SSSD-IPA(5)

📦
version 2.13.1 · 21 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 SSSD-IPA(5) 💖

okay so this is the File Formats and Conventions manual page SSSD-IPA(5), and bestie, it's literally the whole vibe for the SSSD IPA provider. Grab a snack. 🍓✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

sssd-ipa — SSSD IPA provider

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

This page is all about how to configure the IPA provider for sssd(8). If you want the full syntax tea, go read the “FILE FORMAT” section of the sssd.conf(5) manual page. 📖

The IPA provider is a back end used to connect to an IPA server. (Go to the freeipa.org web site for IPA server lore.) This provider requires that the machine be joined to the IPA domain; configuration is almost entirely self-discovered and obtained directly from the server. ✨

It enables SSSD to use the sssd-ldap(5) identity provider and the sssd-krb5(5) authentication provider, but with optimizations for IPA environments. The IPA provider accepts the same options used by the sssd-ldap and sssd-krb5 providers with some exceptions. But lowkey? It is neither necessary nor recommended to set those options. Don't do extra work, bestie. 💅

The IPA provider primarily copies the traditional ldap and krb5 provider default options with some exceptions — the differences are listed in the “MODIFIED DEFAULT OPTIONS” section. 📝

As an access provider, the IPA provider has a minimal configuration (see “ipa_access_order”) because it mainly uses HBAC (host-based access control) rules. Please refer to freeipa.org for more information about HBAC. 👑

If “auth_provider=ipa” or “access_provider=ipa” is configured in sssd.conf then the id_provider must also be set to “ipa”. Periodt. 💅

The IPA provider will use the PAC responder if the Kerberos tickets of users from trusted realms contain a PAC. To make configuration easier the PAC responder is started automatically if the IPA ID provider is configured. No extra button-pressing. 🫶

💅 CONFIGURATION OPTIONS 💅

Refer to the section “DOMAIN SECTIONS” of the sssd.conf(5) manual page for details on the configuration of an SSSD domain.

ipa_domain (string)

Specifies the name of the IPA domain. This is optional. If not provided, the configuration domain name is used. Easy peasy. 🎀

ipa_server, ipa_backup_server (string)

The comma-separated list of IP addresses or hostnames of the IPA servers to which SSSD should connect in the order of preference. For more information on failover and server redundancy, see the “FAILOVER” section. This is optional if autodiscovery is enabled. For more information on service discovery, refer to the “SERVICE DISCOVERY” section. 🌈

ipa_hostname (string)

Optional. May be set on machines where hostname(5) does not reflect the fully qualified name used in the IPA domain to identify this host. The hostname must be fully qualified. 🦋

dyndns_update (boolean)

Optional. This option tells SSSD to automatically update the DNS server built into FreeIPA with the IP address of this client. The update is secured using GSS-TSIG. The IP address of the IPA LDAP connection is used for the updates, if it is not otherwise specified by using the “dyndns_iface” option.

NOTE: On older systems (such as RHEL 5), for this behavior to work reliably, the default Kerberos realm must be set properly in /etc/krb5.conf

Default: false

dyndns_ttl (integer)

The TTL to apply to the client DNS record when updating it. If dyndns_update is false this has no effect. This will override the TTL serverside if set by an administrator.

Default: 1200 (seconds)

dyndns_iface (string)

Optional. Applicable only when dyndns_update is true. Choose the interface or a list of interfaces whose IP addresses should be used for dynamic DNS updates. The name of interface can be a wildcard pattern prefixed with ! for interface excluding. First match stops the evaluation. For example list !eth1, * instruct SSSD to use all interfaces except eth1. See man 7 glob for details about patterns. 🧚

Default: Use the IP addresses of the interface which is used for IPA LDAP connection

Example: dyndns_iface = em[12], !vnet1, vnet*

dyndns_address (string)

Optional. Applicable only when dyndns_update is true. A list of IP addresses or IP networks to be used for dynamic DNS updates. Network addresses must be in CIDR format. An entry can be prefixed with ! to indicate exclusion. The best match is used to determine whether an address is included or excluded (i.e., a longer prefix takes precedence).

Default: No filtering of IP addresses.

Example: dyndns_address = 10.0.0.0/16, !10.0.1.0/24

dyndns_auth (string)

Whether the nsupdate utility should use GSS-TSIG authentication for secure updates with the DNS server, insecure updates can be sent by setting this option to 'none'.

