Big-IP and ADFS Part 5 – “Working with ADFS 3.0 and SNI”

Can you believe it? It’s true, it’s true! There’s a part 5. What can I say? Times change; people change; software changes. Active Directory Federation Services, (ADFS) is no exception. While the BIG-IP with SAML 2.0 can alleviate the need for and ADFS infrastructure in many use cases, there are still organizations that need/want to continue utilizing ADFS. Fortunately, regardless of which way you go, F5 can help. So, in the spirit of free will, collaboration, and serving the greater good, (too much?), let’s talk about load balancing ADFS 3.0 with the BIG-IP.

As you may, or may not, recall the previous posts around BIG-IP and ADFS revolved around load balancing ADFS 2.0 and ADFS Proxy, replacing the ADFS Proxy with Access Policy Manager, and replacing the entire ADFS infrastructure with APM and SAML. The good news is that these posts are still relevant with regards to ADFS 3.0 and the ADFS proxy replacement, (WAP); well for the most part anyway.

ADFS and SNI

While there are numerous differences between ADFS 3.0 and previous versions, the most significant change with respect to providing HA and scalability for the ADFS 3.0 infrastructure is its use of Server Name Indication, (SNI). To Successfully integrate a load balancing solution, ( including full reverse proxy), into the ADFS environment the device must support SNI. The load balancing device must be able to present the server name to the backend host as part of the initial Client Hello. Fortunately, the BIG-IP, (ver. 11.1.0 and later) supports this TLS protocol extension.

The rest of this post will provide guidance on enabling SNI support for ADFS 3.0 integration. For overall guidance refer to parts one thru three of this series as well as the recently published ADFS 2.0 Deployment Guide.

SNI and the Server Profile

The BIG-IP provides a virtual server, (listener), that receives client SSL connections and subsequently intelligently passes traffic into a pool of ADFS/WAP servers. Depending upon the organization’s infrastructure and security requirements, the BIG-IP can simply receive encrypted client connections and pass them through to the backend ADFS farm, (aka SSL tunneling). However, the preferred method, (SSL bridging), receives encrypted clients connections; terminates and decrypts the traffic. The traffic is then re-encrypted and sent to the backend application servers. This method adds an additional layer of security since external traffic never directly connects to the internal domain-joined machines as well affording the ability to perform additional deep packet inspection.

SSL bridging back to the ADFS farm requires associating a server SSL profile to the virtual server. Enabling SNI is simply a matter of specifying the server name on the associated server SSL profile, (see below).

1. Navigate to the appropriate profile;

2. Select ‘Advanced’ configuration and enter the FQDN of the backend ADFS service hostname. The hostname will now be provided during the TLS negotiation. In the example below, the server name is ‘fs.f5demo.net’, (refer to the highlighted field). Like I said, simple!

Health Monitoring and SNI

Effectively monitoring the backend ADFS/WAP farm members is a little trickier but very doable. Since the built-in HTTP monitors do not provide the server name as part of the TLS negotiation, using them will result in the being backend servers being incorrectly marked as down, (not good).

You could simply use a non-HTTP monitor, (ICMP being the most common), but that doesn’t provide a reasonable guarantee that the actual ADFS service is functioning. Better than that, what we can do is create an external custom SNI enabled monitor that validates the service metadata and associate it to the pool. It’s as easy as 1,2,3,…..um.. 4,5,6.

1. Download the script: http://www.f5.com/pdf/deployment-guides/sni-eav.zip

2. Upload the previously downloaded file into the BIG-IP via the web interface. Navigate to ‘System’ –> ‘External Monitor Program List’ –> ‘Import’;

IMPORTANT!!!

If ADFS proxy server is configured to accept SSL/TLS connections only using TLSv1.1 or better , the monitor will not work.

If have come up with this one-liner to replace the “curl” based command in the script. Thanks to Jerry Tower for helping fix the actual HTTP request as well as testing the script.

(echo -e "GET $URI HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: $HOST\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n"; sleep 2) | openssl s_client –quiet –servername $HOST -connect $NODE:$PORT 2> /dev/null| grep -i "$RECV" 2>&1> /dev/null

The script line that this one-liner should replace is the following:

curl-apd -k -v -i --resolve $HOST:$PORT:$NODE https://$HOST$URI | grep -i "${RECV}" 2>&1 > /dev/null

3. Browse to and select the file. Provide a name for the file and select ‘Import’;

4. Create a new external monitor utilizing the associate external file. Navigate to ‘Local Traffic’ –> ‘+’ sign;

5. Provide a name and select ‘External’ for the type. Select the previously created external program. The script provided requires three, (3) variables entered as name/value pairs. The variables are listed below. Select ‘Finished’;

Name	Value
RECV	HTTP/1.1 200
URI	/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml
HOST

6. Associate the newly created monitor to the ADFS pool and/or the WAP pool. Select ‘Local Traffic’ –> ‘Pools’ –> ‘Pool List’. Move the monitor into the active pane and select ‘Update’.

Additional Links:

Big-IP and ADFS Part 1 – “Load balancing the ADFS Farm”

Big-IP and ADFS Part 2 – “APM–An Alternative to the ADFS Proxy”

Big-IP and ADFS Part 3 – “ADFS, APM, and the Office 365 Thick Clients”

Big-IP and ADFS Part 4 – “What about Single Sign-Out?”

BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Wiki Home - DevCentral Wiki

Active Directory Federation Services 3.0 Overview

Published May 30, 2014

Version 1.0

adfs

application delivery

BIG-IP

BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Greg_Coward

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Joined July 19, 2011

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Greg_Coward

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Joined July 19, 2011

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24 Comments

Renee
Nimbostratus
Mar 16, 2016
Is there a reason to use /FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml as the URI value vs /adfs/fs/federationserverservice.asmx which is what is in the deployment guide? Both seem to work fine. Thanks
MS_273769
Nimbostratus
Jul 19, 2016
I removed the () before the echo and it worked for me.

echo -e "GET $URI HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: $HOST\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n"; sleep 2 | openssl s_client –quiet –servername $HOST -connect $NODE:$PORT 2> /dev/null| grep -i "$RECV" 2>&1> /dev/null
dav_103788
Nimbostratus
Aug 12, 2016
I could make it work on BIG-IP 11.5.3 Build 2.0.196 Hotfix HF2. Don't know why but, as soon as the script is updated through the GUI ( with or without modification ), the script appears in the directory /tmp and the check is OK, before ( just after uploading the script and creating the monitor ) I could not find it on the disk and the check was KO.

I have also tested with or without the "()", it works in both cases.

rmd1023

Nimbostratus

Apr 25, 2017

I ended up making things work with a slight variant of a script linked from this article - for some reason the HOST, RECV, and URI variable definitions early in the script weren't working, which made everything go pear-shaped, so I hardcoded them in. This means I'll have to write a separate script for each different federated server I set up since the hostname (here, "fedserver.example.com") will be different for each external script. The node and port are correctly passed to the script by the monitor itself, so we don't have to write a separate script for each node or anything wacky like that. Uploaded the script through "System->File Management->External Monitor Program File List" and was able to use it in a new external monitor.

Here's my edited script:

!/bin/sh
 These arguments supplied automatically for all external monitors:
 $1 = IP (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn notation)
 $2 = port (decimal, host byte order)

 This script expects the following Name/Value pairs:
 HOST = fedserver.example.com.
 URI = /FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml
 RECV = HTTP/1.1 200

 Remove IPv6/IPv4 compatibility prefix (LTM passes addresses in IPv6 format)
NODE=`echo ${1} | sed 's/::ffff://'`
if [[ $NODE =~ ^[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}$ ]]; then
NODE=${NODE}
else
NODE=[${NODE}]
fi
PORT=${2}
PIDFILE="/var/run/`basename ${0}`.sni_monitor_fedserver.example.com_${PORT}_${NODE}.pid"
if [ -f $PIDFILE ]
then
echo "EAV exceeded runtime needed to kill fedserver.example.com:${PORT}:${NODE}" | logger -p local0.error
kill -9 `cat $PIDFILE` > /dev/null 2>&1
fi
echo "$$" > $PIDFILE
curl-apd -k -v -i --resolve fedserver.example.com:$PORT:$NODE https://fedserver.example.com/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml| grep -i "HTTP/1.1 200" 2>&1 > /dev/null
STATUS=$?
rm -f $PIDFILE
if [ $STATUS -eq 0 ]
then
echo "UP"
fi
exit

