This repository contains the files necessary to build the Shibboleth Identity Provider for NCSA (idp.ncsa.illinois.edu) as a Docker container. It is based on the Shibboleth IdP Docker Linux Container (4.x) as provided by the InCommon Trusted Access Platform (TAP). It was built using hybrid approach where most files are "baked-in" but secrets are mounted on the docker host. The secrets are stored elsewhere in a secure GitLab server at NCSA.
idp.ncsa.illinois.edu is hosted on
servers managed by NCSA Security Operations. There are 3 VMs which host the
Docker servers for the NCSA IdP: cadocker1, cadocker2, and
cadocker-dev. The Docker servers are independent, i.e., not using Docker
Swarm or Kubernetes. Setting the "active" production host involves setting a
virtual Ethernet interface to "up" on one of cadocker1 or cadocker2.
This is achieved with ucarp. The Docker
containers are configured to listen to connections for http/https (80/443)
on the host VMs, and the VM firewalls are configured to allow all traffic
for these ports.
| Hostname | IP Address | Use |
|---|---|---|
| cadocker1.ncsa.illinois.edu | 141.142.149.9 | Primary production Docker server for idp.ncsa.illinois.edu |
| cadocker2.ncsa.illinois.edu | 141.142.149.10 | Secondary production Docker server for idp.ncsa.illinois.edu |
| cadocker-dev.ncsa.illinois.edu | 141.142.149.11 | Development Docker server for idp.ncsa.illinois.edu |
| shib-docker.security.ncsa.illinois.edu | 141.142.149.33 | Virtual IP address listened to by cadocker1/2, and used by DNS |
The configuration files in this repository were taken from a Shibboleth IdP 3.4.x installation. The recommended upgrade procedure for Shibboleth IdP 4.x is to start with a good Shibboleth IdP 3.x installation and install 4.x on top of it. However, this was not possible since the Shibboleth IdP Docker Linux container was based on a fresh 4.x installation. So pains were taken to modify configuration files as needed to preserve correct attribute assertion.
This respository contains files without any secrets. Configuration files
with secrets (such as the salt for hashing) should be installed on the
Docker host in the /opt/ncsa-shib-idp directory. These files are stored in
a GitLab respository at
NCSA. Access to
this GitLab server is restricted to the NCSA Security bastion hosts (e.g.,
bastion1.security.ncsa.illinois.edu). So in order to clone the repository,
you will need to configure git SSH to proxy from cadocker1/2 through one of
the bastion hosts. See GitLab Setup for more information.
The files containing secrets are listed below. Note that file permissions are important since these files will be copied into the running Docker container.
/opt/ncsa-shib-idp/
├── [drwxr-xr-x root docker ] config
│ └── [drwxr-xr-x root docker ] tomcat
│ └── [-rw-r----- root docker ] server.xml
├── [drwxr-xr-x root docker ] credentials
│ ├── [drwxr-xr-x root docker ] shib-idp
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] ca-bundle.crt
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] HTTP-idp.ncsa.illinois.edu.keytab
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-backchannel.crt
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-backchannel.p12
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-encryption.crt
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-encryption.key
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-signing.crt
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] idp-signing.key
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] inc-md-cert-mdq.pem
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] sealer.jks
│ │ ├── [-rw-r----- root docker ] sealer.kver
│ │ └── [-rw-r----- root docker ] secrets.properties
│ └── [drwxr-xr-x root docker ] tomcat
│ └── [-rw-r----- root docker ] keystore.jks
└── [-rw-r--r-- root docker ] run.sh
To build the container, you must have Podman/Docker installed and configured appropriately. Then build the container as follows.
sh build.sh
This will result in a container ncsa/shib-idp:latest.
