16 KiB
type | stage | group | info |
---|---|---|---|
howto, reference | Manage | Access | To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments |
SCIM provisioning using SAML SSO for GitLab.com groups (SILVER ONLY)
Introduced in GitLab.com Silver 11.10.
System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM), is an open standard that enables the automation of user provisioning. When SCIM is provisioned for a GitLab group, membership of that group is synchronized between GitLab and the identity provider.
The GitLab SCIM API implements part of the RFC7644 protocol.
Features
The following actions are available:
- Create users
- Update users (Azure only)
- Deactivate users
The following identity providers are supported:
- Azure
- Okta
Requirements
- Group Single Sign-On must be configured.
GitLab configuration
Once Group Single Sign-On has been configured, we can:
- Navigate to the group and click Administration > SAML SSO.
- Click on the Generate a SCIM token button.
- Save the token and URL so they can be used in the next step.
Identity Provider configuration
Azure configuration steps
The SAML application that was created during Single sign-on setup for Azure now needs to be set up for SCIM.
-
Check the configuration for your GitLab SAML app and ensure that Name identifier value (NameID) points to
user.objectid
or another unique identifier. This matches theextern_uid
used on GitLab. -
Set up automatic provisioning and administrative credentials by following the Provisioning users and groups to applications that support SCIM section in Azure's SCIM setup documentation.
During this configuration, note the following:
- The
Tenant URL
andsecret token
are the ones retrieved in the previous step. - Should there be any problems with the availability of GitLab or similar errors, the notification email set gets those.
- It is recommended to set a notification email and check the Send an email notification when a failure occurs checkbox.
- For mappings, we will only leave
Synchronize Azure Active Directory Users to AppName
enabled.
You can then test the connection by clicking on Test Connection. If the connection is successful, be sure to save your configuration before moving on. See below for troubleshooting.
Configure attribute mapping
-
Click on
Synchronize Azure Active Directory Users to AppName
to configure the attribute mapping. -
Click Delete next to the
mail
mapping. -
Map
userPrincipalName
toemails[type eq "work"].value
and change its Matching precedence to2
. -
Map
mailNickname
touserName
. -
Determine how GitLab uniquely identifies users.
- Use
objectId
unless users already have SAML linked for your group. - If you already have users with SAML linked then use the
Name ID
value from the SAML configuration. Using a different value may cause duplicate users and prevent users from accessing the GitLab group.
- Use
-
Create a new mapping:
- Click Add New Mapping.
- Set:
- Source attribute to the unique identifier determined above, typically
objectId
. - Target attribute to
externalId
. - Match objects using this attribute to
Yes
. - Matching precedence to
1
.
- Source attribute to the unique identifier determined above, typically
-
Click the
userPrincipalName
mapping and change Match objects using this attribute toNo
. -
Save your changes. For reference, you can view an example configuration in the troubleshooting reference.
NOTE: If you used a unique identifier other than
objectId
, be sure to map it toexternalId
. -
Below the mapping list click on Show advanced options > Edit attribute list for AppName.
-
Ensure the
id
is the primary and required field, andexternalId
is also required.NOTE:
username
should neither be primary nor required as we don't support that field on GitLab SCIM yet. -
Save all the screens and, in the Provisioning step, set the
Provisioning Status
toOn
.NOTE: You can control what is actually synced by selecting the
Scope
. For example,Sync only assigned users and groups
only syncs the users assigned to the application (Users and groups
), otherwise, it syncs the whole Active Directory.
Once enabled, the synchronization details and any errors appears on the bottom of the Provisioning screen, together with a link to the audit events.
WARNING:
Once synchronized, changing the field mapped to id
and externalId
may cause a number of errors. These include provisioning errors, duplicate users, and may prevent existing users from accessing the GitLab group.
Okta configuration steps
Before you start this section, complete the GitLab configuration process. Make sure that you've also set up a SAML application for Okta, as described in the Okta setup notes
Make sure that the Okta setup matches our documentation exactly, especially the NameID configuration. Otherwise, the Okta SCIM app may not work properly.
-
Sign in to Okta.
-
If you see an Admin button in the top right, click the button. This will ensure you are in the Admin area.
NOTE: If you're using the Developer Console, click Developer Console in the top bar and select Classic UI. Otherwise, you may not see the buttons described in the following steps:
-
In the Application tab, click Add Application.
-
Search for GitLab, find and click on the 'GitLab' application.
-
On the GitLab application overview page, click Add.
-
Under Application Visibility select both check boxes. Currently the GitLab application does not support SAML authentication so the icon should not be shown to users.
-
Click Done to finish adding the application.
-
In the Provisioning tab, click Configure API integration.
-
Select Enable API integration.
- For Base URL enter the URL obtained from the GitLab SCIM configuration page
- For API Token enter the SCIM token obtained from the GitLab SCIM configuration page
-
Click 'Test API Credentials' to verify configuration.
-
Click Save to apply the settings.
-
After saving the API integration details, new settings tabs will appear on the left. Choose To App.
-
Click Edit.
-
Check the box to Enable for both Create Users and Deactivate Users.
-
Click Save.
-
Assign users in the Assignments tab. Assigned users will be created and managed in your GitLab group.
Okta Known Issues
The Okta GitLab application currently only supports SCIM. Continue using the separate Okta SAML SSO configuration along with the new SCIM application described above.
User access and linking setup
The following diagram is a general outline on what happens when you add users to your SCIM app:
graph TD
A[Add User to SCIM app] -->|IdP sends user info to GitLab| B(GitLab: Does the email exists?)
B -->|No| C[GitLab creates user with SCIM identity]
B -->|Yes| D[GitLab sends message back 'Email exists']
As long as Group SAML has been configured, existing GitLab.com users can link to their accounts in one of the following ways:
-
By updating their primary email address in their GitLab.com user account to match their identity provider's user profile email address.
