Configuring authentication for object access

You can use the following authentication methods for object access:

Active Directory (AD)
LDAP
Local authentication

The AD-based and LDAP-based authentication methods use an external AD and LDAP server respectively to manage the authentication. Local authentication is handled by a Keystone server that resides within the IBM Spectrum Scale™ system.

The IBM Spectrum Scale system installation process configures Keystone server that is required for object access. If you are not using an external Keystone server, the IBM Spectrum Scale installation process by default configures the object authentication with local authentication as the authentication method.

Before you configure object authentication method, ensure that the Keystone Identity service is properly configured.

Note: Before you configure an authentication method for object access, ensure that all protocol nodes have CES IP addresses assigned and you are issuing the authentication configuration command from the protocol node for which a CES IP is already assigned.

Before you start manually configuring authentication method for object access, ensure that the openldap-clients RPM is installed.

The mapping between user, role, and tenant is stored in a database. This mapping is not deleted until you run the mmuserauth service remove command with the --idmapdelete option for data-access-method object. While switching from one authentication type to another, it is mandatory to remove the mapping after removing the authentication.

Note:

It is recommended to run the mmuserauth service check command as follows after configuring object authentication using the mmuserauth service create command:

mmuserauth service check --data-access-method object -N cesNodes

If the mmuserauth service check command reports that any certificate file is missing on any of the nodes, then run the following command:

mmuserauth service check --data-access-method object -N cesNodes --rectify

For more information about mmuserauth service check, see the topic mmuserauth command in the IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.

Configuring local authentication for object access
Object access can be configured with the Keystone server that is available in the IBM Spectrum Scale system. In this mode, Keystone stores the identity and assignment information locally in its database.
Configuring an AD-based authentication for object access
You can configure Keystone with an external AD server as the authentication back-end so that AD users can access the object store by using their AD credentials. The same AD server can be used for both object access and file access.
Configuring an LDAP-based authentication for object access
You can configure Keystone server with an external LDAP server as the authentication server so that users in LDAP can access object store with their LDAP credentials. This configuration is useful when the user credentials are stored in LDAP and you want them to get authenticated to access the object store. It is also useful in cases where you have configured file authentication with LDAP and want to use the same authentication for object access. You can use TLS with the LDAP server to further tighten the security of the system.
Configuring object authentication with an external Keystone server
Object can be configured with an external Keystone server. This is done when either there is already an existing Keystone server that is deployed in the environment or when the system administrator wants to host a keystone server externally so that it can be used for other OpenStack services.
Managing object users, roles, and projects
The Object Storage service of the IBM Spectrum Scale system uses the Keystone service for identity management. The identity management service consists of user authentication and authorization processes.
Creating object accounts
An account is used to group or isolate object resources. Each object user is part of an account. Object users are mapped to an account and it can access only the objects that reside within the project. Each user needs to be defined with a set of user rights and privileges to perform a specific set of operations on the resources of the account to which it belongs. Users can be part of multiple accounts, but it is mandatory that a user must be associated with at least one account.
Deleting expired tokens
By default, the Keystone Identity Service stores expired tokens in the database indefinitely. While potentially useful for auditing in production environments, the accumulation of expired tokens considerably increases the database size and might affect the service performance.

Parent topic: Managing protocol user authentication

Related concepts:

Setting up authentication servers to configure protocol user access

Configuring authentication and ID mapping for file access

Managing user-defined authentication

Deleting the authentication and the ID mapping configuration

Listing the authentication configuration

Verifying the authentication services configured in the system

Modifying the authentication method

Authentication limitations