Configuring a Read-Write LDAP User Store

WSO2 API Manager provides the user management functionality by default, and it can be configured in the <API-M_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file. The instructions given below explains how to configure a read-write LDAP as the primary user store for WSO2 API Manager.

Tip

To get a high-level understanding of the primary user stores available in WSO2 API Manager, see Configuring primary User Stores.

Info

Default User Store: The primary user store that is configured by default in the deployment.toml file of API Manager is a JDBC user store, which reads/writes into the internal database of the product server. By default, the internal database is H2. This database is used by the Authorization Manager (for user authentication information) as well as the User Store Manager (for defining users and roles).

Note that the RDBMS used in the default configuration can remain as the database used for storing Authorization information.

Follow the given steps to configure a read-write LDAP as the primary user store:

Step 1 - Set up the read-write LDAP user store manager

  1. Add these configurations below in the <API-M_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file.

    [user_store]
class="org.wso2.carbon.user.core.ldap.UniqueIDReadWriteLDAPUserStoreManager"
type = "read_write_ldap_unique_id"
connection_url = "ldap://localhost:10390"
connection_name = "uid=admin,ou=system"
connection_password = "admin"

    Descriptions on connection properties of [user_store] is given below:

    Property Id Primary User Store Property Secondary User Store Property Description
    ConnectionURL connection_url Connection URL

    Connection URL to the user store server. In the case of default LDAP in Carbon, the port is specified in the carbon.xml file, and a reference to that port is included in this configuration.

    Sample values:
    ldap://10.100.1.100:389
    ldaps://10.100.1.102:639

    If you are connecting over ldaps (secured LDAP) you need to import the certificate of user store to the client-truststore.jks of the WSO2 product. For information on how to add certificates to the truststore and how keystores are configured and used in a system, see Using Asymmetric Encryption.

    If LDAP connection pooling is used, see Pooling LDAPs Connections.
    ConnectionName connection_name Connection Name

    The username used to connect to the user store and perform various operations. This user does not need to be an administrator in the user store or have an administrator role in the WSO2 product that you are using, but this user MUST have permissions to read the user list and users' attributes and to perform search operations on the user store. The value you specify is used as the DN (Distinguish Name) attribute of the user who has sufficient permissions to perform operations on users and roles in LDAP

    This property is mandatory.
    Sample values: uid=admin,ou=system
    ConnectionPassword connection_password Connection Password Password for the ConnectionName user.

  2. Add the [user_store.properties] configuration element in the deployment.toml file as follows: 

    [user_store.properties]
TenantManager= "org.wso2.carbon.user.core.tenant.CommonHybridLDAPTenantManager"
ConnectionURL="ldap://localhost:10390"
ConnectionName="uid=admin,ou=system"
UserSearchBase="ou=Users,dc=wso2,dc=org"
GroupSearchBase="ou=Groups,dc=wso2,dc=org"
ConnectionPassword="admin"
AnonymousBind= "false"
WriteGroups= "true"
ReadGroups = "true"
UserEntryObjectClass= "identityPerson"
UserNameAttribute= "uid"
UserNameSearchFilter= "(\u0026amp;(objectClass\u003dperson)(uid\u003d?))"
UserNameListFilter= "(objectClass\u003dperson)"
DisplayNameAttribute= ""
GroupEntryObjectClass= "groupOfNames"
GroupNameAttribute= "cn"
GroupNameSearchFilter= "(\u0026amp;(objectClass\u003dgroupOfNames)(cn\u003d?))"
GroupNameListFilter= "(objectClass\u003dgroupOfNames)"
BackLinksEnabled= "false"
SCIMEnabled= "true"
IsBulkImportSupported= "true"
UsernameJavaRegEx= "[a-zA-Z0-9._\\-|//]{3,30}$"
RolenameJavaRegEx= "[a-zA-Z0-9._\\-|//]{3,30}$"
PasswordHashMethod= "PLAIN_TEXT"
ConnectionPoolingEnabled= "false"
LDAPConnectionTimeout= "5000"
ReplaceEscapeCharactersAtUserLogin= "true"
EmptyRolesAllowed= "true"
kdcEnabled= "false"
defaultRealmName= "WSO2.ORG"
StartTLSEnabled= "false"
UserRolesCacheEnabled= "true"
ConnectionRetryDelay= "2m"
MembershipAttribute = "member"
GroupSearchFilter = "(objectClass=groupOfNames)"

  3. Set the ReadGroups property to true, if it should be allowed to read roles from this user store. When this property is true, you must also specify values for the GroupSearchBase , GroupSearchFilter and GroupNameAttribute properties. If the ReadGroups property is set to false, only users can be read from the user store. You can set the configuration to read roles from the user store by reading the user/role mapping based on a membership (user list) or backlink attribute as shown below.

    • To read the user/role mapping based on a membership (This is used by the ApacheDirectory server and OpenLDAP) :

      • Enable the ReadGroups property. 

        ReadGroups = "true"

        • Set the GroupSearchBase property to the directory name where the Roles are stored. That is, the roles you create using the management console of your product will be stored in this directory location. Also, when LDAP searches for groups, it will start from this location of the directory. For example: 

          GroupSearchBase = "ou=system,CN=Users,DC=wso2,DC=test"

        • Set the GroupSearchFilter and GroupNameAttributes properties. For example: 

          GroupSearchFilter = "(objectClass=groupOfNames)"
GroupNameAttribute = "cn"

        • Set the MembershipAttribute property as shown below: 

          MembershipAttribute = "member"

    • To read roles based on a backlink attribute, use the configuration given below:

      ReadGroups = "false"
  GroupSearchBase = "ou=system"
  GroupSearchFilter = "(objectClass=groupOfNames)"
  GroupNameAttribute = "cn"
  MembershipAttribute = "member"
  BackLinksEnabled = "true"
  MembershipOfAttribute = "memberOf" 

Note

Note that these configurations will be automatically populated to the user-mgt.xml file. You can verify whether your configured properties are populated correctly using this file. The configuration populated for the external read-write user store in the user-mgt.xml file looks as follows for the above configurations:

<UserStoreManager class="org.wso2.carbon.user.core.ldap.ReadWriteLDAPUserStoreManager">
   <Property name="TenantManager">org.wso2.carbon.user.core.tenant.CommonHybridLDAPTenantManager</Property>
   <Property name="ConnectionURL">ldap://localhost:${Ports.EmbeddedLDAP.LDAPServerPort}</Property>
   <Property name="ConnectionName">uid=admin,ou=system</Property>
   <Property name="ConnectionPassword">admin</Property>
   <Property name="PasswordHashMethod">SHA</Property>
   <Property name="UserNameListFilter">(objectClass=person)</Property>
   <Property name="UserEntryObjectClass">wso2Person</Property>
   <Property name="UserSearchBase">ou=Users,dc=wso2,dc=org</Property>
   <Property name="UserNameSearchFilter">(&amp;(objectClass=person)(uid=?))</Property>
   <Property name="UserNameAttribute">uid</Property>
   <Property name="PasswordJavaScriptRegEx">[\\S]{5,30}</Property>
   <Property name="UsernameJavaScriptRegEx">[\\S]{3,30}</Property>
   <Property name="UsernameJavaRegEx">[a-zA-Z0-9._\-|/]{3,30}$</Property>
   <Property name="RolenameJavaScriptRegEx">[\\S]{3,30}</Property>
   <Property name="RolenameJavaRegEx">[a-zA-Z0-9._\-|/]{3,30}$</Property>
   <Property name="ReadGroups">true</Property>
   <Property name="WriteGroups">true</Property>
   <Property name="EmptyRolesAllowed">true</Property>
   <Property name="GroupSearchBase">ou=Groups,dc=wso2,dc=org</Property>
   <Property name="GroupNameListFilter">(objectClass=groupOfNames)</Property>
   <Property name="GroupEntryObjectClass">groupOfNames</Property>
   <Property name="GroupNameSearchFilter">(&amp;(objectClass=groupOfNames)(cn=?))</Property>
   <Property name="GroupNameAttribute">cn</Property>
   <Property name="SharedGroupNameAttribute">cn</Property>
   <Property name="SharedGroupSearchBase">ou=SharedGroups,dc=wso2,dc=org</Property> 
   <Property name="SharedGroupEntryObjectClass">groups</Property>
   <Property name="SharedTenantNameListFilter">(object=organizationalUnit)</Property>
   <Property name="SharedTenantNameAttribute">ou</Property>
   <Property name="SharedTenantObjectClass">organizationalUnit</Property>
   <Property name="MembershipAttribute">member</Property>
   <Property name="LDAPConnectionTimeout">5000</Property>
   <Property name="UserRolesCacheEnabled">true</Property>
   <Property name="UserDNPattern">uid={0},ou=Users,dc=wso2,dc=org</Property>
</UserStoreManager>

Apart from above properties WSO2 API Manager also supports advanced LDAP configurations. For descriptions on each of the advanced properties used in the <API-M_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file , see Properties of User Stores.

