This page describes how to configure Linux systems to connect to an Active Directory domain as the database for users and groups.
Contents
sssd or winbind - an introduction
TL;DR: Try #Manual_configuration_of_sssd (if the automated SOE does not work for you)
There are two main options for joining Linux machines to AD domains:
They're mostly interchangeable, but we've been using sssd except where it's buggy. When switching from one to the other, be sure to purge the old one to avoid confusion.
Both sssd and winbind are services which run in the background and provide a source of:
user IDs and information listing, similar to the contents of the UNIX /etc/passwd file
group IDs and membership, similar to the contents of the UNIX /etc/group file
Active Directory is based on the Windows security model, which is somewhat more complex than the POSIX standard implemented in Linux, so this software is used to map the Windows/AD model onto the Linux/UNIX/POSIX equivalents.
Manual configuration of sssd
Configuring sssd manually is recommended. (because using realmd to do it has been a bit unreliable in our environment - see the next section)
There is a very informative Red Hat article about configuring sssd manually. The following instructions are a functional adaptation. For a more detailed understanding of what these config files and options mean, please start by reading the manpages for sssd, sssd-ad, sssd-krb5, sssd-ldap, sssd.conf, krb5.conf and smb.conf and the above article.
These instructions are confirmed working on Linux Mint 19 (Tara), using sssd version 1.16.1 and samba-common-bin package version 4.7.6.
Install the necessary packages and uninstall the bad ones:
apt-get install samba-common-bin samba-dsdb-modules sssd sssd-ad sssd-krb5 sssd-ldap sssd-tools krb5-user krb5-doc libpam-sss libnss-sss adcli libsasl2-modules-gssapi-mit apt-get remove winbind realmd libpam-krb5 libpam-ldap libpam-winbind libnss-ldap libnss-winbind
Remove any configuration files if they exist and stop services:
mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.old mv /etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/nsswitch.conf.old rm /etc/krb5.conf /etc/krb5.keytab /etc/sssd/sssd.conf systemctl stop sssd winbind samba-ad-dc smbd nmbd
- Put the following into various config files:
vim /etc/sssd/sssd.conf
[sssd] config_file_version = 2 domains = ad.v.ucc.asn.au services = nss, pam, pac # domain configuration: see manpages sssd.conf, sssd-ldap, sssd-krb5 and sssd-ad # see https://access.redhat.com/articles/3023951 # needs correct configution for: /etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/resolv.conf `pam-auth-update` [domain/AD.V.UCC.ASN.AU] enumerate = true id_provider = ad auth_provider = ad chpass_provider = ad access_provider = ad ldap_id_mapping = false cache_credentials = true # if you want to use a custom CA certificate for AD #ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/sssd/ad.v.ucc.asn.au_ca.cert # or just allow invalid (self-signed) certificates ldap_tls_reqcert = allow # allow local users to be included in AD groups ldap_rfc2307_fallback_to_local_users = true # Kerberos konfiguration - see also /etc/krb5.conf #krb5_use_kdcinfo = true # let sssd tell krb5 what to do krb5_realm = AD.V.UCC.ASN.AU krb5_keytab = /etc/krb5.keytab # which attributes to use for AD object to POSIX mappings #ldap_user_name = uid #ldap_user_uid_number = uidNumber #ldap_user_gid_number = gidNumber #ldap_user_object_class = user #ldap_schema = ad
vim /etc/nsswitch.conf
# /etc/nsswitch.conf passwd: compat systemd sss group: compat systemd sss shadow: compat sss gshadow: files hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname networks: files protocols: db files services: db files sss ethers: db files rpc: db files netgroup: nis sss
vim /etc/krb5.conf
[libdefaults] default_realm = AD.V.UCC.ASN.AU dns_lookup_realm = true dns_lookup_kdc = true rdns = false ticket_lifetime = 24h renew_lifetime = 7d forwardable = yesvim /etc/samba/smb.conf
[global] realm = AD.V.UCC.ASN.AU workgroup = VUCC security = ads client signing = mandatory client use spnego = yes tls enabled = yes kerberos method = secrets and keytab dedicated keytab file = /etc/krb5.keytab log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
Run pam-auth-update and check that SSS authentication is enabled and that winbind authentication (if present) is disabled.
