OIDC authentication with Okta

18min
|
Terraform
Boundary

Deployment

OpenID Connect (OIDC) is an internet-scale federated identity and authentication protocol built on top of the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework and the JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) cryptographic system. OIDC builds on top of the OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol to enable a user to authorize a third-party application to access the user’s identity and authentication information.

The OIDC authentication method allows Boundary users to delegate authentication to an OIDC provider. This feature allows Boundary to integrate with popular identity providers like Okta, cloud-hosted active directory services with an OIDC frontend, and cloud identity management systems such as AWS IAM.

Boundary users can create, read, update, and delete new OIDC authentication methods using the Admin Console UI, Boundary CLI, or the Boundary Terraform provider to enable login. OIDC auth methods can also be utilized for logging into the Admin Console and Desktop applications.

This tutorial provides an example of setting up OIDC with the Okta provider and managing OIDC authentication methods.

OIDC authentication methods overview

Prerequisites

A Boundary binary greater than 0.8.0 in your PATH
This tutorial assumes you can connect to an HCP Boundary cluster or launch Boundary in dev mode.
An Okta test account. The associated email address should not be tied to another SSO method, so use of a personal account is recommended.
Installing the Boundary Desktop App provides an optional workflow for this tutorial. The 1.2.0 version or above is required for OIDC support.
Installing Terraform 0.13.0 or greater provides an optional workflow for this tutorial. The binary must be available in your PATH.

Get setup

In this tutorial, you will test OIDC integrations using HCP Boundary or by running a Boundary controller locally using dev mode.

The HCP Quickstart tutorials provide an overview of getting started with an HCP Boundary cluster.

If you have an HCP Boundary cluster deployed, the Access HCP Boundary tutorial provides an overview of configuring your local machine to authenticate with your HCP cluster.

This tutorial provides both CLI and UI workflows for setting up OIDC authentication.

To proceed with the UI workflow:

Open the Admin Console UI by entering your HCP Boundary Cluster URL into a browser (such as https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud).
Enter the admin username and password you created when you deployed the new instance and click Authenticate.

Admin UI Login

You are now logged into your HCP Boundary instance's Global scope using the web UI. This is the default scope for all new Boundary clusters. You can now proceed to the Providers section to proceed with the Admin Console UI workflow.

To proceed with the CLI workflow:

Log in to the Boundary web UI and copy your org ID by clicking the copy icon.
Open a terminal session and set a environment variable for the org ID.
```
$ export ORG_ID=<org-id>
```
In the Boundary web UI, click Orgs in the left navigation menu to return to the global scope, and then click Auth Methods.
Click the copy icon for the Password auth method.
In your terminal set an environment variable named BOUNDARY_AUTH_METHOD_ID to the copied ID.
```
$ export BOUNDARY_AUTH_METHOD_ID=<auth-method-id>
```
Close the Boundary web UI.
Return to the HCP web Portal Boundary page, then click the copy icon for the Cluster URL in the Getting started with Boundary section.
In your terminal, set the BOUNDARY_ADDR environment variable to the copied URL.
```
$ export BOUNDARY_ADDR=<actual-boundary-address>
```

Log in with the administrator credentials you created when you deployed the HCP Boundary instance. Enter your password at the Please enter the password (it will be hidden): prompt.

$ boundary authenticate password -auth-method-id $BOUNDARY_AUTH_METHOD_ID -login-name admin
Please enter the password (it will be hidden):

Authentication information:
  Account ID:      acctpw_FfOfCS1d5K
  Auth Method ID:  ampw_YfIUt060sp
  Expiration Time: Fri, 30 Sep 2022 11:25:48 MDT
  User ID:         u_RapeEBo5Uf

The token was successfully stored in the chosen keyring and is not displayed here.

You are now logged into your HCP Boundary instance's Global scope using the CLI. This is the default scope for all new Boundary clusters.

To proceed with the Terraform workflow:

The following values are needed to set up the Boundary Terraform provider. The password_auth_method_login_name and password_auth_method_password are created when first setting up HCP Boundary, and the others can be gathered from the HCP portal or the Boundary Admin Console UI.

addr (from HCP portal)
auth_method_id (from Boundary Admin Console UI)
password_auth_method_login_name (from initial Boundary Cluster creation)
password_auth_method_password (from initial Boundary Cluster creation)
scope_id (global scope from Boundary Admin Console UI)

Locate these values and have them ready for setting up the Terraform config files later on.

Providers

To enable an OIDC auth method an administrator must first configure their OIDC provider, and then Boundary. The administrator registers Boundary as a new client with their OIDC provider by providing some values unique to their Boundary deployment. The administrator then configures Boundary with unique client information provided by their OIDC provider during registration. These values must match up for OIDC to work.

