NetWorker: How to configure "AD over SSL" (LDAPS) from The NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI)

In order to configure an SSL connection for authentication the root CA (or CA chain when used) must be imported into the cacerts file that is used by NetWorker's authc process.

Configuring AUTHC to use SSL

1) Open an administrative/root command prompt in the Java bin directory.

• If you are using NetWorker Runtime Environment (NRE) for the AUTHC server's Java instance, the location is:
  • Linux: /opt/nre/java/latest/bin/
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\NRE\java\jrex.x.x_xxx\bin
• If you are using Oracle Java the file path may differ depending on location that is installed and Java version used. 

2, a) Display a list of current trusted certificates in the trust store.

[root@networker-mc bin]# ./keytool -list -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit

• The default password for the storepass is changeit.
• On Windows servers the keytool command would be run from the Java bin directory but would look something like:
  • keytool -list -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts -storepass changeit

2, b) Review the list for an alias that matches your LDAPS server (this may not exist). You can use operating system grep or findstr commands with the above command to narrow the search. If there is an outdated or existing CA certificate from your LDAPS server, delete it with the following command:

keytool -delete -alias ALIAS_NAME -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit

• Replace ALIAS_NAME with the alias name of the LDAPS server collected from the output in 2, a.

3, a) Use the OpenSSL tool to obtain a copy of the CA certificate from the LDAPS server.

openssl s_client -showcerts -connect LDAPS_SERVER:636

• By default, Windows hosts do not include the openssl program. If it is not possible to install OpenSSL on the NetWorker server, the certificates can be exported directly from the LDAPS server; however, it is highly recommended to use the OpenSSL utility. 
• Linux typically comes with openssl installed, if you have Linux server's in the environment you can use openssl there to collect/create the certificate files. These can be copied to and used on the Windows authc server.
• If you do not have OpenSSL, and it cannot be installed have your AD admin provide one or more certificates by exporting them as Base-64 encoded x.509 format.
• Replace LDAPS_SERVER with the hostname or IP address of your LDAPS server.

3, b) The above command outputs the CA certificate or a chain of certificates in PEM format, e.g:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIGQDCCBSigAwIBAgITbgAAAAiwkngyAQWDwwACAAAACDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsF
ADBPMRUwEwYKCZImiZPyLGQBGRYFbG9jYWwxFjAUBgoJkiaJk/IsZAEZFgZlbWNs
...
7NZfi9DiEBhpFmbF8xP96qB/kTJC+29t/0VE8Fvlg87fRhs5BceIoX8nUnetNCdm
m4mGyefXz4TBTwD06opJf4NQIDo=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

 
3, c) Copy the certificate starting from ---BEGIN CERTIFICATE--- and ending with ---END CERTIFICATE--- and paste it into a new file. If there is a chain of certificates, you must do this with each certificate.

4) Import the certificate or certificates that are created in 3, c into the JAVA trust keystore:

keytool -import -alias ALIAS_NAME -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit -file PATH_TO\CERT_FILE

• Replace ALIAS_NAME with an alias for the imported certificate. Typically this is the LDAPS server name. When importing multiple certificates for a certificate chain, each certificate must have a different ALIAS name and be imported separately. The certificate chain must also be imported in order from step 3, a (top down).
• Replace PATH_TO\CERT_FILE with the location of the cert file that you created in step 3, c.

You are prompted to import the certificate, type yes and press enter.

[root@networker-mc bin]# ./keytool -import -alias winsrvr2k16.emclab.local -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit -file ~/ca.cer
Owner: 
Issuer: CN=emclab-WINSRVR2K16-CA, DC=emclab, DC=local
Serial number: 4900000004501b5e1c46b7c875000000000004
Valid from: Wed Feb 13 16:39:37 EST 2019 until: Sat Feb 13 16:49:37 EST 2024
Certificate fingerprints:
         SHA1: CD:C5:E0:7B:52:68:4D:85:2D:08:FC:73:49:2F:53:08:4B:CC:DE:03
         SHA256: 4B:B6:E9:B4:63:34:9B:55:52:A2:23:D1:57:5D:98:92:EB:B8:C3:31:CD:55:CD:53:B8:F0:D6:BB:64:A6:D6:61
...
...
...

Trust this certificate? [no]:  yes
Certificate was added to keystore

[root@networker-mc bin]# ./keytool -list -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit | grep winsrvr2k16
winsrvr2k16.emclab.local, Sep 2, 2022, trustedCertEntry, 

6) Restart the NetWorker server services. 
 