After making changes to any of the files in this repository, increment the VERSION file (using semantic versioning), push changes to GitHub, and tag the update. Then you can upload a new version of the built container to Docker Hub (or some other container repository).
git pull # Ensure local repo is current
VERSION=`cat VERSION` # Get current version from file
sh build.sh # Rebuild the container
git add -A
git commit -m "Version $VERSION"
git tag -a "$VERSION" -m "Version $VERSION"
git push -u origin main
git push --tags
### Note: If you have 2FA enabled on hub.docker.com, you must use an access token:
### https://docs.docker.com/security/for-developers/access-tokens/
sudo podman login docker.io
sudo podman tag ncsa/shib-idp:latest ncsa/shib-idp:$VERSION
sudo podman push ncsa/shib-idp:latest
sudo podman push ncsa/shib-idp:$VERSION
While the NCSA Shibboleth IdP Docker container is running on all cadocker VMs, only one of cadocker1 / cadocker2 actually handles requests for https://idp.ncsa.illinois.edu. Which cadocker instance is "active" is determined by a virtual Ethernet interface for 141.142.149.33 (shib-docker.security.ncsa.illinois.edu). There is a DNS CNAME record for idp.ncsa.illinois.edu which points to shib-docker.security.ncsa.illinois.edu . In order to easily swap between cadocker1 and cadocker2 with this virtual IP address, use ucarp (man page).
There are two ways see if cadocker1/2 is the "active" host:
ip address | grep 141.142.149.33sudo pkill -10 ucarp && sudo journalctl -u ucarp@253 | grep MASTER
In order to "swap" which server is active, ensure you are on the "active" server (a.k.a., MASTER), and demote it to BACKUP as follows:
sudo pkill -12 ucarpsudo pkill -10 ucarp && sudo journalctl -u ucarp@253 | grep BACKUP
The other server will notice that there is no MASTER server and grab control of the virtual interface.
The "active" (a.k.a., MASTER) server remains the "active" server until it is demoted to BACKUP. Note that there is no way to "promote" the BACKUP server to MASTER. You must demote the MASTER server to BACKUP.
cd /opt/ncsa-shib-idp
sh run.sh
### If prompted to select a repository, choose docker.io
You can view the logs for the running container.
sh logs.sh
The IdP is running when you see a line like:
tomcat;catalina.out;dev;nothing;2024-05-08 13:53:26,140 [main] INFO org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina- Server startup in [35934] milliseconds
You can break into the running container as follows.
sh inspect.sh
sudo podman stop shib-idp
sudo podman rm shib-idp
Once a new Docker container image has been pushed to Docker Hub, we need to update the local container instances on cadocker-dev, cadocker1, and cadocker2 (in that order), testing as we go. Updating the container consists of stopping the container, removing the container, cleaning up references to the container, and starting the container again (which will pull in the latest tagged container version).
ip address | grep 141.142.149.33 # should be empty
# Stop the current instance
sudo podman stop shib-idp
sudo podman rm shib-idp
# Remove the current Docker image
sudo podman image rm ncsa/shib-idp
# Start the service, which will pull down the "latest" image
cd /opt/ncsa-shib-idp
sh run.sh
### If prompted to select a repository, choose docker.io
# Monitor the startup sequence
sh logs.sh
# Look for the following log message:
# INFO org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina- Server startup in [34387] milliseconds
Testing idp.ncsa.illinois.edu on each Docker instance is easy since all
interaction with the IdP is initiated by the client (e.g., the user's
browser). So to test a specific Docker instance, you simply need to add an
entry in your local /etc/hosts file which points to the server you want to
use. For example, in order to test the IdP running on cadocker-dev, add the
following line to your local /etc/hosts file:
141.142.149.11 idp.ncsa.illinois.edu # Use cadocker-dev for NCSA IdP
Change the IP address to 141.142.149.9 or 141.142.149.10 to test cadocker1 or cadocker2 instead.
