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Configuring LDAP as a back-end relies on beans internally that are configured using ldap.properties (defined separately from other properties because they are sometimes shared for LDAPConnector configuration). Older releases included an authn/ldap-authn-config.xml file; this remains supported but is no longer required or provided.

The properties in ldap.properties do most of the work out of the box. Adding additional beans may be needed in very advanced cases where a higher degree of control is required, and you are welcome to place them within authn/password-authn-config.xml.

The properties act as global defaults that can be overridden on specific instances of beans inheriting from shibboleth.LDAPValidator defined in authn/password-authn-config.xml in the shibboleth.authn.Password.Validators bean.

In the simple case of LDAP used alone:

Defining use of LDAP in password-authn-config.xml

<util:list id="shibboleth.authn.Password.Validators">
    <!-- Default bean uses the settings defined in ldap.properties -->
    <ref bean="shibboleth.LDAPValidator" />
</util:list>

If desired, itIt's possible to directly configure the various settings within the validator bean instead of or in addition to relying on the defaults. Typically this involves injecting a bean based on shibboleth.LDAPAuthenticationFactory into the validator bean’s authenticator property. This is a large factory class of type net.shibboleth.idp.authn.config.LDAPAuthenticationFactoryBean that includes most common LDAP settings.

As an example, you could chain together multiple LDAP servers (rather than hoping the client library will do it for you) like this:

Chaining LDAP validators

<!--
These use the settings defined in ldap-authn-config.xml and
ldap.properties except the ones overridden here.
-->

<util:list id="shibboleth.authn.Password.Validators">
	<bean p:id="ldap1" parent="shibboleth.LDAPValidator">
    	<property name="authenticator">
			<bean parent="shibboleth.LDAPAuthenticationFactory" p:ldapUrl="ldaps://ldap1.example.org" />
		</property>
	</bean>
	<bean p:id="ldap2" parent="shibboleth.LDAPValidator">
    	<property name="authenticator">
			<bean parent="shibboleth.LDAPAuthenticationFactory" p:ldapUrl="ldaps://ldap2.example.org" />
		</property>
	</bean>
</util:list>

Note Regarding Upgrades

The ldap-authn-config.xml file from V3 has been removed, with the associated objects declared internally and using a large set of properties that will generally auto-configure the proper objects.

One issue that does come up with the older file: the defaults around pooling validation in V3 were expressed numerically in seconds, and these numbers are interpreted in V4 as milliseconds. The proper syntax is really XML Duration syntax (PT5M == 5 minutes) and not numerically, but out of the box using the old file with V4 and not setting some of the pooling properties will result in dramatically frequent pool validation on the order of every half second. The logs will be very noisy so it's quite obvious.

To correct this, either remove the old file (and define the new bean noted above), or change the property defaults in the old file, or actually set the properties themselves rather than leaving them commented.

LDAP attributes are returned as part of the authentication process and exposed in the LDAPResponseContext.

By default, attributes will be searched for using the same connection the user authenticated on. Therefore the user must have read on any attributes for those to be returned.

If you need access to attributes that user does not have read access to, then you must configure a connection pool that is authorized to read that data. The following configuration demonstrates how to add a new connection pool for that purpose.

Spring Configuration

<!-- Modify the authenticator to use the entry resolver -->
<bean name="anonSearchAuthenticator" class="org.ldaptive.auth.Authenticator" p:entryResolver-ref="bindSearchEntryResolver">
...
 
<!-- Add an entry resolver to read attributes -->
<bean id="bindSearchEntryResolver" class="org.ldaptive.auth.PooledSearchEntryResolver" p:connectionFactory-ref="entryResolverPooledConnectionFactory" />
<bean id="entryResolverPooledConnectionFactory" class="org.ldaptive.pool.PooledConnectionFactory" p:connectionPool-ref="entryResolverConnectionPool" />
<bean id="entryResolverConnectionPool" class="org.ldaptive.pool.BlockingConnectionPool" parent="connectionPool" p:connectionFactory-ref="entryResolverConnectionFactory" p:name="entry-resolver-pool" />
<bean id="entryResolverConnectionFactory" class="org.ldaptive.DefaultConnectionFactory" p:connectionConfig-ref="entryResolverConnectionConfig" />
<bean id="entryResolverConnectionConfig" parent="connectionConfig" p:connectionInitializer-ref="entryResolverConnectionInitializer" />
<bean id="entryResolverConnectionInitializer" class="org.ldaptive.BindConnectionInitializer" p:bindDn="%{idp.authn.LDAP.entryResolver.bindDN}">
    <property name="bindCredential">
        <bean class="org.ldaptive.Credential">
            <constructor-arg value="%{idp.authn.LDAP.entryResolver.bindDNCredential}" />
        </bean>
    </property>
</bean>

Add the idp.authn.LDAP.entryResolver.bindDN and idp.authn.LDAP.entryResolver.bindDNCredential properties to conf/ldap.properties and credentials/secrets.properties respectively. Then set idp.authn.LDAP.authenticator to anonSearchAuthenticator. to complete the configuration.

Note: if you're using the bindSearchAuthenticator and those credentials can be reused for entry resolution, then this configuration can be shortened by wiring the bindPooledConnectionFactory to the entry resolver.