---
id: org--old
title: LDAP Organizational Data
sidebar_label: Org Data
description: Setting up ingestion of organizational data from LDAP
---

The Backstage catalog can be set up to ingest organizational data - users and
groups - directly from an LDAP compatible service. The result is a hierarchy of
[`User`](../../features/software-catalog/descriptor-format.md#kind-user) and
[`Group`](../../features/software-catalog/descriptor-format.md#kind-group) kind
entities that mirror your org setup.

## Supported vendors

Backstage in general supports OpenLDAP compatible vendors, as well as Active Directory and FreeIPA. If you are using a vendor that does not seem to be supported, please [file an issue](https://github.com/backstage/backstage/issues/new?assignees=&labels=enhancement&template=feature_template.md).

## Installation

This guide will use the Entity Provider method. If you for some reason prefer
the Processor method (not recommended), it is described separately below.

The provider is not installed by default, therefore you have to add a dependency
to `@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-ldap` to your backend package.

```bash title="From your Backstage root directory"
yarn --cwd packages/backend add @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-ldap
```

:::note Note

When configuring to use a Provider instead of a Processor you do not
need to add a _location_ pointing to your LDAP server

:::

Update the catalog plugin initialization in your backend to add the provider and
schedule it:

```ts title="packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts"
/* highlight-add-next-line */
import { LdapOrgEntityProvider } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-ldap';

export default async function createPlugin(
  env: PluginEnvironment,
): Promise<Router> {
  const builder = await CatalogBuilder.create(env);

  /* highlight-add-start */
  // The target parameter below needs to match the ldap.providers.target
  // value specified in your app-config.
  builder.addEntityProvider(
    LdapOrgEntityProvider.fromLegacyConfig(env.config, {
      id: 'our-ldap-master',
      target: 'ldaps://ds.example.net',
      logger: env.logger,
      schedule: env.scheduler.createScheduledTaskRunner({
        frequency: { minutes: 60 },
        timeout: { minutes: 15 },
      }),
    }),
  );
  /* highlight-add-end */

  // ..
}
```

After this, you also have to add some configuration in your app-config that
describes what you want to import for that target.

## Configuration

The following configuration is a small example of how a setup could look for
importing groups and users from a corporate LDAP server.

```yaml
ldap:
  providers:
    - target: ldaps://ds.example.net
      bind:
        dn: uid=ldap-reader-user,ou=people,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net
        secret: ${LDAP_SECRET}
      users:
        dn: ou=people,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net
        options:
          filter: (uid=*)
        map:
          description: l
        set:
          metadata.customField: 'hello'
      groups:
        dn: ou=access,ou=groups,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net
        options:
          filter: (&(objectClass=some-group-class)(!(groupType=email)))
        map:
          description: l
        set:
          metadata.customField: 'hello'
```

There may be many providers, each targeting a specific `target` which is
supposed to match the `target` of a dedicated provider instance - i.e., you will
add one entity provider class instance per target to ingest from.

These config blocks have a lot of options in them, so we will describe each
"root" key within the block separately.

### target

This is the URL of the targeted server, typically on the form
`ldaps://ds.example.net` for SSL enabled servers or `ldap://ds.example.net`
without SSL.

#### target.tls.keys

`keys` in TLS options specifies location of a file, that contains private keys
to establish connection with your LDAP server, in PEM format. See an example
for Google Secure LDAP Service below.

#### target.tls.certs

`certs` in TLS options specifies location of a file, that contains certificate
chains to establish connection with your LDAP server, in PEM format. See an
example for Google Secure LDAP Service below.

### bind

The bind block specifies how the plugin should bind (essentially, to
authenticate) towards the server. It has the following fields.

```yaml
dn: uid=ldap-reader-user,ou=people,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net
secret: ${LDAP_SECRET}
```

The `dn` is the full LDAP Distinguished Name for the user that the plugin
authenticates itself as. At this point, only regular user based authentication
is supported.

