPA server. This will reduce the latency and load on
the IPA server if there are many desktop profiles requests made in
a short period.
Default: 5 (seconds)
ipa_deskprofile_request_interval (integer)
The amount of time between lookups of the Desktop Profile rules
against the IPA server in case the last request did not return any
rule.
Default: 60 (minutes)
ipa_hbac_refresh (integer)
The amount of time between lookups of the HBAC rules against the
IPA server. This will reduce the latency and load on the IPA server
if there are many access-control requests made in a short period.
Default: 5 (seconds)
ipa_hbac_selinux (integer)
The amount of time between lookups of the SELinux maps against the
IPA server. This will reduce the latency and load on the IPA server
if there are many user login requests made in a short period.
Default: 5 (seconds)
ipa_server_mode (boolean)
This option will be set by the IPA installer (ipa-server-install)
automatically and denotes if SSSD is running on an IPA server or
not.
On an IPA server SSSD will lookup users and groups from trusted
domains directly while on a client it will ask an IPA server.
NOTE: There are currently some assumptions that must be met when
SSSD is running on an IPA server.
o The "ipa_server" option must be configured to point to the IPA
server itself. This is already the default set by the IPA
installer, so no manual change is required.
o The "full_name_format" option must not be tweaked to only print
short names for users from trusted domains.
Default: false
ipa_automount_location (string)
The automounter location this IPA client will be using
Default: The location named "default"
Please note that the automounter only reads the master map on
startup, so if any autofs-related changes are made to the
sssd.conf, you typically also need to restart the automounter
daemon after restarting the SSSD.
VIEWS AND OVERRIDES
SSSD can handle views and overrides which are offered by FreeIPA 4.1
and later version. Since all paths and objectclasses are fixed on the
server side there is basically no need to configure anything. For
completeness the related options are listed here with their default
values.
ipa_view_class (string)
Objectclass of the view container.
Default: nsContainer
ipa_view_name (string)
Name of the attribute holding the name of the view.
Default: cn
ipa_override_object_class (string)
Objectclass of the override objects.
Default: ipaOverrideAnchor
ipa_anchor_uuid (string)
Name of the attribute containing the reference to the original
object in a remote domain.
Default: ipaAnchorUUID
ipa_user_override_object_class (string)
Name of the objectclass for user overrides. It is used to determine
if the found override object is related to a user or a group.
User overrides can contain attributes given by
o ldap_user_name
o ldap_user_uid_number
o ldap_user_gid_number
o ldap_user_gecos
o ldap_user_home_directory
o ldap_user_shell
o ldap_user_ssh_public_key
Default: ipaUserOverride
ipa_group_override_object_class (string)
Name of the objectclass for group overrides. It is used to
determine if the found override object is related to a user or a
group.
Group overrides can contain attributes given by
o ldap_group_name
o ldap_group_gid_number
Default: ipaGroupOverride
MODIFIED DEFAULT OPTIONS
Certain option defaults do not match their respective backend provider
defaults, these option names and IPA provider-specific defaults are
listed below:
KRB5 Provider
o krb5_validate = true
o krb5_use_fast = try
o krb5_canonicalize = true
LDAP Provider - General
o ldap_schema = ipa_v1
o ldap_force_upper_case_realm = true
o ldap_sasl_mech = GSSAPI
o ldap_sasl_minssf = 56
o ldap_account_expire_policy = ipa
o ldap_use_tokengroups = true
LDAP Provider - User options
o ldap_user_member_of = memberOf
o ldap_user_uuid = ipaUniqueID
o ldap_user_ssh_public_key = ipaSshPubKey
o ldap_user_auth_type = ipaUserAuthType
LDAP Provider - Group options
o ldap_group_object_class = ipaUserGroup
o ldap_group_object_class_alt = posixGroup
o ldap_group_member = member
o ldap_group_uuid = ipaUniqueID
o ldap_group_objectsid = ipaNTSecurityIdentifier
o ldap_group_external_member = ipaExternalMember
SUBDOMAINS PROVIDER
The IPA subdomains provider behaves slightly differently if it is
configured explicitly or implicitly.
If the option 'subdomains_provider = ipa' is found in the domain
section of sssd.conf, the IPA subdomains provider is configured
explicitly, and all subdomain requests are sent to the IPA server if
necessary.
If the option 'subdomains_provider' is not set in the domain section of
sssd.conf but there is the option 'id_provider = ipa', the IPA
subdomains provider is configured implicitly. In this case, if a
subdomain request fails and indicates that the server does not support
subdomains, i.e. is not configured for trusts, the IPA subdomains
provider is disabled. After an hour or after the IPA provider goes
online, the subdomains provider is enabled again.
TRUSTED DOMAINS CONFIGURATION
Some configuration options can also be set for a trusted domain. A
trusted domain configuration can be set using the trusted domain
subsection as shown in the example below. Alternatively, the
"subdomain_inherit" option can be used in the parent domain.
[domain/ipa.domain.com/ad.domain.com]
ad_server = dc.ad.domain.com
For more details, see the sssd.conf(5) manual page.
Different configuration options are tunable for a trusted domain
depending on whether you are configuring SSSD on an IPA server or an
IPA client.
