GitLab LDAP integration

GitLab can be configured to allow your users to sign with their LDAP credentials to integrate with e.g. Active Directory.

The first time a user signs in with LDAP credentials, GitLab will create a new GitLab user associated with the LDAP Distinguished Name (DN) of the LDAP user.

GitLab user attributes such as nickname and email will be copied from the LDAP user entry.

Configuring GitLab for LDAP integration

To enable GitLab LDAP integration you need to add your LDAP server settings in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb or /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml. In GitLab Enterprise Edition you can have multiple LDAP servers connected to one GitLab server.

Please note that before version 7.4, GitLab used a different syntax for configuring LDAP integration. The old LDAP integration syntax still works in GitLab 7.4. If your gitlab.rb or gitlab.yml file contains LDAP settings in both the old syntax and the new syntax, only the old syntax will be used by GitLab.

# For omnibus packages
gitlab_rails['ldap_enabled'] = true
gitlab_rails['ldap_servers'] = YAML.load <<-EOS # remember to close this block with 'EOS' below
main: # 'main' is the GitLab 'provider ID' of this LDAP server
  ## label
  #
  # A human-friendly name for your LDAP server. It is OK to change the label later,
  # for instance if you find out it is too large to fit on the web page.
  #
  # Example: 'Paris' or 'Acme, Ltd.'
  label: 'LDAP'

  host: '_your_ldap_server'
  port: 389
  uid: 'sAMAccountName'
  method: 'plain' # "tls" or "ssl" or "plain"
  bind_dn: '_the_full_dn_of_the_user_you_will_bind_with'
  password: '_the_password_of_the_bind_user'

  # This setting specifies if LDAP server is Active Directory LDAP server.
  # For non AD servers it skips the AD specific queries.
  # If your LDAP server is not AD, set this to false.
  active_directory: true

  # If allow_username_or_email_login is enabled, GitLab will ignore everything
  # after the first '@' in the LDAP username submitted by the user on login.
  #
  # Example:
  # - the user enters 'jane.doe@example.com' and 'p@ssw0rd' as LDAP credentials;
  # - GitLab queries the LDAP server with 'jane.doe' and 'p@ssw0rd'.
  #
  # If you are using "uid: 'userPrincipalName'" on ActiveDirectory you need to
  # disable this setting, because the userPrincipalName contains an '@'.
  allow_username_or_email_login: false

  # To maintain tight control over the number of active users on your GitLab installation,
  # enable this setting to keep new users blocked until they have been cleared by the admin 
  # (default: false).
  block_auto_created_users: false

  # Base where we can search for users
  #
  #   Ex. ou=People,dc=gitlab,dc=example
  #
  base: ''

  # Filter LDAP users
  #
  #   Format: RFC 4515 http://tools.ietf.org/search/rfc4515
  #   Ex. (employeeType=developer)
  #
  #   Note: GitLab does not support omniauth-ldap's custom filter syntax.
  #
  user_filter: ''

# GitLab EE only: add more LDAP servers
# Choose an ID made of a-z and 0-9 . This ID will be stored in the database
# so that GitLab can remember which LDAP server a user belongs to.
# uswest2:
#   label:
#   host:
#   ....
EOS

If you are getting 'Connection Refused' errors when trying to connect to the LDAP server please double-check the LDAP port and method settings used by GitLab. Common combinations are method: 'plain' and port: 389, OR method: 'ssl' and port: 636.

If you are using a GitLab installation from source you can find the LDAP settings in /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:

production:
  # snip...
  ldap:
    enabled: false
    servers:
      main: # 'main' is the GitLab 'provider ID' of this LDAP server
        ## label
        #
        # A human-friendly name for your LDAP server. It is OK to change the label later,
        # for instance if you find out it is too large to fit on the web page.
        #
        # Example: 'Paris' or 'Acme, Ltd.'
        label: 'LDAP'
        # snip...

When a user signs in to GitLab with LDAP for the first time, and their LDAP email address is the primary email address of an existing GitLab user, then the LDAP DN will be associated with the existing user.

If the LDAP email attribute is not found in GitLab's database, a new user is created.

In other words, if an existing GitLab user wants to enable LDAP sign-in for themselves, they should check that their GitLab email address matches their LDAP email address, and then sign into GitLab via their LDAP credentials.

GitLab recognizes the following LDAP attributes as email addresses: mail, email and userPrincipalName.

If multiple LDAP email attributes are present, e.g. mail: foo@bar.com and email: foo@example.com, then the first attribute found wins -- in this case foo@bar.com.

Using an LDAP filter to limit access to your GitLab server

If you want to limit all GitLab access to a subset of the LDAP users on your LDAP server you can set up an LDAP user filter. The filter must comply with RFC 4515.

# For omnibus packages; new LDAP server syntax
gitlab_rails['ldap_servers'] = YAML.load <<-EOS
main:
  # snip...
  user_filter: '(employeeType=developer)'
EOS

# For installations from source; new LDAP server syntax
production:
  ldap:
    servers:
      main:
        # snip...
        user_filter: '(employeeType=developer)'

Tip: if you want to limit access to the nested members of an Active Directory group you can use the following syntax:

(memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=CN=My Group,DC=Example,DC=com)

Please note that GitLab does not support the custom filter syntax used by omniauth-ldap.

5.6 KiB Raw Blame History

GitLab LDAP integration

Configuring GitLab for LDAP integration

Enabling LDAP sign-in for existing GitLab users

Using an LDAP filter to limit access to your GitLab server

5.6 KiB

Raw Blame History