The administrator will need to provide a list of Boundary callback URLs when configuring the OIDC provider. The callback URLs route to one of the controllers and must begin with 'https', unless Boundary is in dev mode, where the URLs will route to localhost.

Many OIDC providers can be integrated with Boundary. This tutorial demonstrates working with Okta, a popular provider for OIDC.

Get setup with Okta

A customer identity account and sample application are required to setup Okta as an OIDC provider for Boundary. If you don't have a account, sign up for Okta. It is recommended to use a personal account for testing, and to avoid integrating an email address that might already be associated with Okta. A free account is suitable for testing OIDC integration with Boundary.

Create a user

You have the option of creating a dedicated user for testing the OIDC authentication with.

If you want to use the default user, skip user creation and head to the next section on creating an application.

Note

If you choose to create a new Okta user outside of the default account, note that you may need to log out of the administrative account and log in as the new user when authenticating using Boundary later on.

Create an Okta user that will be permitted to log into the application that authorizes Boundary. This is managed using the "Directory" dashboard.

Once signed up, the Okta Admin Dashboard is displayed, or can be visited at the /admin/dashboard endpoint for your Okta domain, such as https://dev-1944432.okta.com/admin/dashboard.
Open the Directory menu using the sidebar on the left side of the page and click on People.
Click Add person.
Enter the user details, Email and change the Password field to "Set by admin". Then enter the user's password, and Click Save.
The new user's details should be displayed in the People Dashboard.
If using Terraform to provision Boundary, select the newly created user, then copy the URL endpoint (excluding any trailing # symbol). This is the user ID. Save this value for defining the oidc_user subject later on.

Create an application

An application is what authorizes Okta users added in the previous step to connect with Boundary. After creating an application, its configuration details are used to add the OIDC auth method to Boundary.

Navigate to the Applications view using the sidebar on the left side of the page.
From the Applications view, click the Create App Integration button.
In the "Create a new app integration" popup, select OIDC - OpenID Connect and Web Application and click Next.
From the "Create OpenID Connect App Integration" page, give your application a name. This tutorial calls the application Boundary OIDC Test.
You will need to provide a Sign-in redirect URIs. Set this value to the HCP Boundary Cluster address you copied from the HCP portal. For example, https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud.
```
https://BOUNDARY_ADDR
```
You will also need to construct a Sign-out redirect URI by appending :3000 at the end of the HCP Boundary Cluster address. For example, https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud:3000.
```
https://BOUNDARY_ADDR:3000
```
Scroll down to the Assignments section.
Under Controlled access, select "Skip group assignment for now".
Make sure the fields shown in the screenshot below match your config, and then click Save.
Once saved the browser should redirect to the application settings view. If not, Visit Applications using the navigation bar on the left and select the new application.
Click on the Assignments setting view.
Click Assign and select Assign to People.
In the "Assign Boundary OIDC Test to People" pop-up, click the Assign button next to the user name you want to associate with the application. If you did not create a new user in the previous step, this will be the default Okta login account.
Scroll down to the bottom of the "Assign Boundary OIDC Test to People" form, click Save and Go Back and then Done. The user should now be listed under the Boundary OIDC Test application's "Assignments" tab.
Navigate to the Boundary OIDC Test application's General setting view. Click Edit under the "General Settings" section.
Scroll down to the Login section.
Set the Initiate login URI to the same Sign-in re-direct URI value.
Click Save. Make sure your config matches the image shown below.
Scroll to the top of the Boundary OIDC Test application's General setting view.
Two important values are listed here for use when configuring OIDC with Boundary.
- Client ID
- Client secret
Additionally, you will need the Okta domain for your app. This can be located at the top-right portion of the Okta webpage.
Click the dropdown in the top-right beside your username. Your Okta domain is the value beneath your username, such as:
dev-1944432.okta.com
Keep this page open to refer to these three values in the next steps.

Auth method creation

Authentication is the process of establishing a user's identity. The user initiates this process by selecting an auth method.

When the user selects an OIDC auth method, the user's client sends a request to the system and includes additional data about the client itself. The system then returns two URLs: an OIDC authentication request URL and a Boundary token request URL.

If the user's client is a web browser, the client stores the Boundary token request URL in local storage then redirects the page to the OIDC authentication request URL. If the user's client is not a web browser, the client opens a web browser to the OIDC authentication request URL and begins polling the Boundary token request URL.

The user interacts with the OIDC provider to prove their identity using the browser window opened by the user's client. Once the OIDC provider has authenticated the user's identity, it redirects the browser window back to Boundary. The user's client then retrieves a Boundary token from the request URL.

To get started, an authentication method must be created for the provider of choice.

Create auth method for the provider

To set up a new auth method for your provider you will need the following from your provider's application settings:

issuer
client-id
client-secret

Auth methods can be created using the Admin Console UI, CLI, or using Terraform.

The Boundary Admin Console provides a UI for creating and managing OIDC resources, including auth methods.

