Authentication

IRIS supports local and LDAP authentication. In both cases, users need to be declared in IRIS.

Local authentication

Local authentication is the default setting. The password is validated against the local IRIS database.
Passwords are stored salted and hashed, it is thus not possible to retrieve them in case they are lost. It is however possible to change them.

Changing a lost password

If another administrative user exists : Being logged as this user, head to the Advanced > Access Control > Users section, and change the administrator password.

If no other administrative user exists : the change cannot be done via IRIS and an access to the backend is needed.

Danger

Do not delete and recreate any users directly from the DB! This will create inconsistencies in the relations and certainly corrupt everything.

Generate the hash of the new password with Python BCrypt in Python prompt

import bcrypt
print(bcrypt.hashpw('<new_password>'.encode('utf-8'), bcrypt.gensalt()))

Connect to the DB docker then the Postgresql database iris_db and update the password

docker exec -ti <db_docker_id> /bin/bash
/ # su postgres
/ # psql
postgres=# \c iris_db 
postgres=# UPDATE "user" SET password = '<hash>' WHERE "user".name = 'administrator';
postgres=# \q
exit
exit

LDAP authentication

LDAP authentication rely on a LDAP server to verify the password of a user.
The user needs to be declared in IRIS.

graph LR
    A[User] -->|Authenticate| B(IRIS WebApp)
    B --> C{User exists in DB?}
    C -->|Yes| D{LDAP accepted password?}
    C -->|No| E[Authentication failed]
    D -->|Yes| F[Authentication succeeded]
    D -->|No| E[Authentication failed]

Settings

The LDAP settings are present in the .env. Once the LDAP server information is set, reboot the Iris WebApp docker needs to be restarted.

docker-compose restart app

Setting up LDAP for the first runtime of IRIS

To set up LDAP without having run IRIS priorly, and as the app needs the accounts to be created first before using LDAP, one has to set the IRIS_ADM_EMAIL environment with the LDAP Email of the administrator user.

Example of LDAP configuration for first run

IRIS_AUTHENTICATION_TYPE=ldap

## IP address or FQDN of the ldap server
LDAP_SERVER=dc1.domain.local

## Port of the LDAP server
LDAP_PORT=636

## LDAP Authentication type
LDAP_AUTHENTICATION_TYPE=SIMPLE

## Prefix to search the users within 
LDAP_USER_PREFIX=uid=

## Suffix to search the users within
LDAP_USER_SUFFIX=ou=people,dc=example,dc=com

## Set to True to use LDAPS
LDAP_USE_SSL=True

## Set to True to verify the server certificate validity
LDAP_VALIDATE_CERTIFICATE=True

## TLS version to use LDAPS
LDAP_TLS_VERSION=1.2

## LDAP TLS configuration 
LDAP_CUSTOM_TLS_CONFIG=False

# Set email address of the first user, that will be the admin 
IRIS_ADM_EMAIL=adm@example.com

Setting up for Active Directory

To use LDAP with an Active Directory, the following settings can be used:

Example of LDAP configuration for first run with Active Directory

IRIS_AUTHENTICATION_TYPE=ldap

## IP address or FQDN of the ldap server
LDAP_SERVER=dc1.domain.local

## Port of the LDAP server
LDAP_PORT=636

## LDAP Authentication type
LDAP_AUTHENTICATION_TYPE=SIMPLE

## Prefix to search the users within
LDAP_USER_PREFIX=DOMAIN\

## Suffix to search the users within
LDAP_USER_SUFFIX=

## Set to True to verify the server certificate validity
LDAP_VALIDATE_CERTIFICATE=True

## TLS version to use LDAPS
LDAP_TLS_VERSION=1.2

## LDAP TLS configuration 
LDAP_CUSTOM_TLS_CONFIG=False

# Set email address of the first user, that will be the admin
IRIS_ADM_EMAIL=adm@example.com

Setting up LDAP after IRIS already ran

To set up LDAP after IRIS was already run, one only needs to set up the settings described previously without # Set email address of admin IRIS_ADM_EMAIL=adm@example.com and restart the docker.

Usernames in IRIS have to match the ones set in LDAP for the authentication to succeed.

LDAP certificates

If the LDAP server uses a self-signed certificate, it is possible to add it to the trusted certificates of the IRIS WebApp docker.

Copy the certificate to the certificates/ldap folder of the IRIS root directory.
Set the LDAP_VALIDATE_CERTIFICATE environment variable to True in the .env file.
Set the LDAP_CUSTOM_TLS_CONFIG environment variable to False in the .env file.
Set the LDAP_CA_CERTIFICATE environment variable certificate path used by the LDAP server in the .env file.

If the LDAP server requires a client certificate, it is possible to add it to the trusted certificates of the IRIS WebApp docker.

Copy the certificate and key to the certificates/ldap folder of the IRIS root directory.
Set the LDAP_VALIDATE_CERTIFICATE environment variable to True in the .env file.
Set the LDAP_CUSTOM_TLS_CONFIG environment variable to True in the .env file.
Set the LDAP_PRIVATE_KEY environment to the file name of the key in the .env file
Set the LDAP_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD environment variable to the password of the key in the .env file - if needed

Last update: 2023-12-30