-
By following these steps:
- Sign in to GitLab.com if needed.
- Click on the GitLab app in the identity provider's dashboard or visit the GitLab single sign-on URL.
- Click on the Authorize button.
We recommend users do this prior to turning on sync, because while synchronization is active, there may be provisioning errors for existing users.
New users and existing users on subsequent visits can access the group through the identify provider's dashboard or by visiting links directly.
For role information, please see the Group SAML page
Blocking access
To rescind access to the group, remove the user from the identity provider or users list for the specific app.
Upon the next sync, the user is deprovisioned, which means that the user is removed from the group.
NOTE: Deprovisioning does not delete the user account.
graph TD
A[Remove User from SCIM app] -->|IdP sends request to GitLab| B(GitLab: Is the user part of the group?)
B -->|No| C[Nothing to do]
B -->|Yes| D[GitLab removes user from GitLab group]
Troubleshooting
This section contains possible solutions for problems you might encounter.
How come I can't add a user after I removed them?
As outlined in the Blocking access section, when you remove a user, they are removed from the group. However, their account is not deleted.
When the user is added back to the SCIM app, GitLab cannot create a new user because the user already exists.
Solution: Have a user sign in directly to GitLab, then manually link their account.
How do I diagnose why a user is unable to sign in
Ensure that the user has been added to the SCIM app.
If you receive "User is not linked to a SAML account", then most likely the user already exists in GitLab. Have the user follow the User access and linking setup instructions.
The Identity (extern_uid
) value stored by GitLab is updated by SCIM whenever id
or externalId
changes. Users won't be able to sign in unless the GitLab Identity (extern_uid
) value matches the NameId
sent by SAML.
This value is also used by SCIM to match users on the id
, and is updated by SCIM whenever the id
or externalId
values change.
It is important that this SCIM id
and SCIM externalId
are configured to the same value as the SAML NameId
. SAML responses can be traced using debugging tools, and any errors can be checked against our SAML troubleshooting docs.
How do I verify user's SAML NameId matches the SCIM externalId
Group owners can see the list of users and the externalId
stored for each user in the group SAML SSO Settings page.
A possible alternative is to use the SCIM API to manually retrieve the externalId
we have stored for users, also called the external_uid
or NameId
.
To see how the external_uid
compares to the value returned as the SAML NameId, you can have the user use a SAML Tracer.
Update or fix mismatched SCIM externalId and SAML NameId
Whether the value was changed or you need to map to a different field, ensure id
, externalId
, and NameId
all map to the same field.
If the GitLab externalId
doesn't match the SAML NameId, it needs to be updated in order for the user to sign in. Ideally your identity provider is configured to do such an update, but in some cases it may be unable to do so, such as when looking up a user fails due to an ID change.
Be cautious if you revise the fields used by your SCIM identity provider, typically id
and externalId
.
We use these IDs to look up users. If the identity provider does not know the current values for these fields,
that provider may create duplicate users.
If the externalId
for a user is not correct, and also doesn't match the SAML NameID,
you can address the problem in the following ways:
- You can have users unlink and relink themselves, based on the "SAML authentication failed: User has already been taken" section.
- You can unlink all users simultaneously, by removing all users from the SAML app while provisioning is turned on.
- It may be possible to use the SCIM API to manually correct the
externalId
stored for users to match the SAMLNameId
. To look up a user, you'll need to know the desired value that matches theNameId
as well as the currentexternalId
.
It is important not to update these to incorrect values, since this will cause users to be unable to sign in. It is also important not to assign a value to the wrong user, as this would cause users to get signed into the wrong account.
I need to change my SCIM app
Individual users can follow the instructions in the "SAML authentication failed: User has already been taken" section.
Alternatively, users can be removed from the SCIM app which will delink all removed users. Sync can then be turned on for the new SCIM app to link existing users.
The SCIM app is throwing "User has already been taken","status":409
error message
Changing the SAML or SCIM configuration or provider can cause the following problems:
Problem | Solution |
---|---|
SAML and SCIM identity mismatch. | First verify that the user's SAML NameId matches the SCIM externalId and then update or fix the mismatched SCIM externalId and SAML NameId. |
SCIM identity mismatch between GitLab and the Identify Provider SCIM app. | You can confirm whether you're hitting the error because of your SCIM identity mismatch between your SCIM app and GitLab.com by using SCIM API which shows up in the id key and compares it with the user externalId in the SCIM app. You can use the same SCIM API to update the SCIM id for the user on GitLab.com. |
Azure
How do I verify my SCIM configuration is correct?
Review the following:
- Ensure that the SCIM value for
id
matches the SAML value forNameId
. - Ensure that the SCIM value for
externalId
matches the SAML value forNameId
.
Review the following SCIM parameters for sensible values:
userName
displayName
emails[type eq "work"].value
Testing Azure connection: invalid credentials
When testing the connection, you may encounter an error: You appear to have entered invalid credentials. Please confirm you are using the correct information for an administrative account. If Tenant URL
and secret token
are correct, check whether your group path contains characters that may be considered invalid JSON primitives (such as .
). Removing such characters from the group path typically resolves the error.
(Field) can't be blank sync error
When checking the Audit Events for the Provisioning, you can sometimes see the
error Namespace can't be blank, Name can't be blank, and User can't be blank.
This is likely caused because not all required fields (such as first name and last name) are present for all users being mapped.
As a workaround, try an alternate mapping:
- Follow the Azure mapping instructions from above.
- Delete the
name.formatted
target attribute entry. - Change the
displayName
source attribute to havename.formatted
target attribute.