Default: GSS-TSIG

dyndns_auth_ptr (string)

Whether the nsupdate utility should use GSS-TSIG authentication for secure PTR updates with the DNS server, insecure updates can be sent by setting this option to 'none'.

Default: Same as dyndns_auth

dyndns_refresh_interval (integer)

How often should the back end perform periodic DNS update in addition to the automatic update performed when the back end goes online. This option is optional and applicable only when dyndns_update is true.

Default: 0 (disabled)

dyndns_update_ptr (bool)

Whether the PTR record should also be explicitly updated when updating the client's DNS records. Applicable only when dyndns_update is true.

This option should be False in most IPA deployments as the IPA server generates the PTR records automatically when forward records are changed.

Note that dyndns_update_per_family parameter does not apply for PTR record updates. Those updates are always sent separately.

Default: False (disabled)

dyndns_force_tcp (bool)

Whether the nsupdate utility should default to using TCP for communicating with the DNS server.

Default: False (let nsupdate choose the protocol)

dyndns_server (string)

The DNS server to use when performing a DNS update. In most setups, it's recommended to leave this option unset.

Setting this option makes sense for environments where the DNS server is different from the identity server or when we use encrypted DNS.

The parameter can be a simple string containing DNS name or IP address. It can also be an URI. The URI can look like dns://servername/ or dns+tls://1.2.3.4:853#servername/.

The second example enables DNS-over-TLS protocol for DNS updates. The nsupdate utility must support DoT - check the man nsupdate before enabling it in SSSD.

Please note that this option will be only used in fallback attempt when previous attempt using autodetected settings failed or when DNS-over-TLS is enabled.

Default: None (let nsupdate choose the server)

dyndns_update_per_family (boolean)

DNS update is by default performed in two steps - IPv4 update and then IPv6 update. In some cases it might be desirable to perform IPv4 and IPv6 update in single step.

Default: true

dyndns_dot_cacert (string)

This option specifies the file of the certificate authorities certificates (in PEM format) in order to verify the remote server TLS certificate when using DoT.

Default: None (use global certificate store)

dyndns_dot_cert (string)

This option sets the certificate(s) file for authentication for the DoT transport to the remote server. The certificate chain file is expected to be in PEM format.

The dyndns_dot_cert and dyndns_dot_key options must be both set to achieve mutual TLS authentication.

Default: None (Do not use TLS authentication)

dyndns_dot_key (string)

This option sets the key file for authenticated encryption for the DoT transport to the remote server. The private key file is expected to be in PEM format.

Default: None (Do not use TLS authentication)

ipa_access_order (string)

Comma separated list of access control options. Allowed values are:

  • expire: use IPA's account expiration policy.
  • pwd_expire_policy_reject, pwd_expire_policy_warn, pwd_expire_policy_renew: These options are useful if users are interested in being warned that password is about to expire and authentication is based on using a different method than passwords - for example SSH keys.

The difference between these options is the action taken if user password is expired:

  • pwd_expire_policy_reject - user is denied to log in,
  • pwd_expire_policy_warn - user is still able to log in,
  • pwd_expire_policy_renew - user is prompted to change their password immediately.

Please note that 'access_provider = ipa' must be set for this feature to work. 🔐

ipa_deskprofile_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for Desktop Profile related objects.

Default: Use base DN

ipa_subid_ranges_search_base (string)

Deprecated. Use ldap_subid_ranges_search_base instead.

ipa_hbac_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for HBAC related objects.

Default: Use base DN

ipa_host_search_base (string)

Deprecated. Use ldap_host_search_base instead.

ipa_selinux_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for SELinux user maps.

See “ldap_search_base” for information about configuring multiple search bases.

Default: the value of ldap_search_base

ipa_subdomains_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for trusted domains.

See “ldap_search_base” for information about configuring multiple search bases.

Default: the value of cn=trusts,%basedn

ipa_master_domain_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for master domain object.

See “ldap_search_base” for information about configuring multiple search bases.

Default: the value of cn=ad,cn=etc,%basedn

ipa_views_search_base (string)

Optional. Use the given string as search base for views containers.

See “ldap_search_base” for information about configuring multiple search bases.

Default: the value of cn=views,cn=accounts,%basedn

krb5_realm (string)

The name of the Kerberos realm. This is optional and defaults to the value of “ipa_domain”.

