Basic external auth policy
Authenticate requests with a basic dictionary of usernames and passwords.
Basic authentication sends encoded user credentials in a standard header within the request. Then, Gloo Mesh authenticates the request against a dictionary of usernames and passwords that are written in the external auth policy. If the credentials in the request header match the policy, the request is sent to the destination. If not, Gloo Mesh Gateway returns a 401 response.
You might use basic auth for testing environments, such as when you release a new API method or version to a small number of known users.
If you import or export resources across workspaces, your policies might not apply. For more information, see Import and export policies.
Before you begin
This guide assumes that you use the same names for components like clusters, workspaces, and namespaces as in the getting started. If you have different names, make sure to update the sample configuration files in this guide.
Complete the multicluster getting started guide to set up the following testing environment.
- Three clusters along with environment variables for the clusters and their Kubernetes contexts.
- The Gloo
meshctl
CLI, along with other CLI tools such askubectl
andistioctl
. - The Gloo management server in the management cluster, and the Gloo agents in the workload clusters.
- Istio installed in the workload clusters.
- A simple Gloo workspace setup.
- Install Bookinfo and other sample apps.
Make sure that the external auth service is installed and running. If not, install the external auth service.
kubectl get pods --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 -A -l app=ext-auth-service
Make sure that you have the following CLI tools, or something comparable:
htpasswd
to generate hashed, salted passwords.base64
to encode strings.
Configure basic external auth policies
You can apply a basic external auth policy at the route or destination level. For more information, see Applying policies.
When you create the policy with a destination selector, only Kubernetes services can be specified in the applyToDestination
section. Gloo virtual destinations or Gloo external services are not supported.
When you apply this custom resource to your cluster, Gloo Mesh Enterprise automatically checks the configuration against validation rules and value constraints. You can also run a pre-admission validation check by using the meshctl x validate resources
command. For more information, see the resource validation overview and the CLI command reference.
Generate a salt and hashed password for your user credentials. The following example uses the
htpasswd
tool for a user nameduser
.htpasswd -nbm user password
Example output:
user:$apr1$TYiryv0/$8BvzLUO9IfGPGGsPnAgSu1
Retrieve the salt and hashed password from the output of the previous step.
- Salt:
TYiryv0/
- Hashed password:
8BvzLUO9IfGPGGsPnAgSu1
- Salt:
Review the following sample configuration file.
apiVersion: security.policy.gloo.solo.io/v2 kind: ExtAuthPolicy metadata: annotations: cluster.solo.io/cluster: "" name: basic-auth namespace: bookinfo spec: applyToDestinations: - port: number: 9080 selector: labels: app: ratings config: glooAuth: configs: - basicAuth: apr: users: user: hashedPassword: 8BvzLUO9IfGPGGsPnAgSu1 salt: TYiryv0/ server: name: default-server
Review the following table to understand this configuration. For more information, see the API docs.
Setting | Description |
---|---|
applyToDestinations | Use labels to apply the policy to destinations. Destinations might be a Kubernetes service, VirtualDestination, or ExternalService (if supported by the policy). If you do not specify any destinations or routes, the policy applies to all destinations in the workspace by default. If you do not specify any destinations but you do specify a route, the policy applies to the route but to no destinations. |
basicAuth | Configure the basic auth credentials to use to authenticate requests. The example sets up user credentials for a user named user in the required APR1 format. For more information, see the API reference. |
hashedPassword | The hashed password that you generated in the previous step. The example sets 8BvzLUO9IfGPGGsPnAgSu1 . |
salt | The salt, or random data that hashes the password, that you generated in the previous step. The example sets TYiryv0/ . |
server | The ExtAuthServer resource that represents the server for the policy to use. In this example, only the name is specified. Gloo attempts to find the resource in the same namespace and cluster as the policy, or you can add namespace and cluster fields. To create an ExtAuthServer resource, see Set up the Gloo Mesh Enterprise external auth server. |
Apply external auth to external services
The following example is for an external auth policy that applies to an external service. Note that this policy requires different routing table and external auth server resources, as well as an external service.
Verify basic external auth policies
Apply the example basic external auth policy and server in the workload cluster. The following example refers directly to the default Gloo Mesh Enterprise external auth service, but you can also use a virtual destination instead. For more information, see External auth server setup. Note: Change
cluster-1
as needed to your cluster’s actual name.kubectl apply --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1} -f - << EOF apiVersion: security.policy.gloo.solo.io/v2 kind: ExtAuthPolicy metadata: annotations: cluster.solo.io/cluster: "" name: basic-auth namespace: bookinfo spec: applyToDestinations: - port: number: 9080 selector: labels: app: ratings config: glooAuth: configs: - basicAuth: apr: users: user: hashedPassword: 8BvzLUO9IfGPGGsPnAgSu1 salt: TYiryv0/ server: name: default-server --- apiVersion: admin.gloo.solo.io/v2 kind: ExtAuthServer metadata: annotations: cluster.solo.io/cluster: "" name: default-server namespace: bookinfo spec: destinationServer: port: number: 8083 ref: cluster: cluster-1 name: ext-auth-service namespace: gloo-mesh EOF
View the
ext-auth-service
deployment logs to verify that the policy was accepted. Look for a message similar to the following:"logger":"extauth","caller":"runner/run.go:179","msg":"got new config"
. If you don’t see this message, check the management server logs for errors.meshctl logs ext-auth --kubecontext $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
Send an unauthenticated request to the app. Create a temporary curl pod in the
bookinfo
namespace, so that you can test the app setup. You can also use this method in Kubernetes 1.23 or later, but an ephemeral container might be simpler.- Create the curl pod.
kubectl run -it -n bookinfo --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 curl \ --image=curlimages/curl:7.73.0 --rm -- sh
- Send a request to the reviews app.
curl http://reviews:9080/reviews/1 -v
Example output: Notice that the request is denied with a
401 Unauthorized
response.HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
- Create the curl pod.
Encode the expected user credentials in base64 format.
echo -n "user:password" | base64
Example output:
dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==
Repeat the request to the
ratings
app, including the authorization header with the user credentials. This time, the request succeeds.- Create the curl pod.
kubectl run -it -n bookinfo --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 curl \ --image=curlimages/curl:7.73.0 --rm -- sh
- Send a request to the reviews app.
curl -H "Authorization: basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==" http://reviews:9080/reviews/1 -v
- Exit the temporary pod. The pod deletes itself.
exit
Example output:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
- Create the curl pod.
Cleanup
You can optionally remove the resources that you set up as part of this guide.
kubectl --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 -n bookinfo delete ExtAuthPolicy basic-auth
kubectl --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 -n bookinfo delete ExtAuthServer default-server