Open the Admin Console UI by entering your HCP Boundary Cluster URL into a browser (such as https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud).

Enter the admin username and password you created when you deployed the new instance and click Authenticate.

Admin UI Login

For Okta, these settings map to the following:

issuer -> Okta Domain
client-id -> Client ID
client-secret -> Client secret

With these values you gathered from Okta's application settings above a new OIDC auth method can be created.

Start by navigating to the Auth Methods settings view using the menu on the left side of the Admin Console. Select New and click OIDC.

Admin Console New Auth Method

Fill out the form details using the settings gathered from the Okta application settings.

Admin Console Auth Method Details

These include:

Name (Example: Okta)
Description (Example: Okta OIDC test auth method)
Issuer (Example: https://dev-1944432.okta.com)
Client ID (Example: 0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d9)
Client Secret (Example: 4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbCAOWWVXK)
Signing Algorthm (Set to RS256) - Click Add

Additionally, set the API URL Prefix. The API URL Prefix is set to the HCP Boundary Cluster URL (for example, https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud)

API URL Prefix: https://BOUNDARY_ADDR

API URL Prefix

The API URL Prefix is used for actions like token retrieval and redirection.

Once the form is completed, click Save.

The new authentication method has now been created. To the right of the new auth method, notice the state is set to Inactive. Before it can be used the new auth method must be switched to an active state.

Next we will review the available authentication states and activate the new OIDC auth method.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting: If unable to save the auth method, ensure that the Issuer is prefixed by https:// and does NOT have a trailing / at the end of the URL.

Start by ensuring you are logged in to Boundary as the admin user.

For Okta, these settings map to the following:

issuer -> Okta Domain
client-id -> Client ID
client-secret -> Client secret

With these values you gathered from Okta's application settings above a new OIDC auth method can be created.

Start by setting the Client ID, Client Secret, and Issuer URL as environment variables.

$ export CLIENT_ID="<COPIED-CLIENT-ID>"; \
export CLIENT_SECRET="<COPIED-CLIENT-SECRET>"; \
export ISSUER_URL="<COPIED-OKTA-DOMAIN>"

Example:

$ export CLIENT_ID="0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr6d5"; \
export CLIENT_SECRET="4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbFLKGGKJJ"; \
export ISSUER_URL="dev-1944432.okta.com"

These values will be passed to Boundary when creating the new OIDC auth method.

Note

The api-url-prefix must be set to the URL of your Boundary cluster. Select HCP or Dev mode to see an example.

For HCP the api-url-prefix is set to the HCP cluster's address found in the HCP cloud portal. This value is identical to the BOUNDARY_ADDR environment variable set when logging in to the CLI (for example, https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud). The following example passes this shell variable to the boundary auth-methods create oidc command, but the cluster address can also be passed directly.

$ boundary auth-methods create oidc \
  -issuer "https://$ISSUER_URL" \
  -client-id "$CLIENT_ID" \
  -client-secret "$CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -signing-algorithm RS256 \
  -api-url-prefix "$BOUNDARY_ADDR" \
  -name "okta"

The signing-algorithm is commonly set to RS256.
The api-url-prefix is used by the OIDC provider in the authentication flow, and should match the HCP Boundary cluster's address. The BOUNDARY_ADDR variable is passed in this example.

Example:

$ boundary auth-methods create oidc \
  -issuer "https://$ISSUER_URL" \
  -client-id "$CLIENT_ID" \
  -client-secret "$CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -signing-algorithm RS256 \
  -api-url-prefix "$BOUNDARY_ADDR" \
  -name "okta"

Auth Method information:
  Created Time:         Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:54:33 MDT
  ID:                   amoidc_qlt29w7c8h
  Name:                 okta
  Type:                 oidc
  Updated Time:         Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:54:33 MDT
  Version:              1

  Scope:
    ID:                 global
    Name:               global
    Type:               global

  Authorized Actions:
    no-op
    read
    update
    delete
    change-state
    authenticate

  Authorized Actions on Auth Method's Collections:
    accounts:
      create
      list
    managed-groups:
      create
      list

  Attributes:
    api_url_prefix:     https://e29eae0c-29d7-4851-5e1fb68bfb3-5f8e3.boundary.hashicorp.cloud
    callback_url:       https://e29eae0c-29d7-4851-5e1fb68bfb3-5f8e3.boundary.hashicorp.cloud/v1/auth-methods/oidc:authenticate:callback
    client_id:          0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6
    client_secret_hmac: c5op-CkYUuEb7d-ubOjc5UBT_YqVP-CCu2pRL7EH8ls
    issuer:             https://dev-1944432.okta.com
    signing_algorithms: [RS256]
    state:              inactive

The new authentication method has now been created. Under the Attributes output, notice the state is set to inactive. Before it can be used the new auth method must be switched to an active state.