You must first test ECP (command line) access in order to make Duo authentication work for both ECP and web-based access. ECP testing is done with the https://cilogon.org/ecp.pl script.
wget https://cilogon.org/ecp.pl
perl ecp.pl --proxyfile --idpname super --certreq create --lifetime 12
Enter a username for the Identity Provider: <NCSA Kerberos username>
Enter a password for the Identity Provider: <NCSA Kerberos password>
<You will be prompted to approve an automatic Duo Push.>
grid-proxy-info
subject : /DC=org/DC=cilogon/C=US/O=National Center for Supercomputing Applications/CN=NCSA USER A12345
issuer : /DC=org/DC=cilogon/C=US/O=CILogon/CN=CILogon Basic CA 1
identity : /DC=org/DC=cilogon/C=US/O=National Center for Supercomputing Applications/CN=NCSA USER A12345
type : end entity credential
strength : 2048 bits
path : /tmp/x509up_u12345
timeleft : 11:58:44
Next, go to https://test.cilogon.org/testidp/ using a single Private/Incognito window and select "National Center for Supercomputing Applications". Log in with your NCSA Kerberos username and password, and verify that you got all of the User Attributes you typically get.
When you are finished testing, remove the extra line from your /etc/hosts
file (or prepend with # to comment it out).
If you are updating cadocker1/2 , make sure to test new Docker instances before making them "live" with ucarp.
The Tomcat process needs an SSL certificate for the https:// connection.
This is stored in the /opt/ncsa-shib-idp/credentials/tomcat/keystore.jks
file which contains an InCommon SSL certificate for idp.ncsa.illinois.edu.
This certificate expires after a year. In order to update the certificate,
you will need to create a new certificate signing request (CSR), submit it
to the InCommon Certificate
Service, and replace the
existing (expired) SSL certificate with the new one.
openssl req -nodes \
-newkey rsa:2048 \
-keyout idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.key \
-subj "/CN=idp.ncsa.illinois.edu/[email protected]" \
-out idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.csr
To do this step, you should have access to the InCommon Certificate
Service. If you do not have
access, you can email the resulting idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.csr file to
[email protected] and ask
someone get a certificate on your behalf.
-
Log in to the InCommon Certificate Service .
-
Use the hamburger menu in the upper left corner and select Certificates -> SSL Certificates.
-
In the main window, click the "+" (Add) button in the upper right corner.
-
For "Select the Enrollment Method", choose the "Using a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)" radio button, then click the "Next" button.
-
On the "Details" page, ensure the following are set:
- Organization: University of Illinois
- Department: NCSA
- Certificate Profile: V2 InCommon SSL (398-day only)
- Certifiate Term: 398 Days
- Requester: (Your name)
- Comments: (blank)
- External Requestors: [email protected]
Then click the "Next" button.
-
On the "CSR" page, paste the contents of the
idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.csrfile into the "CSR" text box, then click the "Next" button. -
On the "Domains" page, you should see "idp.ncsa.illinois.edu" filled in automatically. Click the "Next" button.
-
On the "Auto-Renewal" page, do NOT check "Enable Auto-Renewal", then click the "OK" button.
You should eventually get response that your SSL certificate for
idp.ncsa.illinois.edu is ready to download. In the email from
[email protected], there are several download links. Select
"Certificate only, PEM encoded" to download the certificate. The resulting
file should be named something like idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.crt.
You also need to download the intermediate certificates. Select the
"Intermediate(s)/Root only, PEM encoded" download link, and edit the
resulting "intermediate.crt" to remove the last certificate in the file (the
stuff between and including the last ----- BEGIN CERTIFICATE ----- and
----- END CERTIFICATE ----- lines) since that is a root CA certificate
installed in all major web browsers.
You should now have the 3 files needed for SSL/TLS connections:
idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.crt, idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.key, and
intermediate.crt. Next, you need to convert these files into a Java keystore.
cat idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.crt intermediate.crt > all.pem
openssl pkcs12 \
-export \
-inkey idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.key \
-in all.pem -name idp.ncsa.illinois.edu \
-out idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.p12
keytool \
-importkeystore \
-srckeystore idp_ncsa_illinois_edu.p12 \
-srcstoretype pkcs12 \
-destkeystore keystore.jks
When prompted for passwords, use the "certificateKeystorePassword" value
from /opt/ncsa-shib-idp/tomcat/server.xml.
Copy the resulting keystore.jks file to
/opt/ncsa-shib-idp/credentials/tomcat/keystore.jks and restart the
shib-idp service as shown
above.