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Add documentation for authorization_realms#100

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tvernum merged 3 commits intoelastic:masterfrom
tvernum:lookup-realm/docs
Aug 31, 2018
Merged

Add documentation for authorization_realms#100
tvernum merged 3 commits intoelastic:masterfrom
tvernum:lookup-realm/docs

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@tvernum tvernum commented Aug 10, 2018

Authorization realms are a new feature in Elasticsearch that allow
delegation of authorization from one realm to another.

This commit adds a description of authorization realms to the main
realms doc. Links to this page/section will be added from the docs for
each of the applicable realms.

Authorization realms are a new feature in Elasticsearch that allow
delegation of authorization from one realm to another.

This commit adds a description of authorization realms to the main
realms doc. Links to this page/section will be added from the docs for
each of the applicable realms.
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tvernum commented Aug 10, 2018

Ping: @elastic/es-security

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tvernum commented Aug 10, 2018

This will only be merged when the https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/security-lookup-realms branch is merged to master, but the docs in that feature (see elastic/elasticsearch#32765) link to this new section, so I want to make sure it's reviewed and ready to merge when the feature lands.


Any realm that supports retrieving users (without needing their credentials)
may be used as an _authorization realm_ (that is, its name may appear as one of
the values in the list of `authorizing_realms`). See <<run-as-privilege>> for
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s/authorizing_realms/authorization_realms

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@tvernum tvernum Aug 10, 2018

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Thanks, old habits die hard

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LGTM, Thank you.

NOTE: Delegated authorization requires a
https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions[Platinum or Trial license].

==== Internal and external realms
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@lcawl lcawl Aug 15, 2018

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I think maybe we should move this "internal and external realms" section up above the realm chain section, since it seems like an odd end to this page otherwise.

TLS client certificates, but then lookup that user in an LDAP realm, and use
their LDAP group assignments to determine their roles in Elasticsearch.

For realms that support this feature, it can be enabled by configuring the
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This "For realms that support this feature..." paragraph left me wondering how I'd know which ones support it. I think the answer is in the next paragraph, so my preference would be to have that info first (i.e. swap the order of these two paragraphs).

For realms that support this feature, it can be enabled by configuring the
`authorization_realms` setting on the authenticating realm. Check the list of
supported settings for each realm to see if they support the
`authorization_realms` setting.
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Maybe add a link to the settings page, e.g. {ref}/security-settings.html#realm-settings[Realm settings].

If delegated authorization is enabled for a realm, then it will authenticate
the user in its standard manner (including relevant caching) and then look for
that user in the configured list of authorization realms, trying each realm in
order. The user is retrieved by principal - the user must have identical
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Re "trying each realm in order..." is that the order specified in the authorization_realms setting or the order specified in the realm chain? I think the former

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LGTM from a technical perspective. Lisa's comments make sense to me

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lcawl commented Aug 16, 2018

I implemented all of my suggestions and ended up splitting this new content (and the existing realm chain content) into a separate "realm chains" page, since the "realms" page felt overloaded.

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LGTM

@tvernum tvernum merged commit 7ddd33f into elastic:master Aug 31, 2018
tvernum added a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 26, 2018
Authorization realms are a new feature in Elasticsearch that allow
delegation of authorization from one realm to another.

This commit adds a description of authorization realms to the main
realms doc.
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4 participants