Copy the new OIDC Auth Method ID from the output.

Next we will review the available authentication states and activate the new OIDC auth method.

Begin by creating a working directory to store the Terraform configuration file and changing into that directory. This tutorial will work out of the user's HOME directory.

$ mkdir learn-boundary-oidc && cd learn-boundary-oidc/

Next, create a Terraform configuration file called main.tf.

$ touch main.tf

Open the main.tf file in your code editor and add the base Boundary provider configuration below. The 1.0.2 version or above is required to support OIDC. An output value is included to print the oidc auth method id when Terraform applies the configuration.

The initial setup should set the boundary provider to match Boundary's authentication configuration so that Terraform can authenticate to Boundary. These settings are discussed in the Get Setup section.

Copy the following configuration, but update the addr, auth_method_id, password_auth_method_login_name, and password_auth_method_password with the correct values for your Boundary org.

addr is the BOUNDARY_ADDR copied from the HCP portal.
auth_method_id is for the password auth method and can be gathered from the Boundary Admin Console UI.
password_auth_method_login_name and password_auth_method_password were created upon initial setup of the HCP Boundary cluster.

terraform {
  required_providers {
    boundary = {
      source  = "hashicorp/boundary"
      version = "1.0.12"
    }
  }
}

provider "boundary" {
  addr                            = "BOUNDARY_ADDR" # updateme
  auth_method_id                  = "ampw_1234567890"    # updateme
  password_auth_method_login_name = "myuser"             # updateme
  password_auth_method_password   = "passpass"           # updateme
}

Next, Boundary Terraform resources will be used to set up the provider of choice.

For Okta, these settings map to the following:

issuer -> Okta Domain
client-id -> Client ID
client-secret -> Client secret
subject -> user_id

With these values you gathered from the Okta application settings a new OIDC auth method can be created.

The Terraform Boundary provider enables OIDC using the boundary_auth_method_oidc and boundary_account_oidc resources.

The boundary_auth_method_oidc resource uses the following attributes to configure a new auth method:

resource "boundary_auth_method_oidc" "name" {
  name               = (String)
  description        = (String)
  scope_id           = (String)
  issuer             = (String)
  client_id          = (String)
  client_secret      = (String)
  signing_algorithms = (List of String)
  api_url_prefix     = (String)
}

The scope_id is the global scope ID. For HCP this is gathered from the Boundary Admin Console UI, or is o_1234567890 if using Boundary's Dev mode.
The issuer was gathered from the provider, and should be prefixed by https://
The client_id was gathered from the provider
The client_secret was gathered from the provider
The signing_algorithms are defined by the provider's issued tokens, and will usually include RS256
The api_url_prefix is used when generating callback urls and corresponds to an address where the controller is reachable by the provider. For HCP Boundary this is the Boundary Cluster URL found in the HCP portal (such as https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud). For dev mode this is http://localhost:9200

The boundary_account_oidc resource uses the following attributes to configure a new auth method:

resource "boundary_account_oidc" "name" {
  name           = (String)
  description    = (String)
  auth_method_id = (String)
  issuer         = (String)
  subject        = (String)
}

The auth_method_id is defined by the boundary_auth_method_oidc resource, and can be accessed using the named scope id, like boundary_auth_meethod_oidc.name.id
The issuer was gathered from the provider, and should be prefixed by https://
The subject maps to the user ID, and was gathered from the provider when creating a user

Add these two resources into your main.tf file. The entire file contents are shown below.

Make sure the following values are updated:

addr (from HCP portal)
auth_method_id (from Boundary Admin Console UI)
password_auth_method_login_name (from initial Boundary Cluster creation)
password_auth_method_password (from initial Boundary Cluster creation)
scope_id (global scope from Boundary Admin Console UI)
issuer (from provider)
client_id (from provider)
client_secret (from provider)
subject (from provider)

terraform {
  required_providers {
    boundary = {
      source  = "hashicorp/boundary"
      version = "1.0.12"
    }
  }
}

provider "boundary" {
  addr                            = "BOUNDARY_ADDR" # updateme
  auth_method_id                  = "ampw_1234567890"    # updateme
  password_auth_method_login_name = "myuser"             # updateme
  password_auth_method_password   = "passpass"           # updateme
}

resource "boundary_auth_method_oidc" "provider" {
  name                 = "Okta"
  description          = "OIDC auth method for Okta"
  scope_id             = "o_1234567890"                  # updateme
  issuer             = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"    # updateme
  client_id          = "0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6"            # updateme
  client_secret      = "4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbCAOWWVXM"   # updateme
  signing_algorithms = ["RS256"]
  api_url_prefix     = "https://BOUNDARY_ADDR"                 # updateme
}

resource "boundary_account_oidc" "oidc_user" {
  name           = "user1"
  description    = "OIDC account for user1"
  auth_method_id = boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider.id
  issuer  = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"                          # updateme
  subject = "00ul68uytv7ROjOHd5d6"
}

With these resources in place, first initialize Terraform.