OPTIONS TUNABLE ON IPA MASTERS
The following options can be set in a subdomain section on an IPA
master:
o ad_server
o ad_backup_server
o ad_site
o ldap_search_base
o ldap_user_search_base
o ldap_group_search_base
o use_fully_qualified_names
OPTIONS TUNABLE ON IPA CLIENTS
The following options can be set in a subdomain section on an IPA
client:
o ad_server
o ad_site
Note that if both options are set, only "ad_server" is evaluated.
Since any request for a user or a group identity from a trusted domain
triggered from an IPA client is resolved by the IPA server, the
"ad_server" and "ad_site" options only affect which AD DC will the
authentication be performed against. In particular, the addresses
resolved from these lists will be written to "kdcinfo" files read by
the Kerberos locator plugin. Please refer to the
sssd_krb5_locator_plugin(8) manual page for more details on the
Kerberos locator plugin.
FAILOVER
The failover feature allows back ends to automatically switch to a
different server if the current server fails.
Failover Syntax
The list of servers is given as a comma-separated list; any number of
spaces is allowed around the comma. The servers are listed in order of
preference. The list can contain any number of servers.
For each failover-enabled config option, two variants exist: primary
and backup. The idea is that servers in the primary list are preferred
and backup servers are only searched if no primary servers can be
reached. If a backup server is selected, a timeout of 31 seconds is
set. After this timeout SSSD will periodically try to reconnect to one
of the primary servers. If it succeeds, it will replace the current
active (backup) server.
The Failover Mechanism
The failover mechanism distinguishes between a machine and a service.
The back end first tries to resolve the hostname of a given machine; if
this resolution attempt fails, the machine is considered offline. No
further attempts are made to connect to this machine for any other
service. If the resolution attempt succeeds, the back end tries to
connect to a service on this machine. If the service connection attempt
fails, then only this particular service is considered offline and the
back end automatically switches over to the next service. The machine
is still considered online and might still be tried for another
service.
Further connection attempts are made to machines or services marked as
offline after a specified period of time; this is currently hard coded
to 30 seconds.
If there are no more machines to try, the back end as a whole switches
to offline mode, and then attempts to reconnect every 30 seconds.
Failover time outs and tuning
Resolving a server to connect to can be as simple as running a single
DNS query or can involve several steps, such as finding the correct
site or trying out multiple host names in case some of the configured
servers are not reachable. The more complex scenarios can take some
time and SSSD needs to balance between providing enough time to finish
the resolution process but on the other hand, not trying for too long
before falling back to offline mode. If the SSSD debug logs show that
the server resolution is timing out before a live server is contacted,
you can consider changing the time outs.
This section lists the available tunables. Please refer to their
description in the sssd.conf(5), manual page.
dns_resolver_server_timeout
Time in milliseconds that sets how long would SSSD talk to a single
DNS server before trying next one.
Default: 1000
dns_resolver_op_timeout
Time in seconds to tell how long would SSSD try to resolve single
DNS query (e.g. resolution of a hostname or an SRV record) before
trying the next hostname or discovery domain.
Default: 3
dns_resolver_timeout
How long would SSSD try to resolve a failover service. This service
resolution internally might include several steps, such as
resolving DNS SRV queries or locating the site.
Default: 6
For LDAP-based providers, the resolve operation is performed as part of
an LDAP connection operation. Therefore, also the "ldap_opt_timeout"
timeout should be set to a larger value than "dns_resolver_timeout"
which in turn should be set to a larger value than
"dns_resolver_op_timeout" which should be larger than
"dns_resolver_server_timeout".
SERVICE DISCOVERY
The service discovery feature allows back ends to automatically find
the appropriate servers to connect to using a special DNS query. This
feature is not supported for backup servers.
Configuration
If no servers are specified, the back end automatically uses service
discovery to try to find a server. Optionally, the user may choose to
use both fixed server addresses and service discovery by inserting a
special keyword, "_srv_", in the list of servers. The order of
preference is maintained. This feature is useful if, for example, the
user prefers to use service discovery whenever possible, and fall back
to a specific server when no servers can be discovered using DNS.
The domain name
Please refer to the "dns_discovery_domain" parameter in the
sssd.conf(5) manual page for more details.
The protocol
The queries usually specify _tcp as the protocol. Exceptions are
documented in respective option description.
See Also
For more information on the service discovery mechanism, refer to RFC
2782.
EXAMPLE
The following example assumes that SSSD is correctly configured and
example.com is one of the domains in the [sssd] section. This examples
shows only the ipa provider-specific options.
[domain/example.com]
id_provider = ipa
ipa_server = ipaserver.example.com
ipa_hostname = myhost.example.com
SEE ALSO
sssd(8), sssd.conf(5), sssd-ldap(5), sssd-ldap-attributes(5), sssd-
krb5(5), sssd-simple(5), sssd-ipa(5), sssd-ad(5), sssd-files(5), sssd-
sudo(5), sssd-session-recording(5), sss_cache(8), sss_debuglevel(8),
sss_obfuscate(8), sss_seed(8), sssd_krb5_locator_plugin(8),
sss_ssh_authorizedkeys(8), sss_ssh_knownhostsproxy(8), sssd-ifp(5),
pam_sss(8). sss_rpcidmapd(5) sssd-systemtap(5)
AUTHORS
The SSSD upstream - https://github.com/SSSD/sssd/
SSSD 04/07/2025 SSSD-IPA(5)