SLAPO-REMOTEAUTH(5) File Formats Manual SLAPO-REMOTEAUTH(5) # [NAME](#NAME) slapo-remoteauth - Delegate authentication requests to remote directories, e.g. Active Directory # [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS) /etc/openldap/slapd.conf # [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION) The **remoteauth** overlay to [**slapd**(8)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.8) provides passthrough authentication to remote directory servers, e.g. Active Directory, for LDAP simple bind operations. The local LDAP entry referenced in the bind operation is mapped to its counterpart in the remote directory. An LDAP bind operation is performed against the remote directory and results are returned based on those of the remote operation. A slapd server configured with the **remoteauth** overlay handles an authentication request based on the presence of **userPassword** in the local entry. If the **userPassword** is present, authentication is performed locally, otherwise the **remoteauth** overlay performs the authentication request to the configured remote directory server. # [CONFIGURATION](#CONFIGURATION) The following options can be applied to the **remoteauth** overlay within the slapd.conf file. All options should follow the **overlay remoteauth** directive. [**overlay remoteauth**](#overlay) This directive adds the **remoteauth** overlay to the current database, see [**slapd.conf**(5)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.conf.5) for details. [**remoteauth\_dn\_attribute <dnattr>**](#remoteauth_dn_attribute) Attribute in the local entry that is used to store the bind DN to a remote directory server. [**remoteauth\_mapping <domain> <hostname|LDAP URI|file:///path/to/list\_of\_hostnames>**](#remoteauth_mapping) For a non-Windows deployment, a domain can be considered as a collection of one or more hosts to which slapd server authentcates against on behalf of authenticating users. For a given domain name, the mapping specifies the target server(s), e.g., Active Directory domain controller(s), to connect to via LDAP. The second argument can be given either as a hostname, an LDAP URI, or a file containing a list of hostnames/URIs, one per line. The hostnames are tried in sequence until the connection succeeds. This option can be provided more than once to provide mapping information for different domains. For example: ``` remoteauth_mapping americas file:///path/to/americas.domain.hosts remoteauth_mapping asiapacific file:///path/to/asiapacific.domain.hosts remoteauth_mapping emea emeadc1.emea.example.com ``` [**remoteauth\_domain\_attribute <attr>**](#remoteauth_domain_attribute) Attribute in the local entry that specifies the domain name, any text after "\\" or ":" is ignored. [**remoteauth\_default\_domain <default domain>**](#remoteauth_default_domain) Default domain. [**remoteauth\_default\_realm <server>**](#remoteauth_default_realm) Fallback server to connect to for domains not specified in **remoteauth\_mapping**. [**remoteauth\_retry\_count <num>**](#remoteauth_retry_count) Number of connection retries attempted. Default is 3. [**remoteauth\_store <on|off>**](#remoteauth_store) Whether to store the password in the local entry on successful bind. Default is off. **remoteauth\_tls** **\[starttls=yes]** **\[tls\_cert=<file>]** **\[tls\_key=<file>]** **\[tls\_cacert=<file>]** **\[tls\_cacertdir=<path>]** **\[tls\_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]** **\[tls\_reqsan=never|allow|try|demand]** **\[tls\_cipher\_suite=<ciphers>]** **\[tls\_ecname=<names>]** **\[tls\_crlcheck=none|peer|all]** Remoteauth specific TLS configuration, see [**slapd.conf**(5)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.conf.5) for more details on each of the parameters and defaults. [**remoteauth\_tls\_peerkey\_hash <hostname> <hashname>:<base64 of public key hash>**](#remoteauth_tls_peerkey_hash) Mapping between remote server hostnames and their public key hashes. Only one mapping per hostname is supported and if any pins are specified, all hosts need to be pinned. If set, pinning is in effect regardless of whether or not certificate name validation is enabled by **tls\_reqcert**. # [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE) A typical example configuration of **remoteauth** overlay for AD is shown below (as a [**slapd.conf**(5)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.conf.5) snippet): ``` database #... overlay remoteauth remoteauth_dn_attribute seeAlso remoteauth_domain_attribute associatedDomain remoteauth_default_realm americas.example.com remoteauth_mapping americas file:///home/ldap/etc/remoteauth.americas remoteauth_mapping emea emeadc1.emea.example.com remoteauth_tls starttls=yes tls_reqcert=demand tls_cacert=/home/ldap/etc/example-ca.pem remoteauth_tls_peerkey_hash ldap.americas.tld sha256:Bxv3MkLoDm6gt/iDfeGNdNNqa5TTpPDdIwvZM/cIgeo= ``` Where seeAlso contains the AD bind DN for the user, associatedDomain contains the Windows Domain Id in the form of <NT-domain-name>:<NT-username> in which anything following, including ":", is ignored. # [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO) [**slapd.conf**(5)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.conf.5), [**slapd**(8)](/man/os/openldap-2.7/slapd.8). # [Copyrights](#Copyrights) Copyright 2004-2026 The OpenLDAP Foundation. Portions Copyright 2004-2017 Howard Chu, Symas Corporation. Portions Copyright 2017-2021 Ondřej Kuzník, Symas Corporation. Portions Copyright 2004 Hewlett-Packard Company 2026/09/08 OpenLDAP 2.7.1 --- Document: slapo-remoteauth(5) from openldap-2.7 2.7.1-r2 (Chainguard OS) Source: https://github.com/openldap/openldap.git