$ terraform init

Initializing the backend...

Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding hashicorp/boundary versions matching "1.0.12"...
- Installing hashicorp/boundary v1.0.12...
- Installed hashicorp/boundary v1.0.12 (signed by HashiCorp)

Terraform has created a lock file .terraform.lock.hcl to record the provider
selections it made above. Include this file in your version control repository
so that Terraform can guarantee to make the same selections by default when
you run "terraform init" in the future.

Terraform has been successfully initialized!

You may now begin working with Terraform. Try running "terraform plan" to see
any changes that are required for your infrastructure. All Terraform commands
should now work.

If you ever set or change modules or backend configuration for Terraform,
rerun this command to reinitialize your working directory. If you forget, other
commands will detect it and remind you to do so if necessary.

Next, apply the configuration. Enter yes when prompted for confirmation.

$ terraform apply

An execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  + create

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user will be created
  + resource "boundary_account_oidc" "oidc_user" {
      + auth_method_id = (known after apply)
      + description    = "OIDC account for user1"
      + id             = (known after apply)
      + issuer         = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"
      + name           = "user1"
      + subject        = "00ul68uytv7ROjOHd5d6"
    }

  # boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider will be created
  + resource "boundary_auth_method_oidc" "provider" {
      + api_url_prefix     = "https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud"
      + callback_url       = (known after apply)
      + client_id          = "0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6"
      + client_secret      = "4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbCAOWWVXM"
      + client_secret_hmac = (known after apply)
      + description        = "OIDC auth method for Okta"
      + id                 = (known after apply)
      + issuer             = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"
      + name               = "Okta"
      + scope_id           = "o_1234567890"
      + signing_algorithms = [
          + "RS256",
        ]
      + state              = (known after apply)
      + type               = "oidc"
    }

Plan: 2 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes

boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider: Creating...
boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider: Creation complete after 1s [id=amoidc_cjCWZnr79C]
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Creating...
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Creation complete after 0s [id=acctoidc_JZ3AViFu2z]

Apply complete! Resources: 2 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

auth-method-id = amoidc_cjCWZnr79C

The new authentication method has been created! If Terraform encounters an error, ensure the issuer, client_id and client_secret have been copied correctly from the provider, and that the issuer is prefixed with https://.

Copy the auth-method-id from the output.

Authentication states

An OIDC auth method can be in one of several different states: Inactive, Active Private, and Active Public. The current state of an OIDC auth method affects how endpoints respond to requests and, in some cases, whether access to an endpoint requires authentication.

State change operations

MakeInactive transitions an OIDC auth method from either the Active Private or the Active Public state into the Inactive state.
MakePrivate transitions an OIDC auth method from either the Inactive or the Active Public state into the Active Private state. If transitioning from the Inactive state, the transition will only succeed if the configuration is valid.
MakePublic transitions an OIDC auth method from either the Inactive or the Active Private state into the Active Public state. If transitioning from the Inactive state, the transition will only succeed if the configuration is valid.

Three different states exist for an authentication method:

inactive users can not authenticate with inactive auth methods and the inactive auth methods are not listed for unauthenticated users.
active-private users can authenticate with active-private auth methods and active-private auth methods are not listed for unauthenticated users.
active-public users can authenticate active-public auth methods and active-public auth methods are listed for unauthenticated users.

Before changing the state of an auth-method, Boundary will retrieve the Provider’s discovery document for the auth method’s issuer and attempt to validate the auth-method’s configuration against this published information. If Boundary is unable to validate the configuration an error is returned and the state change is not made.

If a change is made from active-public or active-private to inactive, all in-flight authentications will succeed unless the auth method’s configuration is modified while the request is in-flight.

When changing an auth method's state using boundary auth-methods change-state the -disable-discovered-config-validation flag is used to disable validation against the provider’s published discovery document. This allows for the very rare occurrence when the Provider has published an invalid discovery document.

Activate the OIDC auth method

Now that a new OIDC method has been created, it can be activated and assigned as the default login type for the global scope.

Currently the login type is set as inactive, and won't allow authentication.

$ boundary authenticate oidc -auth-method-id amoidc_oHt4HQFCrN
Error from controller when performing authentication start

Error information:
  Kind:                Internal
  Message:             authmethod_service.(Service).authenticateOidcStart: Error generating parameters for starting the OIDC flow.: unknown: error #500
  Status:              500
  context:             Error from controller when performing authentication start

Auth methods can be activated using the Admin Console UI, CLI, or using Terraform.

Before the new auth method will be allowed it must be set to an active state.

Under the settings for the new auth method, select Inactive from the menu in the upper-right side of the page and change its state by clicking Public.