Create the machine account in AD and produce a keytab for sssd containing the machine account credentials. If using a user other than Administrator, ensure they have sufficient privileges to join a machine to the domain.
rm /etc/krb5.keytab kinit Administrator net ads join --no-dns-updates -k # verify the machine account credentials are in the keytab: klist -k
Start the necessary services:
systemctl start sssd
Verify that you can see the correct user and group info using getent passwd and getent group respectively. The output format is equivalent to the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files.
Automatic configuration of sssd using realmd
Note: realmd is a misnomer - it is not a daemon but simply a utility which automatically generates configuration files for sssd or winbind.
See the official realmd website for more information.
Realmd is supposedly able to generate valid configuration files and automatically detect the necessary configuration settings, and this might work when joining a Linux machine to a normal, functional and correctly configured AD domain using Windows domain controllers, but in the case of the VUCC domain it simply fails to work.
Installation instructions:
Install packages: apt install realmd krb5-user sssd-ad sssd-krb5 sssd-tools sssd-ldap samba-common-bin adcli libnss-sss libpam-sss
Test to make sure you can connect to the domain: realm discover ad.v.ucc.asn.au
Join to the domain using realm join -v -U <user> ad.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au
- realmd defaults to using sssd, which is fine
- It installs any necessary packages.
It generates the configuration files /etc/krb5.conf, /etc/samba/smb.conf, /etc/sssd/sssd.conf, modifies /etc/nsswitch.conf, creates a machine account on the domain and populates /etc/krb5.keytab with machine account credentials, and configures PAM to use SSS authentication.
- The automatically generated configurations are not very clean, contain redundant information and are broken.
Comment the line use_fully_qualified_names = True in /etc/sssd/sssd.conf
It might just work - if not then verify the config files are correct according to the manual instructions, or just give up and do it manually.
Manual configuration of winbind
Based on the instructions from https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_a_Domain_Member and https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Authenticating_Domain_Users_Using_PAM Before configuring the domain ensure the following:
Install the required packages: apt install samba winbind krb5-user libpam-krb5 libpam-winbind libnss-winbind
Ensure the system is configured according to the SOE.
edit /etc/krb5.conf to point to the new domain:
[libdefaults] default_realm = ad.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au dns_lookup_realm = false dns_lookup_kdc = trueMake the following /etc/samba/smb.conf:
[global] # Configure the domain infomation security = ads realm = ad.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au workgroup = UCCDOMAYNE # use winbind to map users and groups winbind enum users = yes winbind enum groups = yes winbind use default domain = yes kerberos method = secrets and keytab #Config gid/sid mapping based on AD attributes winbind nss info = rfc2307 idmap config * : backend = tdb idmap config * : range = 13000-17999 #idmap config for UCCDOMAYNE idmap config UCCDOMAYNE:backend = ad idmap config UCCDOMAYNE:schema_mode = rfc2307 idmap config UCCDOMAYNE:range = 1-999999 idmap config UCCDOMAYNE:unix_nss_info = yes idmap config UCCDOMAYNE:unix_primary_group = yesJoin the machine to the domain with: net ads join -U <username>.
configure pam using pam-auth-update and enable Winbind NT/AD authentication.
configure nsswitch.conf
# /etc/nsswitch.conf # # Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality. # If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try: # `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file. passwd: compat winbind group: compat winbind shadow: files gshadow: files hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns networks: files protocols: db files services: db files ethers: db files rpc: db files netgroup: nis
- start the services:
winbindd nmbd smbd
- Make sure the computer can fetch the domain users and groups with:
wbinfo -g` and `wbinfo -u`
