Set up Enterprise Search with LDAP user authentication

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Set up Enterprise Search with LDAP user authentication

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LDAP for Enterprise Search is a gold feature. In addition, LDAP is only supported in Enterprise Search in Kibana.

The following documentation describes the process of configuring Elasticsearch and Kibana:

LDAP user authentication

If you are using the standalone Enterprise Search UI, make sure that the realms configured in Enterprise Search mirror those configured in Elasticsearch. For example, if Elasticsearch has both native and ldap enabled:

xpack:
  security:
    authc:
      realms:
        native:
          native1:
            order: 0
        ldap:
          ldap1:
            order: 1
            url: "ldap://ldap.example.org"
            bind_dn: "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org"
            user_search:
              base_dn: "dc=example,dc=org"
              filter: "(cn={0})"
            group_search:
              base_dn: "dc=example,dc=org"
            unmapped_groups_as_roles: false
            metadata:
              - cn
              - mail
              - displayName

Then Enterprise Search should have those as well:

ent_search.auth:
  native1:
    source: elasticsearch-native
    order: 1
  ldap1:
    source: elasticsearch-ldap
    order: 2

If you are using the Kibana UI, within your Enterprise Search configuration settings, make sure that:

kibana.host is set
kibana.external_url is set
any auth.source configurations are removed.

Instructions specific to Elastic Cloud users

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On Elastic Cloud:

it’s not possible to remove ent_search.auth section
kibana.external_url is applied automatically and is not part of user settings
elasticsearch-native auth source is always added automatically to the list of sources, and should not be included in user settings.

Configure Enterprise Search role mappings for LDAP users

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When a user is logged in to Enterprise Search in Kibana via LDAP, the following metadata properties would be populated:

ldap_dn: user’s distinguished name
ldap_groups: the distinguished name of each of the groups that were resolved for the user.

Based on those metadata fields, it is possible to create role mappings that apply to groups of users. For example, members of the group called Admins might get admin permissions to Workplace Search:

PUT _security/role_mapping/workplace_search_admin_ldap
{
  "roles": ["enterprise-search-workplace-search-admin"],
  "rules" : {
    "field" : {
      "groups" : "cn=Admins,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=org"
    }
  },
  "enabled": true
}

While members of the group called Users would get user permissions:

PUT _security/role_mapping/workplace_search_user_ldap
{
  "roles": ["enterprise-search-workplace-search-user"],
  "rules" : {
    "field" : {
      "groups" : "cn=Users,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=org"
    }
  },
  "enabled": true
}

Users can also be mapped in Users and Roles in Enterprise Search UI in Kibana:

Mapping can use common Elasticsearch user attributes, such as username and email, but also anything provided in metadata that is returned by a LDAP provider. Here is an example of metadata:

{
  "ldap_dn" : "cn=adminuser,dc=example,dc=org",
  "mail" : "admin.user@example.org",
  "displayName" : "Enterprise Search Admin User",
  "ldap_groups" : [
    "cn=Admins,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=org"
  ],
  "cn" : "adminuser"
}

In Elasticsearch, the LDAP realm that provided this metadata would be configured as follows:

xpack:
  security:
    authc:
      realms:
        ldap:
          ldap1:
            order: 1
            url: "ldap://ldap-server.example.org"
            bind_dn: "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org"
            user_search:
              base_dn: "dc=example,dc=org"
              filter: "(cn={0})"
            group_search:
              base_dn: "ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=org"
            unmapped_groups_as_roles: false
            metadata:
              - cn
              - mail
              - displayName

For more information about configuring metadata returned by an LDAP realm, see User metadata in LDAP realms.

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