The login type will now allow be allowed.

Global and organization scopes may have auth methods in Boundary, and each scope has one primary auth-method ID. Boundary will automatically create a user upon first successful authentication using the scope’s primary auth method, which will be used by scopes with only one auth method available.

When migrating the database, Boundary will produce a log of any auth methods which resulted in no primary auth method being set for the scope.

Set the new OIDC auth method as the primary auth method for the global scope.

Under the settings for the new auth method, select Manage from the menu in the upper-right side of the page.

A confirmation window will be displayed to inform you that new users that sign in using OIDC will automatically be added to the new auth method. Select OK to continue.

Now try authenticating using the newly created OIDC auth method.

Select the admin user menu in the top-right corner of the page and select Deauthenticate.

Next, select the new auth method called Okta, and click Authenticate.

Admin Console Okta

A browser tab should automatically open and prompt you to log in with your Okta user account credentials.

Okta Application Login

If you experience any issues logging into Okta, such as a 400 Bad Request error, you may be logged into the wrong Okta account. Visit the Okta Dashboard, select your username in the upper-right corner of the window and click Sign Out. Then, revisit the previously opened Authenticate Boundary browser tab and click Retry to log back into Okta with the new user account credentials.

After successful authentication you are automatically redirected to the Admin Console. Notice the restricted permissions for this new user, which can be updated and assigned using Roles and Groups.

If you were to log back into the Admin Console as the admin user, you would notice the new OIDC user has automatically been added under the Users view.

Admin Console New User

Next you will review the various methods that can be used to authenticate to Boundary using the new OIDC auth method.

Enable the auth method by updating its state to active-public.

$ boundary auth-methods change-state oidc -id amoidc_tublWgOrr6 -state active-public

Auth Method information:
  Created Time:         Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:54:33 MDT
  ID:                   amoidc_tublWgOrr6
  Name:                 okta
  Type:                 oidc
  Updated Time:         Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:05:59 MDT
  Version:              2

  Scope:
    ID:                 global
    Name:               global
    Type:               global

  Authorized Actions:
    no-op
    read
    update
    delete
    change-state
    authenticate

  Authorized Actions on Auth Method's Collections:
    accounts:
      create
      list
    managed-groups:
      create
      list

  Attributes:
    api_url_prefix:     https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud
    callback_url:       https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud/v1/auth-methods/oidc:authenticate:callback
    client_id:          0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6
    client_secret_hmac: c5op-CkYUuEb7d-ubOjc5UBT_YqVP-CCu2pRL7EH8ls
    issuer:             https://dev-1944432.okta.com
    signing_algorithms: [RS256]
    state:              active-public

With the state set to active the login type will now be allowed.

When migrating the database, Boundary will produce a log of any auth methods which have more than one auth method which resulted in no primary auth method being set for the Scope.

Set the new OIDC auth method as the primary auth method for the global scope.

$ boundary scopes update -primary-auth-method-id amoidc_tublWgOrr6 -id global

Scope information:
  Created Time:             Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:55:18 MDT
  Description:              Global Scope
  ID:                       global
  Name:                     global
  Primary Auth Method ID:   amoidc_tublWgOrr6
  Updated Time:             Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:06:40 MDT
  Version:                  4

  Scope (parent):
    ID:                     global
    Name:                   global
    Type:                   global

  Authorized Actions:
    no-op
    read
    update
    delete

  Authorized Actions on Scope's Collections:
    auth-methods:
      create
      list
    auth-tokens:
      list
    groups:
      create
      list
    roles:
      create
      list
    scopes:
      create
      list
    users:
      create
      list
    workers:
      create:worker-led
      list

Auth methods must be updated to an active state before they can be used.

The state of the new auth method can be checked using the read operation. First, ensure you are logged in as the admin user.

$ boundary authenticate password -auth-method-id ampw_1234567890 -login-name admin
Please enter the password (it will be hidden): <password>

Authentication information:
  Account ID:      apw_DZRvFzmb0Y
  Auth Method ID:  ampw_1234567890
  Expiration Time: Thu, 20 May 2021 16:32:06 MDT
  User ID:         u_1234567890

The token was successfully stored in the chosen keyring and is not displayed here.

Next read the auth method details. Use the auth-method-id you copied from the terraform apply output.