The name of the Kerberos realm has a special meaning in IPA - it is converted into the base DN to use for performing LDAP operations.

  • krb5_confd_path (string) — the absolute path to the directory where SSSD drops its Kerberos config snippets. Wanna ✋ stop it from making snippets at all? Set it to none. That's it, that's the whole vibe.
    • Default: not set (which means the krb5.include.d subdirectory of SSSD's pubconf directory)
  • ipa_deskprofile_refresh (integer) — how long we wait between lookups of the Desktop Profile rules from the IPA server. Lowkey a lifesaver when everyone and their mom is hammering desktop profile requests at once — it keeps the latency and the server load down. 💅
    • Default: 5 (seconds)
  • ipa_deskprofile_request_interval (integer) — the gap between Desktop Profile rule lookups when the last request came back with literally no rule. Nothing found? We chill and try again later.
    • Default: 60 (minutes)
  • ipa_hbac_refresh (integer) — time between lookups of the HBAC rules against the IPA server. Same energy as above: if there's a flood of access-control requests in a short window, this keeps things snappy and the server unbothered. ✨
    • Default: 5 (seconds)
  • ipa_hbac_selinux (integer) — time between lookups of the SELinux maps against the IPA server. Again, protects the server from getting piled on when tons of user login requests show up at once. 🫶
    • Default: 5 (seconds)
  • ipa_server_mode (boolean) — this one gets set for you by the IPA installer (ipa-server-install), no cap. It tells SSSD whether it's running on an IPA server or not.
    • On an IPA server, SSSD pulls users and groups from trusted domains directly. On a client, it asks an IPA server instead. Different main character behavior, same friend group. 👑
    • Default: false
NOTE: there are currently some assumptions that must be met when SSSD is running on an IPA server. Not optional, bestie: - The “ipa_server” option must be configured to point to the IPA server itself. This is already the default set by the IPA installer, so no manual change is required. 🙏 - The “full_name_format” option must not be tweaked to only print short names for users from trusted domains.
  • ipa_automount_location (string) — the automounter location this IPA client will be using.
    • Default: the location named "default"
Heads up: the automounter only reads the master map on startup. So if you change anything autofs-related in sssd.conf, you typically also need to restart the automounter daemon after restarting the SSSD. Order matters, babes. 💀

🦋 VIEWS AND OVERRIDES 🦋

SSSD can handle views and overrides — the ones FreeIPA 4.1 and later serve up. And here's the tea: since all the paths and objectclasses are fixed on the server side, there's basically nothing for you to configure. It just works. ✨

But for completeness (and because we don't gatekeep), here are the related options with their default values.

ipa_view_class (string)

Objectclass of the view container.

  • Default: nsContainer

ipa_view_name (string)

Name of the attribute holding the name of the view.

  • Default: cn

ipa_override_object_class (string)

Objectclass of the override objects.

  • Default: ipaOverrideAnchor

ipa_anchor_uuid (string)

Name of the attribute containing the reference to the original object in a remote domain.

  • Default: ipaAnchorUUID

ipa_user_override_object_class (string)

Name of the objectclass for user overrides. It's used to figure out if the override object we found is about a user or a group. 👀

User overrides can contain attributes given by:

  • ldap_user_name
  • ldap_user_uid_number
  • ldap_user_gid_number
  • ldap_user_gecos
  • ldap_user_home_directory
  • ldap_user_shell
  • ldap_user_ssh_public_key
  • Default: ipaUserOverride

ipa_group_override_object_class (string)

Name of the objectclass for group overrides. Also used to tell whether the override object we found relates to a user or a group.

Group overrides can contain attributes given by:

  • ldap_group_name
  • ldap_group_gid_number
  • Default: ipaGroupOverride

🌈 MODIFIED DEFAULT OPTIONS 🌈

So here's the thing — some option defaults do not match their respective backend provider defaults. Rude? Maybe. But it's intentional. Below are those option names along with their IPA provider-specific defaults:

KRB5 Provider 💜

  • krb5_validate = true
  • krb5_use_fast = try
  • krb5_canonicalize = true

LDAP Provider - General 🎀

  • ldap_schema = ipa_v1
  • ldap_force_upper_case_realm = true
  • ldap_sasl_mech = GSSAPI
  • ldap_sasl_minssf = 56
  • ldap_account_expire_policy = ipa
  • ldap_use_tokengroups = true

