Shared Authentication Domains on BIG-IP APM
How to share an APM session across multiple access profiles. A common question for someone new to BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is how do I configure BIG-IP APM so the user only logs in once. By default, BIG-IP APM requires authentication for each access profile. This can easily be changed by sending the domain cookie variable is the access profile’s SSO authentication domain menu. Let’s walk through how to configure App1 and App2 to only require authentication once. We’ll start with App1’s Access Profile. Once you click through to App1’s settings, in the Top menu, select SSO/Auth Domains. For the Domain Cookie, we’ll set the value to f5demo.com since App1 and App2 use this domain and it is a FQDN. Of course, click Update. Next, we’ll select App2’s Access Profile. Like App1, we select SSO/Auth Domains and set the Domain Cookie value to f5demo.com. To make sure it works, we’ll launch App1 in our browser. We’re prompted for authentication and enter our credentials and luckily, we have a successful login. And then we’ll try to login to App2. And when we click it, we’re not prompted again for authentication information and gain access without prompts. Granted this was a single login request for two simple applications but it can be scaled for hundreds of applications. If you‘d like to see a working demo of this, check it out here. ps
Secure Access to Web Applications with F5 and Okta using SAML 2.0 (1 of 2)
This article is the first in a two-part series. Go to Part 2 here: Secure Access to Web Applications with F5 and Okta using SAML 2.0 (2 of 2) Introduction Despite recent advances in security and identity management, controlling and managing access to applications through the web—whether by onsite/remote employees or contractors, partners, customers, or the public—is as difficult as ever. IT teams are challenged to control access based on granular characteristics such as user role while still providing fast authentication and, preferably, unified access with single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. The ability to recognize and stop attempts at unauthorized access is critical in today’s security environment. The joint F5 BIG-IP® Access Policy Manager® (APM) and Okta identity management platform solution address these challenges. This solution provides extended access management capabilities across on-premises and cloud environments enabling organizations to secure web applications anywhere.In addition to authentication management and policy-based authorizations, the solution also supports applications with header-based and Kerberos based authentication. The F5 and Okta Solution In this SAML 2.0 integrated solution (shown in Figure 1), •Okta is the Identity Provider (IdP). Users can be defined locally within Okta. In most cases, an on-premises Active Directory and/or LDAP is the source of identities and is integrated with Okta via Okta’s AD/LDAP agent. •Between Okta and the F5 BIG-IP system, a SAML trust is built with the BIG-IP platform acting as a SAML service provider (SP). •The target applications are protected behind the BIG-IP reverse proxy by header-based or Kerberos authentication. •SAML assertion from Okta is consumed by the BIG-IP system, which then translates the assertion appropriately for the downstream application based on its authentication scheme. Figure 1: The basic integration between the F5 BIG-IP system and Okta for single sign-on (SSO) Deployment Procedure This procedure described below is based on a lab environment. The instructions below may be modified to match your specific needs or requirements. Prerequisites •Refer to AskF5 for additional information, including how to initially set up a BIG-IP environment including basic BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager® (LTM) and BIG-IP APM configurations. F5 BIG-IP TMOS® version 15.1 is used for this demonstration. However, these practices apply for versions 11.0 and later. •For additional information about configuring the Okta portion of the solution, refer to Okta documentation. Step 1: Configure Okta as SAML IDP for a New Application Refer to the step by step instructions and screenshots below to configure Okta as a SAML IdP for a new application called app.f5sec.net. 1.1 Okta Classic User Interface For this lab demonstration, we are using the Okta developer account. Click here to sign up for an Okta developer account, if you don’t already have one. •Log in to the Okta developer portal using your username and password. •For this demonstration, we will be using the Classic UI. On the top left corner of the developer portal, change the drop-down from Developer Console to Classic UI. Figure 2: Switching the Okta user interface to the Classic option. 