$ boundary auth-methods read -id amoidc_cjCWZnr79C

Auth Method information:
  Created Time:         Thu, 13 May 2021 17:25:56 MDT
  Description:          OIDC auth method for Okta
  ID:                   amoidc_cjCWZnr79C
  Name:                 Okta
  Type:                 oidc
  Updated Time:         Thu, 13 May 2021 17:25:57 MDT
  Version:              2

  Scope:
    ID:                 o_1234567890
    Name:               Generated org scope
    Parent Scope ID:    global
    Type:               org

  Authorized Actions:
    no-op
    read
    update
    delete
    change-state
    authenticate

  Authorized Actions on Auth Method's Collections:
    accounts:
      create
      list

  Attributes:
    api_url_prefix:     http://localhost:9200
    callback_url:       http://localhost:9200/v1/auth-methods/oidc:authenticate:callback
    client_id:          0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6
    client_secret_hmac: rrnZgSer00fGL0qiGsO_DryD-wNX3CCBMXJiFVRIWWk
    issuer:             https://dev-1944432.okta.com
    signing_algorithms: [RS256]
    state:              active-public

Notice at the bottom of the output that the login state is already set to active-public.

It's important to be aware that using Terraform to provision an auth method will set the state to active by default, unless otherwise defined. The state attribute can be used on the boundary_auth_method_oidc resource to set an auth method to active-private or inactive.

Now that the auth method state has been verified, the primary login type can be defined for the global scope.

When migrating the database, Boundary will produce a log of any auth methods which have more than one auth method which resulted in no primary auth method being set for the Scope.

Make three updates to the boundary_auth_method_oidc resource in the main.tf file:

Set the auth method's state to active-public for clarity
Set the new OIDC auth method as the primary auth method for the global scope by setting the is_primary_for_scope attribute
Set the -max-age option to 0, which will force the user to re-authenticate if they are already logged in with the current browser session.

Below is an example. Update your main.tf file accordingly.

resource "boundary_auth_method_oidc" "provider" {
  name                 = "Okta"
  description          = "OIDC auth method for Okta"
  scope_id             = "o_1234567890"
  issuer             = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"
  client_id          = "0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6"
  client_secret      = "4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbCAOWWVXM"
  signing_algorithms = ["RS256"]
  api_url_prefix     = "http://localhost:9200"
  is_primary_for_scope = true
  state = "active-public"
  max_age = 0
}

Apply the updated configuration. Enter yes when prompted.

$ terraform apply
boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider: Refreshing state... [id=amoidc_cjCWZnr79C]
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Refreshing state... [id=acctoidc_JZ3AViFu2z]

An execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  ~ update in-place
-/+ destroy and then create replacement

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user must be replaced
-/+ resource "boundary_account_oidc" "oidc_user" {
        auth_method_id = "amoidc_cjCWZnr79C"
        description    = "OIDC account for user1"
      ~ id             = "acctoidc_JZ3AViFu2z" -> (known after apply)
      + issuer         = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com" # forces replacement
        name           = "user1"
      + subject        = "00ul68uytv7ROjOHd5d6"
    }

  # boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider will be updated in-place
  ~ resource "boundary_auth_method_oidc" "provider" {
        api_url_prefix       = "http://localhost:9200"
        callback_url         = "http://localhost:9200/v1/auth-methods/oidc:authenticate:callback"
        client_id            = "0oal6fr0tPGZ0DSbr5d6"
        client_secret        = "4BStQlbuTTrh5P-JhGAKW2FVPh48idEbCAOWWVXM"
        client_secret_hmac   = "rrnZgSer00fGL0qiGsO_DryD-wNX3CCBMXJiFVRIWWk"
        description          = "OIDC auth method for Okta"
        id                   = "amoidc_cjCWZnr79C"
      + is_primary_for_scope = true
        issuer               = "https://dev-1944432.okta.com"
      + max_age              = 0
        name                 = "Okta"
        scope_id             = "o_1234567890"
        signing_algorithms   = [
            "RS256",
        ]
        state                = "active-public"
        type                 = "oidc"
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 1 to change, 1 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes

boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Destroying... [id=acctoidc_JZ3AViFu2z]
boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider: Modifying... [id=amoidc_cjCWZnr79C]
boundary_auth_method_oidc.provider: Modifications complete after 0s [id=amoidc_cjCWZnr79C]
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Destruction complete after 0s
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Creating...
boundary_account_oidc.oidc_user: Creation complete after 0s [id=acctoidc_JZ3AViFu2z]

Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 1 changed, 1 destroyed.

Outputs:

auth-method-id = amoidc_cjCWZnr79C

With the auth method set to active and defined as the primary login method, users can now authenticate using their preferred method of choice.

Authenticate using OIDC

With the OIDC provider configured, Boundary users can authenticate using the CLI, Admin Console or Boundary Desktop app. Boundary administrators will usually follow a CLI or Admin Console workflow, while clients and end-users can use the CLI or Desktop application.

The Boundary Desktop app is currently available for MacOS and Windows users.

Note

Ensure that the latest version of the Boundary Desktop app is installed from the releases page before attempting to login with OIDC. The minimum version of the app allowing OIDC login is 1.0.0.