Paul_Taylor_110
Nimbostratus
Apr 25, 2017
rmd1023 - Your comment above was very timely, as I was looking into this today! Thanks for posting it. It looks like variables aren't passed properly in the version I'm running, or something, but with your host specific modifications, it's working great.
MattMillson_213
Nimbostratus
May 01, 2017
What is the best way to add multiple HOST entries with the same URI
rmd1023
Nimbostratus
May 02, 2017
I think you'll need different scripts. So, for example, you'd have external monitor script "sni_monkey.sh" where the "HOST" command is hardcoded as "monkey.example.com", and another external monitor "sni_banana.sh" where "HOST" is hardcoded as "banana.example.com". The hardcoded URI would be the same in both scripts.
t_vanderkrogt
Altostratus
Jun 02, 2017
We've slightly changed the curl command in our script in order to have multiple options in the RECV string.

curl-apd -k -i --resolve $HOST:$PORT:$NODE https://$HOST$URI | grep -i -P "${RECV}" > /dev/null 2>&1

We can now work with a receive string as HTTP/1.1\s[2|3]0[0-7]|
Jad_Tabbara__J1
Cirrostratus
Aug 25, 2017
Thanks Greg it works well !
Peter_Baumann_5
Nimbostratus
Jun 28, 2018
Very nice stuff, thanks Greg!

But one big problem: We have 12 ADFS pools and each of them has now a EAV monitor attached. The vCMP is going to be very slow then... :-(

Does someone have any idea to solve this without a EAV monitor or get better performance for the monitoring?

\n(echo -e \"GET $URI HTTP/1.1\\r\\nHost: $HOST\\r\\nConnection: Close\\r\\n\\r\\n\"; sleep 2) | openssl s_client –quiet –servername $HOST -connect $NODE:$PORT 2> /dev/null| grep -i \"$RECV\" 2>&1> /dev/null

!/bin/sh\n These arguments supplied automatically for all external monitors:\n $1 = IP (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn notation)\n $2 = port (decimal, host byte order)\n\n This script expects the following Name/Value pairs:\n HOST = fedserver.example.com.\n URI = /FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml\n RECV = HTTP/1.1 200\n\n Remove IPv6/IPv4 compatibility prefix (LTM passes addresses in IPv6 format)\nNODE=`echo ${1} | sed 's/::ffff://'`\nif [[ $NODE =~ ^[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}$ ]]; then\nNODE=${NODE}\nelse\nNODE=[${NODE}]\nfi\nPORT=${2}\nPIDFILE=\"/var/run/`basename ${0}`.sni_monitor_fedserver.example.com_${PORT}_${NODE}.pid\"\nif [ -f $PIDFILE ]\nthen\necho \"EAV exceeded runtime needed to kill fedserver.example.com:${PORT}:${NODE}\" | logger -p local0.error\nkill -9 `cat $PIDFILE` > /dev/null 2>&1\nfi\necho \"$$\" > $PIDFILE\ncurl-apd -k -v -i --resolve fedserver.example.com:$PORT:$NODE https://fedserver.example.com/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml| grep -i \"HTTP/1.1 200\" 2>&1 > /dev/null\nSTATUS=$?\nrm -f $PIDFILE\nif [ $STATUS -eq 0 ]\nthen\necho \"UP\"\nfi\nexit\n

Big-IP and ADFS Part 5 – “Working with ADFS 3.0 and SNI”

ADFS and SNI

SNI and the Server Profile

Health Monitoring and SNI

24 Comments

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ADFS and SNI

SNI and the Server Profile

Health Monitoring and SNI

ADFS and SNI

SNI and the Server Profile

Health Monitoring and SNI

\n Name \n	Value
RECV	HTTP/1.1 200
URI	/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml
HOST