1.2 Build a New Application We will build a new web application for SAML 2.0 integration. •On the main menu, hover on the Applications tab and click on Applications. •On the Applications page, click on the Add Application button. •On the Add Application page, click on the Create New App button. •In the Create a New Application Integration dialogue box, select the Web option in the Platform drop-down and SAML 2.0 as the Sign on method and click Create. Figure 3: Creating a new application for SSO using SAML 2.0 •On the Create SAML Integration page, under the General Setting section, enter the app name and click Next. Figure 4: Entering the app name •In the SAML Settings section, under the GENERAL options, enter the Single sign on URL and the Audience URI. Figure 5: Sample SAML configuration •Leave all other values as default and click Next. •In the next section, check the radio button that says, “I’m an OKTA customer adding an internal app”. •In the expanded window, select “This is an internal app that we have created” for App Type and click on Finish. Figure 6: Sample feedback configuration •In the resulting application page for app.f5sec.net, navigate to the SAML 2.0 section. •Right-click the Identity Provider Metadata hyperlink and click Save Link As. •Save the metadata.xml to the local system. We will be using this file later when configuring F5 BIG-IP APM as SAML SP. Figure 7: Exporting the IdP metadata 1.3 Assign Users to the Application Next, we will assign users to the application, granting them access. •Scroll up and click on the Assignments tab beneath app.f5sec.net. •Click on the Assign button and then again click Assign to People from the drop-down. •In the pop-up dialog box, click on the Assign button next to all the users that you want to assign access to app.f5sec.net web application. •When finished, click Done. Figure 8: Assigning users to the application This completes the Okta configuration. Next, we will move on to F5 BIG-IP APM for SAML SP and web app configuration. Part 2 - Secure Access to Web Applications with F5 and Okta using SAML 2.0
APM Cookbook: Single Sign On (SSO) using Kerberos
To get the APM Cookbook series moving along, I’ve decided to help out by documenting the common APM solutions I help customers and partners with on a regular basis. Kerberos SSO is nothing new, but seems to stump people who have never used Kerberos before. Getting Kerberos SSO to work with APM is straight forward once you have the Active Directory components configured. Overview I have a pre-configured web service (IIS 7.5/Sharepoint 2010) that is configured for Windows Authentication, which will send a “Negotiate” in the header of the “401 Request for Authorization”. Make sure the web service is configured to send the correct header before starting the APM configuration by accessing the website directly and viewing the headers using browser tools. In my example, I used the Sharepoint 2010/2013 iApp to build the LTM configuration. I’m using a single pool member, sp1.f5.demo (10.10.30.2) listening on HTTP and the Virtual Server listening on HTTPS performing SSL offload. Step 1 - Create a delegation account on your domain 1.1 Open Active Directory Users and Computers administrative tool and create a new user account. User logon name: host/apm-kcd.f5.demo User logon name (pre-Windows 2000): apm-kcd Set the password and not expire 1.2 Alter the account and set the servicePrincipcalName. Run setspn from the command line: setspn –A host/apm-kcd.f5.demo apm-kcd A delegation tab will now be available for this user. Step 2 - Configure the SPN 2.1 Open Active Directory Users and Computers administrative tool and select the user account created in the previous step. Edit the Properties for this user Select the Delegation tab Select: Trust this user for delegation to specified services only Select: Use any authentication protocol Select Add, to add services. Select Users or Computers… Enter the host name, in my example I will be adding HTTP service for sp1.f5.demo (SP1). Select Check Names and OK Select the http Service Type and OK 2.2 Make sure there are no duplicate SPNs and run setspn –x from the command line. Step 3 - Check Forward and Reverse DNS DNS is critical and a missing PTR is common error I find when troubleshooting Kerberos SSO problems. From the BIG-IP command line test forward and reverse records exist for the web service using dig: # dig sp1.f5.demo ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;sp1.f5.demo. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: sp1.f5.demo. 1200 IN A 10.10.30.2 # dig -x 10.10.30.2 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;2.30.10.10.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR ;; ANSWER SECTION: 2.30.10.10.in-addr.arpa. 1200 IN PTR sp1.f5.demo. Step 4 - Create the APM Configuration In this example I will use a Logon Page to capture the user credentials that will be authenticated against Active Directory and mapped to the SSO variables for the Kerberos SSO. 4.1 Configure AAA Server for Authentication Access Policy >> AAA Servers >> Active Directory >> “Create” Supply the following: Name: f5.demo_ad_aaa Domain Name: f5.demo Domain Controller: (Optional – BIG-IP will use DNS to discover if left blank) Admin Name and Password Select “Finished" to save. 4.2 Configure Kerberos SSO Access Policy >> SSO Configurations >> Kerberos >> “Create” Supply the following: Name: f5.demo_kerberos_sso Username Source: session.sso.token.last.username User Realm Source: session.ad.last.actualdomain Kerberos Realm: F5.DEMO Account Name: apm-kcd (from Step 1) Account Password & Confirm Account Password (from Step1) Select “Finished” to save. 4.3 Create an Access Profile and Policy We can now bring it all together using the Visual Policy Editor (VPE). Access Policy >> Access Profiles >> Access Profile List >> “Create” Supply the following: Name: intranet.f5.demo_sso_ap SSO Configuration: f5.demo_kerberos_sso Languages: English (en) Use the default settings for all other settings. Select “Finished” to save. 4.4 Edit the Access Policy in the VPE Access Policy >> Access Profiles >> Access Profile List >> “Edit” (intranet.f5.demo_sso_ap) On the fallback branch after the Start object, add a Logon Page object. Leave the defaults and “Save”. On the fallback branch after the Logon Page object, add an AD Auth object. Select the Server Select “Save” when your done. On the Successful branch after the AD Auth object, add a SSO Credential Mapping object. Leave the defaults and “Save”. On the fallback branch after the SSO Credential Mapping, change Deny ending to Allow. The finished policy should look similar to this: Don't forget to “Apply Access Policy”. Step 5 – Attach the APM Policy to the Virtual Server and Test 5.1 Edit the Virtual Server Local Traffic >> Virtual Servers >> Virtual Server List >> intranet.f5.demo_vs Scroll down to the Access Policy section and select the Access Profile. Select “Update” to save. 5.2 Test Open a browser, access the Virtual Server URL (https://intranet.f5.demo in my example), authenticate and verify the client is automatically logged on (SSO) to the web service. To verify Kerberos SSO has worked correctly, check /var/log/apm on APM by turning on debug. You should see log events similar to the ones below when the BIG-IP has fetched a Kerberos Ticket. info websso.1[9041]: 014d0011:6: 33186a8c: Websso Kerberos authentication for user 'test.user' using config '/Common/f5.demo_kerberos_sso' debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0018:7: sid:33186a8c ctx:0x917e4a0 server address = ::ffff:10.10.30.2 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0021:7: sid:33186a8c ctx:0x917e4a0 SPN = HTTP/sp1.f5.demo@F5.DEMO debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0023:7: S4U ======> ctx: 33186a8c, sid: 0x917e4a0, user: test.user@F5.DEMO, SPN: HTTP/sp1.f5.demo@F5.DEMO debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: Getting UCC:test.user@F5.DEMO@F5.DEMO, lifetime:36000 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: fetched new TGT, total active TGTs:1 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: TGT: client=apm-kcd@F5.DEMO server=krbtgt/F5.DEMO@F5.DEMO expiration=Tue Apr 29 08:33:42 2014 flags=40600000 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: TGT expires:1398724422 CC count:0 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: Initialized UCC:test.user@F5.DEMO@F5.DEMO, lifetime:36000 kcc:0x92601e8 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: UCCmap.size = 1, UCClist.size = 1 debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> - NO cached S4U2Proxy ticket for user: test.user@F5.DEMO server: HTTP/sp1.f5.demo@F5.DEMO - trying to fetch debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> - NO cached S4U2Self ticket for user: test.user@F5.DEMO - trying to fetch debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> - fetched S4U2Self ticket for user: test.user@F5.DEMO debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> trying to fetch S4U2Proxy ticket for user: test.user@F5.DEMO server: HTTP/sp1.f5.demo@F5.DEMO debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> fetched S4U2Proxy ticket for user: test.user@F5.DEMO server: HTTP/sp1.f5.demo@F5.DEMO debug websso.1[9041]: 014d0001:7: S4U ======> OK! Conclusion Like I said in the beginning, once you know how Kerberos SSO works with APM, it’s a piece of cake!