The `secret` is the password of the same user. In this example, it is given in
the form of an environment variable `LDAP_SECRET`, that has to be set when the
backend starts.

### users

The `users` block defines the settings that govern the reading and
interpretation of users. Its fields are explained in separate sections below.

#### users.dn

The DN under which users are stored, e.g.
`ou=people,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net`.

#### users.options

The search options to use when sending the query to the server, when reading all
users. All the options are shown below, with their default values, but they are
all optional.

```yaml
options:
  # One of 'base', 'one', or 'sub'.
  scope: one
  # The filter is the one that you commonly will want to specify explicitly. It
  # is a string on the standard LDAP query format. Use it to select out the set
  # of users that are of actual interest to ingest. For example, you may want
  # to filter out disabled users.
  filter: (uid=*)
  # The attribute selectors for each item, as passed to the LDAP server.
  attributes: ['*', '+']
  # This field is either 'false' to disable paging when reading from the
  # server, or an object on the form '{ pageSize: 100, pagePause: true }' that
  # specifies the details of how the paging shall work.
  paged: false
```

#### users.set

This optional piece lets you specify a number of JSON paths (on a.b.c form) and
hard coded values to set on those paths. This can be useful for example if you
want to hard code a namespace or similar on the generated entities.

```yaml
set:
  # Just an example; the key and value can be anything
  metadata.namespace: 'ldap'
```

#### users.map

Mappings from well known entity fields, to LDAP attribute names. This is where
you are able to define how to interpret the attributes of each LDAP result item,
and to move them into the corresponding entity fields. All the options are shown
below, with their default values, but they are all optional.

If you leave out an optional mapping, it will still be copied using that default
value. For example, even if you do not put in the field `displayName` in your
config, the provider will still copy the attribute `cn` into the entity field
`spec.profile.displayName`.

```yaml
map:
  # The name of the attribute that holds the relative
  # distinguished name of each entry.
  rdn: uid
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the metadata.name field of the entity.
  name: uid
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the metadata.description field of the entity.
  description: description
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.displayName field of the entity.
  displayName: cn
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.email field of the entity.
  email: mail
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.picture field of the entity.
  picture: <nothing, left out>
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the values of
  # the spec.memberOf field of the entity.
  memberOf: memberOf
```

### groups

The `groups` block defines the settings that govern the reading and
interpretation of groups. Its fields are explained in separate sections below.

#### groups.dn

The DN under which groups are stored, e.g.
`ou=people,ou=example,dc=example,dc=net`.

#### groups.options

The search options to use when sending the query to the server, when reading all
groups. All the options are shown below, with their default values, but they are
all optional.

```yaml
options:
  # One of 'base', 'one', or 'sub'.
  scope: one
  # The filter is the one that you commonly will want to specify explicitly. It
  # is a string on the standard LDAP query format. Use it to select out the set
  # of groups that are of actual interest to ingest. For example, you may want
  # to filter out disabled groups.
  filter: (&(objectClass=some-group-class)(!(groupType=email)))
  # The attribute selectors for each item, as passed to the LDAP server.
  attributes: ['*', '+']
  # This field is either 'false' to disable paging when reading from the
  # server, or an object on the form '{ pageSize: 100, pagePause: true }' that
  # specifies the details of how the paging shall work.
  paged: false
```

#### groups.set

This optional piece lets you specify a number of JSON paths (on a.b.c form) and
hard coded values to set on those paths. This can be useful for example if you
want to hard code a namespace or similar on the generated entities.

```yaml
set:
  # Just an example; the key and value can be anything
  metadata.namespace: 'ldap'
```

#### groups.map

Mappings from well known entity fields, to LDAP attribute names. This is where
you are able to define how to interpret the attributes of each LDAP result item,
and to move them into the corresponding entity fields. All of the options are
shown below, with their default values, but they are all optional.