Linux: nsr_shutdown
      service networker start
Windows: net stop nsrd
         net start nsrd
 

 

Creating "AD over SSL" external authority resource from NWUI

1. From a web browser, access the NWUI server: https://nwui-server-name:9090/nwui
2. Log in using the NetWorker Administrator account.
3. From the menu, expand Authentication Server and click External Authorities.
4. From External Authorities, click Add+.
5. Populate the configuration fields:

Basic Configuration:

Field	Value
Name	A descriptive name, without spaces for the LDAP or AD configuration. The maximum number of characters is 256. Specify ASCII characters in the config name only.
Server Type	AD over SSL
Provider Server Name	Specifies the hostname or IP address of the Active Directory Server
Port	Port 636 is used for SSL, this field should populate automatically if "AD over SSL" is selected.
Tenant	Select the tenant if configured. If no tenant is configured or required, you can use the "default."  Configuring a tenant requires the following login syntax "tenant_name\domain_name\user_name." If the default tenant is used (common), then the login syntax is "domain_name\user_name."  Tenant—Top-level organizational container for the NetWorker Authentication Service. Each external authentication authority in the local database is assigned to a tenant. A Tenant can contain one or more Domains, but the domain names must be unique within the tenant. NetWorker Authentication Service creates one built-in tenant name Default, which contains the Default domain. Creating multiple tenants helps you to manage complex configurations. For example, service providers with restricted datazones (RDZ) can create multiple tenants to provide isolated data protection services to tenant users.
Domain	The full domain name including all DC values; e.g: example.com
User DN	Specifies the full distinguished name (DN) of a user account that has full read access to the AD directory.
User DN Password	Specifies the password of the user account that is used to access and read the AD direct

 

Advanced Configuration:

Group Object Class	Required. The object class that identifies groups in the LDAP or AD hierarchy. ● For LDAP, use groupOfUniqueNames or groupOfNames. ● For AD, use group.
Group Search Path (optional)	A DN that specifies the search path that the authentication service should use when searching for groups in the LDAP or AD hierarchy.
Group Name Attribute	The attribute that identifies the group name. For example, cn.
Group Member Attribute	The group membership of the user within a group. ● For LDAP: ○ When the Group Object Class is groupOfNames the attribute is commonly member. ○ When the Group Object Class is groupOfUniqueNames the attribute is commonly uniquemember. ● For AD, the value is commonly member.
User Object Class	The object class that identifies the users in the LDAP or AD hierarchy. For example, person.
User Search Path (optional)	The DN that specifies the search path that the authentication service should use when searching for users in the LDAP or AD hierarchy. Specify a search path that is relative to the base DN that you specified in the configserver-address option. For example, for AD, specify cn=users.
User ID Attribute	The user ID that is associated with the user object in the LDAP or AD hierarchy. For LDAP, this attribute is commonly uid. For AD, this attribute is commonly sAMAccountName.

 

6. When done click save.
7. A summary of the configured external authority resource should now appear:

 

8. From the Server->User Groups menu Edit the User Groups that contain the rights that you want to delegate to AD/LDAP Groups or Users. For example to grant full Admin rights the AD group/user DN should be specified in the External Roles field of the Application Administrators and Security Administrators roles.

e.g: CN=NetWorker_Admins,CN=Users,DC=emclab,DC=local

9. Once the AD group and/or user DNs have been specified click Save. 
10. Log out of the NWUI interface and log back in using the AD account:

11. The user icon in the upper-right corner indicates which user account is signed in.

You can use the authc_mgmt command on your NetWorker server to confirm that the AD/LDAP groups/users are visible:

authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p NetWorker_Admin_Pass -e query-ldap-users -D query-tenant=tenant_name -D query-domain=domain_name
authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p NetWorker_Admin_Pass -e query-ldap-groups -D query-tenant=tenant_name -D query-domain=domain_name
authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p NetWorker_Admin_Pass -e query-ldap-groups-for-user -D query-tenant=tenant_name -D query-domain=domain_name -D user-name=ldap_username

e.g:

authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p Pa$$w0rd01 -e query-ldap-users -D query-tenant=default -D query-domain=lab.emc.com
The query returns 21 records.
User Name      Full Dn Name
Administrator  cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
Guest          cn=Guest,cn=Users,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
...
...

authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p Pa$$w0rd01 -e query-ldap-groups -D query-tenant=default -D query-domain=lab.emc.com
The query returns 55 records.
Group Name                              Full Dn Name
Administrators                          cn=Administrators,cn=Builtin,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
NetWorker_Admins                        cn=NetWorker_Admins,cn=Users,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
...
...

authc_mgmt -u Administrator -p Pa$$w0rd01 -e query-ldap-groups-for-user -D query-tenant=default -D query-domain=lab.emc.com -D user-name=bkupadmin
The query returns 5 records.
Group Name              Full Dn Name
Domain Admins           cn=Domain Admins,cn=Users,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
NetWorker_Admins        cn=NetWorker_Admins,cn=Users,dc=lab,dc=emc,dc=com
...
...

Additional Resources:

• NetWorker: How To Set up LDAP/AD using authc_config scripts
• NetWorker: How To Set up AD/LDAP Authentication
• NetWorker: How to reset Administrator password