Centralized vs Distributed OIDC Authentication Setup¶

In a Distributed Cloud configuration, you can configure OIDC authentication in a distributed or centralized setup. For other configurations, like AIO-SX, AIO-DX or Standard Cloud, follow the instructions in the distributed setup documented below.

Distributed Setup¶

For a distributed setup, configure the kube-apiserver and the oidc-auth-apps independently for each cloud, System Controller, and all subclouds. The oidc-auth-apps runs on each active controller of the setup and the kube-apiserver is configured to point to the local instance of oidc-auth-apps. For more information, see:

Configure Kubernetes for OIDC Token Validation
- Configure Kubernetes for OIDC Token Validation while Bootstrapping the System
  
  or
- Configure Kubernetes for OIDC Token Validation after Bootstrapping the System
Configure OIDC Auth Applications

All clouds oidc-auth-apps can be configured to communicate to the same or different authentication servers (Windows Active Directory and/or LDAP). However, each cloud manages OIDC tokens individually. A user must login, authenticate, and get an OIDC token for each cloud independently.

Centralized Setup¶

For a centralized setup, the oidc-auth-apps is configured ‘only’ on the System Controller. The kube-apiserver must be configured on all clouds, System Controller, and all subclouds, to point to the centralized oidc-auth-apps running on the System Controller. In the centralized setup, a user logs in, authenticates, and gets an OIDC token from the Central System Controller’s OIDC identity provider, and uses the OIDC token with ‘any’ of the subclouds as well as the System Controller cloud.

For a centralized OIDC authentication setup, use the following procedure:

Procedure

Configure the kube-apiserver parameters on the System Controller and each subcloud either during bootstrapping or by using the system service-parameter-add kubernetes kube_apiserver command after bootstrapping the system, using the System Controller’s floating OAM IP address as the oidc-issuer-url for all clouds.

For example, oidc-issuer-url=https://<central-cloud-floating-ip>:<oidc-auth-apps-dex -service-NodePort>/dex on the subcloud.

For more information, see:
- Configure Kubernetes for OIDC Token Validation while Bootstrapping the System
  
  or
- Configure Kubernetes for OIDC Token Validation after Bootstrapping the System
Configure the oidc-auth-apps only on the System Controller. For more information, see Configure OIDC Auth Applications

Note

For IPv6 deployments, ensure that the IPv6 OAM floating address is, https://[<central-cloud-floating-ip>]:30556/dex (that is, in lower case, and wrapped in square brackets).

Postrequisites

For more information on configuring Users, Groups, Authorization, and kubectl for the user and retrieving the token on subclouds, see: