Introduction

• The JS7 - Identity Services offer integration with Keycloak® authentication server.
• The Keycloak Identity Service integration is available from JOC Cockpit:
  • This requires Keycloak® to be installed and operated by the user. Keycloak is not a built-in Identity Service and does not ship with JS7.
  • JS7 implements a REST client for use with Keycloak® 16.0 and newer.

Identity Service Types

The following integration levels are available from Identity Service Types that can be used with Keycloak:

Explanation:

• Service Type: KEYCLOAK
  • Management of user accounts and passwords is performed by the Keycloak Server.
  • In addition, an automated mapping of roles - assigned a user account in Keycloak - to JOC Cockpit roles takes place.
  • The JOC Cockpit does not know any user accounts, passwords and role assignments as this information is managed with Keycloak only.
• Service Type: KEYCLOAK-JOC
  • Management of user accounts and passwords is performed by the Keycloak Server.
  • The assignment of roles to user accounts is performed with the JOC Cockpit and is stored with the JS7 database.
  • The JOC Cockpit knows user accounts and role assignments. The JOC Cockpit does not know passwords as this information is managed with Keycloak only

Keycloak Authentication Methods

JS7 supports the following authentication methods with Keycloak:

• Username & Password
• LDAP
  • It is not required to use Keycloak to connect to an LDAP Directory Service as there is a built-in JS7 - LDAP Identity Service for this purpose.
  • This authentication method can be used with the KEYCLOAK Identity Service Type only.

JS7 does not support cloud based authentication methods with Keycloak.

Keycloak Server Configuration

Application Role

TODO Was muss seitens Keycloak konfiguriert sein?

Authentication Methods

Account & Password

• The authentication method is available from Keycloak.
• If the KEYCLOAK Identity Service Type is used then:
  • user accounts are managed exclusively by Keycloak,
  • roles have to be set up in Keycloak with names that exactly match the names of roles in the JOC Cockpit.
    • a user account will be assigned the roles matching policy names when performing a login to the JOC Cockpit.
    • it is not required to add specific permissions to roles with Keycloak.
• If the KEYCLOAK-JOC Identity Service Type is used then:
  • user accounts are managed by Keycloak.
  • user accounts are added to the JOC Cockpit to allow assignment of roles:
    • user accounts in Keycloak and in the JOC Cockpit have to match as otherwise the user account is not assigned a role.
    • no passwords are managed by the JOC Cockpit.

LDAP

• It is not necessary to use Keycloak to connect to an LDAP Directory Service as there is the built-in JS7 - LDAP Identity Service for this purpose.
• The authentication method has to be added to Keycloak.
  • The path of the Authentication Method has to be added to the Identity Service configuration in JOC Cockpit.
• The KEYCLOAK Identity Service Type has to be used, meaning that:
  • user accounts are managed with Keycloak.
  • user accounts are added to the JOC Cockpit to allow assignment of roles:
    • user accounts in Keycloak and in the JOC Cockpit have to match as otherwise the user account is not assigned a role.
    • no passwords are managed by the JOC Cockpit.

Tokens

When a user logs in to the JOC Cockpit then user credentials are forwarded to the Keycloak Server that authenticates the user and returns an access token.

• Keycloak access tokens are created with the following restrictions:
  • time to live (TTL):
    • the access token will expire after the given period,
    • the Identity Service renews the access token 60s before expiration, this step is performed for an arbitrary number of renewals. This requires that the access token's TTL exceeds 60s and the Keycloak permission for renewing a token by the token owner to be in place.
  • maximum time to live:
    • the access token's overall lifetime is limited, renewals cannot take place after the specified period.
• If an access token cannot be renewed by the Identity Service then the user session is terminated and the user is forced to login and to specify credentials.
  • This happens in the event of the maximum TTL being exceeded or that the token has been revoked.
  • Keycloak administrators should check for reasonable values of the TTL, maybe not less than 300s, and the maximum TTL, maybe at least 15 minutes, as otherwise users would have to repeatedly login quite frequently.
• The JOC Cockpit handles the idle timeout of user sessions independently of Keycloak, see JS7 - Identity Services.
  • If the idle timeout is exceeded then the user session is terminated.
  • The Identity Service can revoke the access token with the Keycloak server.