Launch the Boundary Desktop app and enter the Boundary Cluster URL.
The Cluster URL was copied from the HCP portal, such as https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud. Click Submit.
Select Okta and click Authenticate.
A browser window should launch and prompt for your provider's user credentials. You may see an "Authentication Pending" message, and can click the "Retry" button to force a new authentication tab to open.
Submit your OIDC provider user credentials.
You should receive a "Successful Authentication" message.

Once authenticated, open the Boundary Desktop app again and verify the authenticated user in the upper-right corner of the application window.
It is expected for this user to be unprivileged, and to be denied access to view targets and sessions. The OIDC user could be updated to include new privileges if an admin user assigns it to a role.

You have now completed OIDC integration with the Boundary Desktop app.

Navigate to the Boundary Cluster URL in your web browser. This is your HCP Cluster URL, such as https://e58fe114-7624-431c-994d-b6670e90b03J.boundary.hashicorp.cloud, or http://localhost:9200 if using Dev mode.
Select the name of the new auth method (such as Okta) and click Authenticate.
If your browser doesn't allow pop-ups, you may be presented with an "Authentication Pending" message, which you can bypass by clicking Retry. If you do not encounter this message proceed to the next step. Consider enabling pop-ups from your localhost for the rest of this tutorial.
Next, enter your Okta user credentials and click Continue.
You should receive a "Successful Authentication" message and automatically be redirected to the Admin Console. If you are not redirected, check to make sure your browser is not blocking pop-ups from http://localhost:9200, or allow pop-ups temporarily.
Once authenticated, navigate to the Auth Methods view on the left, and notice the OIDC Type and ID used when setting up the auth method. Explore the other views and notice what this user has access to view and not view. The OIDC user could be updated to include new privileges if an admin user assigns it to a role.
You have now completed OIDC integration with the Admin Console.

The boundary authenticate oidc command will launch a browser session to enable authentication using the configured provider.

$ boundary authenticate oidc -auth-method-id amoidc_q7jAdI1QgA
Opening returned authentication URL in your browser...

The provider's login page should open in a browser tab, prompting for the username and password for the account used to configure the Boundary OIDC Test application. Below is an example of an Okta login prompt.

Okta Application Login

Warning

Trouble logging in? If you receive an Unsuccessful authentication message from Boundary, try logging out of the provider in your browser, then run boundary authenticate oidc again and re-authenticate. This is especially important if you created a new provider user in the Create a user section. Ensure you are logging in as the correct user.

After logging in your terminal should confirm the Account and User IDs.

$ boundary authenticate oidc -auth-method-id amoidc_q7jAdI1QgA
Opening returned authentication URL in your browser...

Authentication information:
  Account ID:      acctoidc_f0wWsno9jQ
  Auth Method ID:  amoidc_q7jAdI1QgA
  Expiration Time: Wed, 21 Apr 2021 15:02:38 MDT
  User ID:         u_zAfnbL9b7y

The token was successfully stored in the chosen keyring and is not displayed here.

The user is now authenticated using OIDC. Listing various scope items would show this user is not able to access most resources by default. The OIDC user could be updated to include new privileges if an admin user assigns it to a role.

You have now completed OIDC integration using the CLI.

Cleanup and teardown

Warning

If you plan on completing the Manage IdP Groups tutorial, leave the current configuration running. Successful completion of this tutorial is a pre-requisite for the Manage IdP Groups tutorial.

If you are not continuing on to the next tutorial, tear down the environment:

1. Remove any unwanted test auth methods from your HCP Boundary Cluster. This can be done by deleting the auth method in the Admin Console UI, or by providing your auth method ID using the CLI:

$ boundary auth-methods delete -id amoidc_40fr5jkLpk

2. Delete any sample applications from your OIDC provider.

This tutorial provided steps for configuring an Okta sample applications as Boundary auth methods. Revisit the provider settings and delete any sample applications you no longer need.

3. Delete any test users from your OIDC provider.

This tutorial created sample users within Okta to authenticate using the CLI, Admin Console or Desktop app. Revisit the Okta settings and remove any test users created for this tutorial.

4. Delete any test client secrets from your OIDC provider.

This tutorial may have created client secrets within Okta. Revisit the provider settings and remove any client secrets created for this tutorial.

Next steps

This tutorial demonstrated the steps to add an OIDC authentication method and create a new user. You set up a provider application to authenticate with Boundary, and verified that you can authenticate using the newly created user.

Next, check out the Manage IdP Groups tutorial to learn about automatically managing group membership claims with OIDC auth methods.

To learn more about the basics of managing user accounts, check out the Manage Users and Groups and Manage Roles tutorials.

OIDC authentication with Auth0

OIDC authentication with Azure

OIDC authentication methods overview

Prerequisites

Get setup

Providers

Get setup with Okta

Create a user

Create an application

Auth method creation

Create auth method for the provider

Authentication states

State change operations

Activate the OIDC auth method

Set OIDC as primary login

Authenticate using OIDC

Cleanup and teardown

Next steps