LDAP Provider - User options 🌸

  • ldap_user_member_of = memberOf
  • ldap_user_uuid = ipaUniqueID
  • ldap_user_ssh_public_key = ipaSshPubKey
  • ldap_user_auth_type = ipaUserAuthType

LDAP Provider - Group options 🍓

  • ldap_group_object_class = ipaUserGroup
  • ldap_group_object_class_alt = posixGroup
  • ldap_group_member = member
  • ldap_group_uuid = ipaUniqueID
  • ldap_group_objectsid = ipaNTSecurityIdentifier
  • ldap_group_external_member = ipaExternalMember

🧚 SUBDOMAINS PROVIDER 🧚

The IPA subdomains provider acts a little differently depending on whether it's configured explicitly or implicitly. Two vibes, one provider. Let's break it down:

  • If the option 'subdomains_provider = ipa' is found in the domain section of sssd.conf, the IPA subdomains provider is configured explicitly — meaning all subdomain requests get sent to the IPA server if necessary. 📨
  • If the option 'subdomains_provider' is not set in the domain section of sssd.conf but the option 'id_provider = ipa' is there, the IPA subdomains provider is configured implicitly. In that case, if a subdomain request fails and indicates that the server does not support subdomains (i.e. it's not configured for trusts), the IPA subdomains provider gets disabled. But don't stress — after an hour, or after the IPA provider goes online, the subdomains provider is enabled again. It always comes back. 🦋

👑 TRUSTED DOMAINS CONFIGURATION 👑

Some configuration options can also be set for a trusted domain. You do it with a trusted domain subsection, like the glow-up below. Or, alternatively, you can use the “subdomain_inherit” option in the parent domain.

[domain/ipa.domain.com/ad.domain.com]
ad_server = dc.ad.domain.com

For more details, see the sssd.conf(5) manual page.

Different configuration options are tunable for a trusted domain depending on whether you're configuring SSSD on an IPA server or an IPA client. Bestie, you gotta know which one you are.

OPTIONS TUNABLE ON IPA MASTERS 🔥

The following options can be set in a subdomain section on an IPA master:

  • ad_server
  • ad_backup_server
  • ad_site
  • ipa_server
  • ipa_backup_server
  • ldap_search_base
  • ldap_user_search_base
  • ldap_group_search_base
  • use_fully_qualified_names

Options prefixed with 'ad_' or 'ipa_' only apply to their respective subdomain type. Stay in your lane, options. 💅

OPTIONS TUNABLE ON IPA CLIENTS ✨

The following options can be set in an AD subdomain section on an IPA client:

  • ad_server
  • ad_site

Note that if both options are set, only “ad_server” is evaluated. Sorry ad_site, you're the understudy in that scenario. 🙈

Since any request for a user or a group identity from a trusted domain that's triggered from an IPA client is resolved by the IPA server, the “ad_server” and “ad_site” options only affect which AD DC the authentication will be performed against. In particular, the addresses resolved from these lists will be written to “kdcinfo” files read by the Kerberos locator plugin. Please refer to the sssd_krb5_locator_plugin(8) manual page for more details on the Kerberos locator plugin. 💖

💫 FAILOVER 💫

Okay bestie, this one's the glow-up your back end deserves. The failover feature lets back ends automatically switch to a different server if the current server just... dies on them. Rude of the server, honestly. 💀

✨ Failover Syntax ✨

The list of servers is given as a comma-separated list — and you can put any number of spaces around the comma, live your truth. The servers are listed in order of preference, and the list can contain any number of servers. Go off. 👑

For each failover-enabled config option, two variants exist: primary and backup. The whole idea? Servers in the primary list are the favorites 💅, and backup servers are only searched if no primary servers can be reached. If a backup server does get selected, a timeout of 31 seconds is set. After that timeout, SSSD will periodically try to reconnect to one of the primary servers. And if it succeeds? It replaces the current active (backup) server. Main character move, fr fr. 🌟

🔥 The Failover Mechanism 🔥

The failover mechanism distinguishes between a machine and a service. Here's the tea:

The back end first tries to resolve the hostname of a given machine. If that resolution attempt fails, the machine is considered offline. And like — no further attempts are made to connect to this machine for any other service. It's giving blocked. 🙈

But if the resolution attempt succeeds, the back end tries to connect to a service on this machine. If the service connection attempt fails, then only this particular service is considered offline, and the back end automatically switches over to the next service. The machine is still considered online and might still be tried for another service. Not cancelled, just one bad vibe. ✨

Further connection attempts are made to machines or services marked as offline after a specified period of time — this is currently hard coded to 30 seconds.