Identity Service Configuration

The JOC Cockpit Manage Identity Services page from the user menu of an administrative account is provided for the configuration of Identity Services:

Add Identity Service

To add an Identity Service use the button Add Identity Service from the page shown above, listing the available Identity Services:

The remaining input fields for the popup window look like this:

Explanation:

• The Identity Service Name is a unique identifier that can be freely chosen.
• The Identity Service Type can be selected as available from the above matrix.
• The Ordering specifies the sequence in which a login is performed with available Identity Services.
• The Required attribute specifies if login with the respective Identity Service is required to be successful, for example if a number of Identity Services are triggered on login of a user account.
• The Identity Service Authentication Scheme allows to select
  • single-factor authentication: user account and password are specified for login with the Identity Service.
  • two-factor authentication: in addition to user account and password a Client Authentication Certificate is required - see the JS7 - Certificate based Authentication article for more information.

Identity Service Settings

Having added a Keycloak Identity Service it is necessary to add settings for the Keycloak integration from the Identity Service's Manage Settings action menu item:

For use of the Keycloak® Identity Service:

• the Keycloak product has to be installed and has to be accessible for JOC Cockpit and
• the following settings have to be specified: 
  
  

Explanation:

TODO Die Settings müssen erläutert werden

• Keycloak URL: the base URL for which the Keycloak REST API is available.
• Keycloak Administration Account: 
• Keycloak Administration Password: 
• Keycloak Truststore Path:  Should the Keycloak Server be configured for HTTPS connections then the indicated truststore has to include an X.509 certificate specified for the Extended Key Usage of Server Authentication.
  • The truststore can include a self-signed certificate or a CA signed certificate. Typically the Root CA certificate is used as otherwise the complete certificate chain involved in signing the Server Authentication Certificate has to be available with the truststore.
  • If the Keycloak Server is operated for HTTPS connections and this setting is not specified then the JOC Cockpit will use the truststore that is configured with the JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/joc.properties configuration file. This includes use of settings for the truststore password and truststore type.
  • The path to the truststore is specified relative to the JETTY_BASE/resources/joc directory. If the truststore is located in this directory then only the file name is specified, typically with a .p12 extension. Other relative locations can be specified using, for example, ../../joc-truststore.p12 if the truststore is located in the JETTY_BASE directory. An absolute path cannot be specified and a path cannot be specified that lies before the JETTY_BASE directory in the file system hierarchy.
• Keycloak Truststore Password: If the Keycloak Server is configured for HTTPS connections and the indicated truststore is protected by a password then the password has to be specified.
• Keycloak Truststore Type: If the Keycloak Server is configured for HTTPS connections then the type of the truststore has to be specified being either PKCS12 or JKS (deprecated).
• Keycloak Client ID:  
• Keycloak Client Secret  
• Keycloak Realm  

Logging

• Log Files
  • See JS7 - Log Files and Locations
• Standard Log Files
  • Identity Services log output to the JETTY_BASE/logs/joc.log file. This includes reporting success or failure of authentication.
  • Successful and failed authentication attempts including the user accounts involved are logged to the JETTY_BASE/logs/audit.log file.
• Debug Log Files
  • For problem analysis during setup of an Identity Service increase the log level as explained with JS7 - Log Levels and Debug Options.
  • The JETTY_BASE/logs/joc-debug.log file includes general debug output of JOC Cockpit.
  • The JETTY_BASE/logs/authentication-debug.log file includes debug output related to authentication and authorization.
  • The JETTY_BASE/logs/jetty.log file includes debug output of attempts to establish SSL connections.