Active Directory mixed configuration with LDAP synced

The objective of this kind of configuration is to authenticate against Active Directory but, on the other hand, obtain roles, usernames, and emails from the database. When this configuration is enabled, a cron job named "Sync LDAP users" periodically synchronizes the active directory users' data ( username, email ) in the OpenKM database and removes any database user that is not present in the active directory user list.

Available since OpenKM 7.1.37 version

LDAP structure

dc=com
    dc=company
        cn=users
            sAMAccountName=okmAdmin
                cn=users,dc=company,dc=com
                userPrincipalName=okmAdmin@mail.com
                cn=OpenKM Administrator
            sAMAccountName=user1
                cn=users,dc=company,dc=com
                userPrincipalName=user1@mail.com
                cn=User Name 1
            sAMAccountName=user2
                cn=users,dc=company,dc=com
                userPrincipalName=user2@mail.com
                cn=User Name 3

The OpenKM integration with LDAP has two steps. In the first step, configure OpenKM to retrieve the list of users and roles from the LDAP. This list is cached during 30-45 minutes by OpenKM to prevent overloading the LDAP server. You can clean the cache from Administration> Tools > Cache stats. In the second step, configure login; this configuration always works in real-time.

Step 1 - configuration parameters

We suggest login into OpenKM with the admin URL ( for example, http://localhost:8080/openkm/admin/index ) because the next steps will be necessary to restart OpenKM service, and you do not want to lose administration access.

The first action should be to modify principal.adapter parameter value and restart the OpenKM service. Because the session ID is kept in the browser, you should not lose the login after the service resumes and can continue working in the Administration. After this change, the users and roles list will be empty from the Administration. Until success configuring the following parameters, these lists will be empty.

We suggest using "com.openkm.plugin.principal.DatabasePrincipalAdapter" in the principal.adapter configuration parameter value, either "com.openkm.plugin.principal.MixedLdapSyncedPrincipalAdapter" value shown in the table below.

If you use "DatabasePrincipalAdapter" the restrictions are:

Before the user login, you must create all the user data in the database.
The password you set in the database will not be applied; the login process works only with an AD connection.

User members of ROLE_ADMIN or ROLE_USER are created into the database.

Go to Administration> Configuration parameters:

Field / Property	Type	Description
principal.adapter	String	com.openkm.plugin.principal.MixedLdapSyncedPrincipalAdapter
system.login.lowercase	String	true
principal.ldap.server	String	ldap://192.168.0.6:389
principal.ldap.security.principal	String	CN=Administrator,cn=users,dc=company,dc=local
principal.ldap.security.credentials	String	password
principal.ldap.referral	String
principal.ldap.users.from.roles	Boolean	false
principal.ldap.user.attribute	String	sAMAccountName
principal.ldap.user.search.base	List	dc=company,dc=local
principal.ldap.user.search.filter	String	(objectclass=person)
principal.ldap.username.attribute	String	cn
principal.ldap.username.search.base	String	dc=company,dc=local
principal.ldap.username.search.filter	String	(&(objectClass=person)(sAMAccountName={0}))
principal.ldap.mail.attribute	String	mail
principal.ldap.mail.search.base	String	dc=company,dc=local
principal.ldap.mail.search.filter	String	(&(objectClass=person)(sAMAccountName={0}))

Step 2 - configure login

You must disable default OpenKM authentication to enable openkm.xml

You must set the location of the openkm.xml file

Apply changes in the openkm.properties file.

The parameter "okm.authentication.database" disables database login.

The parameter "okm.authentication.ldap" disables internal ldap login.

# Disable default OpenKM authentication
okm.authentication.database=false
okm.authentication.ldap=false

# Enable openkm.xml configuration file
okm.authentication.config=file:/home/openkm/tomcat-8.5.69/openkm.xml

Apply changes in the openkm.xml file ( refer to Configuring openkm.xml documentation section for more information ).

  <!-- LDAP authentication -->
  <security:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
    <security:authentication-provider ref="ldapAuthProvider" />
  </security:authentication-manager>

  <beans:bean id="contextSource" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.DefaultSpringSecurityContextSource">
    <beans:constructor-arg value="ldap://192.168.0.6:389"/>
    <beans:property name="userDn" value="CN=Administrator,cn=users,dc=company,dc=local"/>
    <beans:property name="password" value="password"/>
    <beans:property name="baseEnvironmentProperties">
       <beans:map>
          <beans:entry>
             <beans:key>
              <beans:value>java.naming.referral</beans:value>
            </beans:key>
            <beans:value>follow</beans:value>
          </beans:entry>
        </beans:map>
     </beans:property>
  </beans:bean>

  <beans:bean id="ldapAuthProvider" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.authentication.LdapAuthenticationProvider">
    <beans:constructor-arg>
      <beans:bean class="org.springframework.security.ldap.authentication.BindAuthenticator">
        <beans:constructor-arg ref="contextSource"/>
        <beans:property name="userSearch" ref="userSearch"/>
      </beans:bean>
    </beans:constructor-arg>
    <beans:constructor-arg name="authoritiesPopulator" ref="databaseAuthoritiesPopulator"/>
  </beans:bean>

  <beans:bean id="userSearch" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.search.FilterBasedLdapUserSearch">
    <beans:constructor-arg index="0" value="dc=company,dc=local" />
    <beans:constructor-arg index="1" value="(sAMAccountName={0})" />
    <beans:constructor-arg index="2" ref="contextSource" />
    <beans:property name="searchSubtree" value="true" />
  </beans:bean>

  <beans:bean id="userDetailService" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.userdetails.LdapUserDetailsService">
    <beans:constructor-arg ref="userSearch"/>
    <beans:constructor-arg ref="databaseAuthoritiesPopulator"/>
  </beans:bean>

  <!-- Get roles from database -->
  <beans:bean id="databaseAuthoritiesPopulator" class="com.openkm.principal.DatabaseAuthoritiesPopulator">
    <beans:constructor-arg ref="dataSource"/>
    <beans:constructor-arg value="select ur_user, ur_role from OKM_USER_ROLE where ur_user=?"/>
  </beans:bean>

After the changes in the previous files must restart the openkm service to take effect.

Table of contents [ Hide Show ]

LDAP structure
Step 1 - configuration parameters
Step 2 - configure login