29.5. FreeBSD and LDAP
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## 29.5. FreeBSD and LDAP

Written by Tom Rhodes.

LDAP, the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, is an application layer protocol used to access, modify, and authenticate (bind) using a distributed directory information service. Think of it as a phone or record book which stores several levels of hierarchical, homogeneous information. It is often used in networks where users often need access to several levels of internal information utilizing a single account. For example, email authentication, pulling employee contact information, and internal website authentication might all make use of a single user in the LDAP server's record base.

This section will not provide a history or the implementation details of the protocol. These sections were authored to get an LDAP server and/or client configured both quickly and securely; however, any information base requires planning and this is no exception.

Planning should include what type of information will be stored, what that information will be used for, whom should have access to said information, and how to secure this information from prying eyes.

### 29.5.1. LDAP Terminology and Structure

Before continuing, several parts of LDAP must be explained to prevent confusion. And confusion with this configuration is relatively simple. To begin, all directory entries consist of a group of attributes. Each of these attribute sets contain a name, a unique identifier known as a DN or distinguished name normally built from several other attributes such as the RDN. The RDN or relative distinguished name, is a more common name for the attribute. Like directories have absolute and relative paths, consider a DN as an absolute path and the RDN as the relative path.

As an example, an entry might look like the following:

`%` ldapsearch -xb "uid=trhodes,ou=users,o=example.com"
# extended LDIF # # LDAPv3 # base <uid=trhodes,ou=users,o=example.com> with scope subtree # filter: (objectclass=*) # requesting: ALL # # trhodes, users, example.com dn: uid=trhodes,ou=users,o=example.com mail: trhodes@example.com cn: Tom Rhodes uid: trhodes telephoneNumber: (xxx) xxx-xxxx # search result search: 2 result: 0 Success # numResponses: 2 # numEntries: 1

In this example, it is very obvious what the various attributes are; however, the cn attribute should be noticed. This is the RDN discussed previously. In addition, there is a unique user id provided here. It is common practice to have specific uid or uuids for entries to ease in any future migration.

### 29.5.2. Configuring an LDAP Server

To configure FreeBSD to act as an LDAP server, the OpenLDAP port needs installed. This may be accomplished using the `pkg_add` command or by installing the `net/openldap24-server` port. Building the port is recommended as the administrator may select a great deal of options at this time and disable some options. In most cases, the defaults will be fine; however, this is the time to enable SQL support if needed.

A few directories will be required from this point on, at minimal, a data directory and a directory to store the certificates in. Create them both with the following commands:

`#` `mkdir /var/db/openldap-data`
`#` `mkdir /usr/local/etc/openldap/private`

Copy over the database configuration file:

`#` `cp /usr/local/etc/openldap/DB_CONFIG.example /var/db/openldap-data/DB_CONFIG`

The next phase is to configure the SSL certificates. While creating certificates is discussed in the OpenSSL section in this book, a certificate authority is needed so a different method will be used. It is recommended that this section be reviewed prior to configuring to ensure correct information is entered during the certificate creation process below.

The following commands must be executed in the `/usr/local/etc/openldap/private` directory. This is important as the file permissions will need to be restrictive and users should not have access to these files directly. To create the certificates, issues the following commands.

`#` `openssl req -days 365 -nodes -new -x509 -keyout ca.key -out ../ca.crt`

The entries for these may be completely generic except for the Common Name entry. This entry must have something different than the system hostname. If the entry is the hostname, it would be like the hostname is attempting to verify hostname. In cases with a self signed certificate like this example, just prefix the hostname with CA for certificate authority.

The next task is to create a certificate signing request and a private key. To do this, issue the following commands:

`#` `openssl req -days 365 -nodes -new -keyout server.key -out server.csr`

During the certificate generation process, be sure to correctly set the common name attribute. After this has been completed, the key will need signed:

`#` `openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -out ../server.crt -CA ../ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -CAcreateserial`

The final part of the certificate generation process is to generate and sign the client certificates:

`#` `openssl req -days 365 -nodes -new -keyout client.key -out client.csr`
`#` `openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in client.csr -out ../client.crt -CA ../ca.crt -CAkey ca.key`

Remember, again, to respect the common name attribute. This is a common cause for confusion during the first attempt to configure LDAP. In addition, ensure that a total of eight (8) new files have been generated through the proceeding commands. If so, the next step is to edit `/usr/local/etc/openldap/slapd.conf` and add the following options:

TLSCipherSuite HIGH:MEDIUM:+SSLv3 TLSCertificateFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/server.crt TLSCertificateKeyFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/private/server.key TLSCACertificateFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/ca.crt

In addition, edit `/usr/local/etc/openldap/ldap.conf` and add the following lines:

TLS_CACERT /usr/local/etc/openldap/ca.crt TLS_CIPHER_SUITE HIGH:MEDIUM:+SSLv3

While editing these this file, set the `BASE` to the desired values, and uncomment all three of the `URI`, `SIZELIMIT` and `TIMELIMIT` options. In addition, set the `URI` to contain `ldap://` and `ldaps://`.

The resulting file should look similar to the following shown here:

BASE dc=example,dc=com URI ldap:// ldaps:// SIZELIMIT 12 TIMELIMIT 15 #DEREF never TLS_CACERT /usr/local/etc/openldap/ca.crt TLS_CIPHER_SUITE HIGH:MEDIUM:+SSLv3

A password for the server will need to be created as the default is extremely poor as is normal in this industry. To do this, issue the following command, sending the output to `slapd.conf`:

`#` `slappasswd -h "{SHA}" >> /usr/local/etc/openldap/slapd.conf`

There will be a prompt for entering the password and, if the process does not fail, a password hash will be added to the end of `slapd.conf`. The `slappasswd` understands several hashing formats, refer to the manual page for more information.

Edit `/usr/local/etc/openldap/slapd.conf` and add the following lines:

password-hash {sha} allow bind_v2

In addition, the `suffix` in this file must be updated to match the `BASE` from the previous configuration. The `rootdn` option should also be set. A good recommendation is something like `cn=Manager`. Before saving this file, place the `rootpw` option in front of the password output from the `slappasswd` and delete the old `rootpw` option above. The end result should look similar to this:

TLSCipherSuite HIGH:MEDIUM:+SSLv3 TLSCertificateFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/server.crt TLSCertificateKeyFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/private/server.key TLSCACertificateFile /usr/local/etc/openldap/ca.crt rootpw {SHA}W6ph5Mm5Pz8GgiULbPgzG37mj9g=

Finally, enable the OpenLDAP service in `rc.conf`. At this time, setting up a URI and providing the group and user to run as may be useful. Edit `/etc/rc.conf` and add the following lines:

slapd_enable="YES" slapd_flags="-4 -h ldaps:///"

At this point the server should be ready to be brought up and tested. To perform this task, issue the following command:

`#` `service slapd start`

If everything was configured correctly, a search of the directory should show a successful connection with a single response as in this example:

`#` `ldapsearch -Z`
# extended LDIF # # LDAPv3 # base <dc=example,dc=com> (default) with scope subtree # filter: (objectclass=*) # requesting: ALL # # search result search: 3 result: 32 No such object # numResponses: 1

Considering the service should now be responding, as it is above, the directory may be populated using the `ldapadd` command. In this example, there is a file containing a list of users to be added to this particular directory. First, create a file to be imported with the following dataset:

dn: dc=example,dc=com objectclass: dcObject objectclass: organization o: Example dc: Example dn: cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: organizationalRole cn: Manager

### Note:

To debug any of the following, stop the `slapd` service using the `service` command and start it using with debugging options. To accomplish this, issue the following command:

`#` `/usr/local/libexec/slapd -d -1`

To import this datafile, issue the following command, assuming the file is `import.ldif`:

`#` `ldapadd -Z -D "cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com" -W -f `import.ldif``

There will be a request for the password specified earlier, and the output should look like this:

Enter LDAP Password: adding new entry "dc=example,dc=com" adding new entry "cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com"

Verify the data was added by issuing a search on the server using `ldapsearch`. In this case the output should look like this:

`%` `ldapsearch -Z`
# extended LDIF # # LDAPv3 # base <dc=example,dc=com> (default) with scope subtree # filter: (objectclass=*) # requesting: ALL # # example.com dn: dc=example,dc=com objectClass: dcObject objectClass: organization o: Example dc: Example # Manager, example.com dn: cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com objectClass: organizationalRole cn: Manager # search result search: 3 result: 0 Success # numResponses: 3 # numEntries: 2

It is of course advisable to read about the structure of LDAP directories and the various manual pages mentioned in this section. At this point, the server should be configured and functioning properly.

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