If you leave out an optional mapping, it will still be copied using that default
value. For example, even if you do not put in the field `displayName` in your
config, the provider will still copy the attribute `cn` into the entity field
`spec.profile.displayName`. If the target field is optional, such as the display
name, the importer will accept missing attributes and just leave the target
field unset. If the target field is mandatory, such as the name of the entity,
validation will fail if the source attribute is missing.

```yaml
map:
  # The name of the attribute that holds the relative
  # distinguished name of each entry. This value is copied into a
  # well known annotation to be able to query by it later.
  rdn: cn
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the metadata.name field of the entity.
  name: cn
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the metadata.description field of the entity.
  description: description
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.type field of the entity.
  type: groupType
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.displayName field of the entity.
  displayName: cn
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.email field of the entity.
  email: <nothing, left out>
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the value of
  # the spec.profile.picture field of the entity.
  picture: <nothing, left out>
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the values of
  # the spec.parent field of the entity.
  memberOf: memberOf
  # The name of the attribute that shall be used for the values of
  # the spec.children field of the entity.
  members: member
```

## Customize the Provider

In case you want to customize the ingested entities, the provider allows to pass
transformers for users and groups. Here we will show an example of overriding
the group transformer.

1. Create a transformer:

   ```ts
   export async function myGroupTransformer(
     vendor: LdapVendor,
     config: GroupConfig,
     group: SearchEntry,
   ): Promise<GroupEntity | undefined> {
     // Transformations may change namespace, change entity naming pattern, fill
     // profile with more or other details...

     // Create the group entity on your own, or wrap the default transformer
     return await defaultGroupTransformer(vendor, config, group);
   }
   ```

2. Configure the provider with the transformer:

   ```ts
   const ldapEntityProvider = LdapOrgEntityProvider.fromLegacyConfig(
     env.config,
     {
       id: 'our-ldap-master',
       target: 'ldaps://ds.example.net',
       logger: env.logger,
       groupTransformer: myGroupTransformer,
     },
   );
   ```

## Using a Processor instead of a Provider

An alternative to using the Provider for ingesting LDAP entries is to use a
Processor. This is the old way that's based on registering locations with the
proper type and target, triggering the processor to run.

The drawback of this method is that it will leave orphaned Group/User entities
whenever they are deleted on your LDAP server, and you cannot control the
frequency with which they are refreshed, separately from other processors.

### Processor Installation

The `LdapOrgReaderProcessor` is not registered by default, so you have to
register it in the catalog plugin:

```typescript title="packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts"
builder.addProcessor(
  LdapOrgReaderProcessor.fromLegacyConfig(env.config, {
    logger: env.logger,
  }),
);
```

### Driving LDAP Org Processor Ingestion with Locations

Locations point out the specific org(s) you want to import. The `type` of these
locations must be `ldap-org`, and the `target` must point to the exact URL
(starting with `ldap://` or `ldaps://`) of the targeted LDAP server. You can
have several such location entries if you want, but typically you will have just
one.

```yaml
catalog:
  locations:
    - type: ldap-org
      target: ldaps://ds.example.net
      rules:
        - allow: [User, Group]
```

### Example configurations

#### Google Secure LDAP Service

To sync Google Workspace/Cloud Identity organization data to users and groups in backstage,
you must [configure Secure LDAP Service](https://support.google.com/a/answer/9048516) first.

Once Secure LDAP Service is configured, you can enable TLS options in LDAP configuration,
as mentioned below. `keys` and `certs` specify the location of files that are generated
while configuring Secure LDAP Service above.

```yaml
ldap:
  providers:
    - target: ldaps://ldap.google.com:636
      tls:
        rejectUnauthorized: false
        keys: '/var/secrets/tls/gldap.key'
        certs: '/var/secrets/tls/gldap.crt'
      users:
        # users configuration comes here
      groups:
        # groups configuration comes here
```