Step 2 - Update the system administrator

The admin user is the super tenant that will be able to manage all other users, roles, and permissions in the system by using the management console of the product. Therefore, the user that should have admin permissions is required to be stored in the user store when you start the system for the first time. Since the LDAP user store can be written to, you have the option of creating a new admin user in the user store when you start the system for the first time. Alternatively, you can also use a user ID that already exists in the LDAP. For information about the system administrator user, see Configuring the System Administrator.

These two alternative configurations can be done as explained below.

  • If the user store is read-only, find a valid user that already resides in the user store. For example, if the username of admin is in the user store with admin permissions, update the [super_admin] section of your configuration as shown below. You do not need to update the password element as it is already set in the user store. 

    [super_admin]
username = "admin"
password = "admin"
create_admin_account = false

  • If you are creating a new admin user in the user store when you start the system, you can add the super tenant user to the user store. Add the following configuration to the deployment.toml file as shown below. 

    [super_admin]
username = "admin"
password = "admin"
create_admin_account = true

Step 3 - Start the IS server

  1. Navigate to the <IS_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file and change the port offset to 1. This is to prevent any port conflicts with API Manager because the default port of the product is 0.

    offset=1

  2. Start your IS server.

    sh wso2server.sh

Note

The default LDAP server port of WSO2 IS is 10389. Based on your offset number, provide the correct connection URL in the <API-M_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file. For example, if you specify the offset of 1 in WSO2 IS your connection URL should be ldap://{connection_ip}:10390.

Step 4 - Start the API-M server

Start your APIM server and try to log in as the admin user you specified in Step 2.

sh wso2server.sh

Properties used in Read-Write LDAP User Store

Any of the following properties can be configured for the PRIMARY user store by adding them as follows to <API-M_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml.

[user_store]
<Property-Name> = <Property-Value>
For example :

[user_store]
read_groups = true

Note

In the table given below, the Primary User Store Property column has the PRIMARY userstore properties that can be configured in the deployment.toml file. The Secondary User Store Property column has the properties that can be configured for a secondary user store through the Management Console.

Property Id Primary User Store Property Secondary User Store Property Description
UserEntryObjectClass user_entry_object_class User Entry Object Class Object class used to construct user entries.
Default: identityPerson( Is a custom object class defined in WSO2 Identity Server)
UserNameAttribute user_name_attribute Username Attribute A uniquely identifying attribute that represents the username of the user. Users can be authenticated using their email address, UID, etc. The value of the attribute is considered as the username. Default: uid

Ideally, UserNameAttribute and UserNameSearchFilter should refer to the same attribute. If you are not sure what attribute is available in your user store, check with your LDAP administrator.
Note: email address is considered as a special case in WSO2 products, if you want to set the email address as the username, see Using email address as the username
UserIDAttribute user_id_attribute User ID Attribute The attribute used for uniquely identifying a user entry. The value of the attribute is considered as the unique user ID. Default: scimId
UserNameSearchFilter user_name_search_filter User Search Filter Filtering criteria used to search for a particular user entry.
Default: (&amp;(objectClass=person)(uid=?))
UserNameListFilter user_name_list_filter User List Filter Filtering criteria for searching user entries in the user store. This query or filter is used when doing search operations on users with different search attributes.

Default: (objectClass=person)
In this case, the search operation only provides the objects created from the person object class.
UserDNPattern user_dn_pattern User DN Pattern The pattern for the user's DN, which can be defined to improve the search. When there are many user entries in the LDAP user store, defining a UserDNPattern provides more impact on performances as the LDAP does not have to travel through the entire tree to find users.

Sample values: uid={0},ou=Users,dc=wso2,dc=org
DisplayNameAttribute display_name_attribute Display name attribute This is an optional property. The Display Name Attribute is the name by which users will be listed when you list users in the management console.