And if there are no more machines to try, the back end as a whole switches to offline mode, and then attempts to reconnect every 30 seconds. Manifesting a comeback. 🕯️

🎀 Failover time outs and tuning 🎀

Resolving a server to connect to can be as simple as running a single DNS query, or it can involve several steps — like finding the correct site, or trying out multiple host names in case some of the configured servers are not reachable. The more complex scenarios can take some time, and SSSD needs to balance between giving enough time to finish the resolution process... but also not trying for too long before falling back to offline mode. It's a whole tightrope walk, ngl. 😭

If the SSSD debug logs show that the server resolution is timing out before a live server is contacted, you can consider changing the time outs.

This section lists the available tunables. Please refer to their description in the sssd.conf(5) manual page. 📖

  • dns_resolver_server_timeout — Time in milliseconds that sets how long SSSD would talk to a single DNS server before trying the next one. Default: 1000
  • dns_resolver_op_timeout — Time in seconds to tell how long SSSD would try to resolve a single DNS query (e.g. resolution of a hostname or an SRV record) before trying the next hostname or discovery domain. Default: 3
  • dns_resolver_timeout — How long SSSD would try to resolve a failover service. This service resolution internally might include several steps, such as resolving DNS SRV queries or locating the site. Default: 6

For LDAP-based providers, the resolve operation is performed as part of an LDAP connection operation. Therefore, also the ldap_opt_timeout timeout should be set to a larger value than dns_resolver_timeout, which in turn should be set to a larger value than dns_resolver_op_timeout, which should be larger than dns_resolver_server_timeout.

Bestie, that's a whole nesting-doll of timeouts. Biggest to smallest, in that exact order. Do not freestyle it. 🙅‍♀️

🦋 SERVICE DISCOVERY 🦋

The service discovery feature lets back ends automatically find the appropriate servers to connect to using a special DNS query. But heads up — this feature is not supported for backup servers. Sorry backup girlies. 💔

🌸 Configuration 🌸

If no servers are specified, the back end automatically uses service discovery to try to find a server. Optionally, you may choose to use both fixed server addresses and service discovery by inserting a special keyword, "_srv_", in the list of servers. The order of preference is maintained. This is useful if, for example, you prefer to use service discovery whenever possible, and fall back to a specific server when no servers can be discovered using DNS. Flexible AND loyal. 💅

💜 The domain name 💜

Please refer to the "dns_discovery_domain" parameter in the sssd.conf(5) manual page for more details. iykyk. 📖

🌈 The protocol 🌈

The queries usually specify _tcp as the protocol. Exceptions are documented in respective option description.

⭐ See Also ⭐

For more information on the service discovery mechanism, refer to RFC 2782. 📜

🎉 EXAMPLE 🎉

The following example assumes that SSSD is correctly configured and example.com is one of the domains in the [sssd] section. This example shows only the ipa provider-specific options. ✨

[domain/example.com]
id_provider = ipa
ipa_server = ipaserver.example.com
ipa_hostname = myhost.example.com

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Your reading list, bestie — go stan all of them:

sssd(8), sssd.conf(5), sssd-ldap(5), sssd-ldap-attributes(5), sssd-krb5(5), sssd-simple(5), sssd-ipa(5), sssd-ad(5), sssd-idp(5), sssd-sudo(5), sssd-session-recording(5), sss_cache(8), sss_debuglevel(8), sss_obfuscate(8), sss_seed(8), sssd_krb5_locator_plugin(8), sss_ssh_authorizedkeys(1), sss_ssh_knownhosts(1), sssd-ifp(5), pam_sss(8). sss_rpcidmapd(5) sssd-systemtap(5)

💖 AUTHORS 💖

The SSSD upstream — https://github.com/SSSD/sssd/ 🫶

And that's a wrap on this whole page, bestie!! 🎀 This section came to you courtesy of SSSD, dated 07/08/2026, and it lives in the SSSD-IPA(5) era. Slay, periodt. ✨💅

📦 where this page comes from