Default: blank
ReadGroups read_groups Read Groups When WriteGroups is set to false, this indicates whether groups should be read from the user store. If this is disabled by setting it to false, none of the groups in the user store can be read, and the following group configurations are NOT mandatory: GroupSearchBase, GroupNameListFilter, or GroupNameAttribute.

Default: true
Possible values:
true: Read groups from user store
false: Don’t read groups from user store
WriteGroups write_groups Write Groups Indicates whether groups should be written to the user store.

Default: true
Possible values:
true: Write groups to user store
false: Do not write groups to user store, so only internal roles can be created. Depending on the value of the ReadGroups property, it will read the existing groups from the user store or not.
GroupSearchBase group_search_base Group Search Base DN of the context or object under which the group entries are stored in the user store. When the user store searches for groups, it will start from this location of the directory. Default: ou=Groups,dc=wso2,dc=org
GroupEntryObjectClass group_entry_object_class Group Entry Object Class Object class used to construct group entries.
Default: groupOfNames
GroupNameAttribute group_name_attribute Group Name Attribute Attribute used for uniquely identifying a group entry. This attribute is to be treated as the group name.
Default: cn
GroupNameSearchFilter group_name_search_filter Group Search Filter Filtering criteria used to search for a particular group entry. Default: (&amp;(objectClass=groupOfNames)(cn=?))
GroupNameListFilter group_name_list_filter Group List Filter Filtering criteria for searching group entries in the user store. This query or filter is used when doing search operations on groups with different search attributes. Default: ((objectClass=groupOfNames)) In this case, the search operation only provides the objects created from the groupOfName object class.
RoleDNPattern role_dn_pattern Role DN Pattern The pattern for the group's DN, which can be defined to improve the search. When there are many group entries in the LDAP user store, defining a RoleDNPattern provides more impact on performances as the LDAP does not have to traverse through the entire tree to findgroup.

Sample values: cn={0},ou=Groups,dc=wso2,dc=org
MembershipAttribute membership_attribute Membership Attribute Defines the attribute that contains the distinguished names (DN) of user objects that are in a group. Default: member
MemberOfAttribute member_of_attribute Member Of Attribute Defines the attribute that contains the distinguished names (DN) of group objects that user is assigned to.
Possible values: memberOf
BackLinksEnabled back_links_enabled Enable Back Links Defines whether the backlink support is enabled. If you are using MemberOfAttribute attributes this should be set to 'true'.
Default: false
UsernameJavaRegEx username_java_regex Username RegEx (Java) The regular expression used by the back-end components for username validation. By default, strings with non-empty characters have a length of 3 to 30 allowed. You can provide ranges of alphabets, numbers and also ranges of ASCII values in the RegEx properties.
Default: [a-zA-Z0-9._\-|//]{3,30}$
UsernameJava
ScriptRegEx		 username_java_
script_regex		 Username RegEx (Javascript) The regular expression used by the front-end components for username validation.
Default: ^[\S]{3,30}$
UsernameJavaReg
ExViolationErrorMsg		 username_java_reg_
ex_violation_error_msg		 Username RegEx Violation Error Message Error message when the Username is not matched with UsernameJavaRegEx
Default: Username pattern policy violated
PasswordJavaRegEx password_java_regex Password RegEx (Java) The regular expression used by the back-end components for password validation. By default, strings with non-empty characters have a length of 5 to 30 allowed. You can provide ranges of alphabets, numbers and also ranges of ASCII values in the RegEx properties.
Default: ^[\S]{5,30}$
PasswordJava
ScriptRegEx		 password_java_
script_regex		 Password RegEx (Javascript) The regular expression used by the front-end components for password validation.
Default: ^[\S]{5,30}$
PasswordJavaReg
ExViolationErrorMsg		 password_java_reg
ex_violation_error_msg		 Password RegEx Violation Error Message The error message that appears when the password does not comply with the passwordJavaRegEx
Default: Password length should be within 5 to 30 characters
RolenameJavaRegEx rolename_java_regex Role Name RegEx (Java) The regular expression used by the back-end components for role name validation. By default, strings with non-empty characters have a length of 3 to 30 allowed. You can provide ranges of alphabets, numbers and also ranges of ASCII values in the RegEx properties.
Default: [a-zA-Z0-9._\-|//]{3,30}$
PasswordHashMethod password_hash_method Password Hashing Algorithm Specifies the Password Hashing Algorithm used to hash the password before storing in the user store.
Possible values:
SHA - Uses SHA digest method. SHA-1, SHA-256
MD5 - Uses MD 5 digest method.
PLAIN_TEXT - Plain text passwords.(Default) If you just configure it as SHA, it is considered as SHA-1. It is always better to configure an algorithm with a higher bit value as the digest bit size would be increased.

Most of the LDAP servers (such as OpenLdap, OpenDJ, AD, ApacheDS, etc.) are supported to store the password as a salted hashed value (SSHA)
Therefore, the WSO2 IS server only needs to feed the password into the connected user store as a plain text value. Then the LDAP user store can store them as salted hashed value. You need to set the PasswordHashMethod to PLAIN_TEXT to feed the plain text into the LDAP server.
However, if your LDAP does not support the capability of storing your user password as hashed values. You can configure the WSO2 server to hash the password and feeds the hashed password into the LDAP server. Then you need to configure the PasswordHashMethod property with SHA (SHA-1), SHA-256, SHA-512. Note that WSO2 server cannot create a salted hashed password (SSHA) to feed into the LDAP.
MultiAttributeSeparator multi_attribute_separator Multiple Attribute Separator This property is used to define a character to separate multiple attributes. This ensures that it will not appear as part of a claim value. Normally “,” is used to separate multiple attributes, but you can define ",,," or "..." or a similar character sequence
Default: “,”
MaxUserName
ListLength 		max_user_name
_list_length		 Maximum User List Length Controls the number of users listed in the user store of a WSO2 product. This is useful when you have a large number of users and don't want to list them all. Setting this property to 0 displays all users.
Default: 100

In some user stores, there are policies to limit the number of records that can be returned from the query. By setting the value 0 it will list the maximum results returned by the user store. If you need to increase the latter mentioned limit you need to set it at the user store level.
Example: Active directory has the MaxPageSize property with the default value 1000.
MaxRoleName
ListLength		 max_role_name
_list_length		 Maximum Role List Length Controls the number of roles listed in the user store of a WSO2 product. This is useful when you have a large number of roles and don't want to list them all. Setting this property to 0 displays all roles.
Default: 100

In some user stores, there are policies to limit the number of records that can be returned from the query, by setting the value 0 it will list the maximum results returned by the user store. If you need to increase that limit, you need to set it at the user store level.

Example: Active directory has the MaxPageSize property with the default value 1000.
kdcEnabled kdc_enabled Enable KDC If your user store is capable of acting as a Kerberos, Key Distribution Center (KDC) and if you like to enable it, set this property to true.
Default: false
UserRoles
CacheEnabled		 user_roles
_cache_enabled		 Enable User Role Cache This is to indicate whether to cache the role list of a user.
Default: true

Possible values:
false: Set it to false if the user roles are changed by external means and those changes should be instantly reflected in the Carbon instance.
Default: true
ConnectionPooling
Enabled		 connection_pooling
_enabled		 Enable LDAP Connection Pooling Define whether LDAP connection pooling is enabled
Possible values:
True: Enable connection pooling. Enabling it will improve the performance
False: Disable connection pooling
Default: false
LDAPConnectionTimeout ldap_connection_timeout LDAP Connection Timeout Timeout in making the initial LDAP connection. This is configured in milliseconds.
Default: 5000
ReadTimeout read_timeout LDAP Read Timeout The value of this property is the read timeout in milliseconds for LDAP operations. If the LDAP provider cannot get a LDAP response within that period, it aborts the read attempt. The integer should be greater than zero. An integer less than or equal to zero means no read timeout is specified that is equivalent to waiting for the response infinitely until it is received.
Default: not configured
MembershipAttributeRange membership_attribute_range Membership Attribute Range This is to define the maximum users of the role that is returned by the LDAP/AD user store. This does not depend on the max page size of the user store.

Default: not configured
RetryAttempts retry_attempts Retry Attempts Retry the authentication request if a timeout happens.

Default: not configured
LDAPConnection
Timeout		 ldap_connection
_timeout		 LDAP Connection Timeout If the connection to the LDAP is inactive for the length of time (in milliseconds) specified by this property, the connection will be terminated.

Default: not configured

Sample: 20
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