{"token_count": 5085} # Using Teleport as a SAML Identity Provider Identity Governance is available only with Teleport Enterprise. In this guide, you will use Teleport as a SAML identity provider (IdP). You can set up the Teleport SAML IdP to enable Teleport users to authenticate to external services through Teleport. ## How it works On Teleport Enterprise deployments, the Teleport SAML IdP runs as part of the Teleport Proxy Service and exposes paths of the Proxy Service HTTP API that implement a SAML IdP. You can register a third-party application with the IdP by creating a Teleport dynamic resource, the SAML IdP service provider, that includes information about the application. ## Prerequisites - A running Teleport Enterprise cluster accessible at a hostname with a valid TLS certificate. If you want to get started with Teleport, [sign up](https://goteleport.com/signup) for a free trial or [set up a demo environment](https://goteleport.com/docs/get-started/deploy-community.md). - The `tctl` and `tsh` clients. Installing `tctl` and `tsh` clients 1. Determine the version of your Teleport cluster. The `tctl` and `tsh` clients must be at most one major version behind your Teleport cluster version. Send a GET request to the Proxy Service at `/v1/webapi/find` and use a JSON query tool to obtain your cluster version. Replace teleport.example.com:443 with the web address of your Teleport Proxy Service: **Mac/Linux** ``` $ TELEPORT_DOMAIN=teleport.example.com:443 $ TELEPORT_VERSION="$(curl -s https://$TELEPORT_DOMAIN/v1/webapi/find | jq -r '.server_version')" ``` **Windows - Powershell** ``` $ $TELEPORT_DOMAIN = "teleport.example.com:443" $ $TELEPORT_VERSION = (Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://${TELEPORT_DOMAIN}/v1/webapi/find").server_version ``` 2. Follow the instructions for your platform to install `tctl` and `tsh` clients: **Mac** Download the signed macOS .pkg installer for Teleport, which includes the `tctl` and `tsh` clients: ``` $ curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-${TELEPORT_VERSION?}.pkg ``` In Finder double-click the `pkg` file to begin installation. --- DANGER Using Homebrew to install Teleport is not supported. The Teleport package in Homebrew is not maintained by Teleport and we can't guarantee its reliability or security. --- **Windows - Powershell** ``` $ curl.exe -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-v$TELEPORT_VERSION-windows-amd64-bin.zip Unzip the archive and move the `tctl` and `tsh` clients to your %PATH% NOTE: Do not place the `tctl` and `tsh` clients in the System32 directory, as this can cause issues when using WinSCP. Use %SystemRoot% (C:\Windows) or %USERPROFILE% (C:\Users\) instead. ``` **Linux** All of the Teleport binaries in Linux installations include the `tctl` and `tsh` clients. For more options (including RPM/DEB packages and downloads for i386/ARM/ARM64) see our [installation page](https://goteleport.com/docs/installation/single-machine.md). ``` $ curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-v${TELEPORT_VERSION?}-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz $ tar -xzf teleport-v${TELEPORT_VERSION?}-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz $ cd teleport $ sudo ./install Teleport binaries have been copied to /usr/local/bin ``` Connecting with TLS routing disabled This guide's commands assume your Teleport cluster uses TLS routing (`proxy_listener_mode: multiplex`), where the `tctl` and `tsh` clients reach every Teleport service through the Proxy Service's web address on port `443`. If you're not sure whether this applies to your cluster, check with whoever manages it. If your cluster uses separate listener ports instead, adjust ports as follows: - **`tsh` commands** (e.g., `tsh login --proxy=...`): continue using the Proxy Service web address on port `3080` (or `443` if behind a load balancer). Do not change these to port `3025`. - **Direct `tctl` or Auth Service API commands**: use port `3025` for the Auth Service gRPC listener: ``` $ tctl status --auth-server=teleport.example.com:3025 ``` * Check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster and verify that you can run `tctl` and `tsh` commands using your current credentials. 1. Assign teleport.example.com to the domain name of the Teleport Proxy Service in your cluster and email\@example.com to your Teleport username. 2. Authenticate to your Teleport cluster. This depends on whether your shell is interactive or not. **In an interactive shell:** Run the following command. By default, this triggers a multi-factor authentication prompt: ``` $ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=email@example.com $ tctl status Cluster teleport.example.com Version 18.10.0 CA pin sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678 ``` **On non-interactive environments:** If you are running `tsh` and `tctl` as an AI agent, in a CI/CD environment, or similar, make sure the `TELEPORT_IDENTITY_FILE` environment variable is assigned to a valid file path with credentials for your cluster. `tsh` and `tctl` read the file path from the environment variable and do not require a separate authentication step. If there is no identity file available, we recommend that you [set up Machine ID](https://goteleport.com/docs/machine-workload-identity/getting-started.md) to provision one automatically. When executing `tctl` commands with an identity file, you must pass the `--auth-server` flag to provide the Teleport Auth Service address, which is not included in the identity file. If you provide the Proxy Service address, `tctl` connects to the Proxy Service, which forwards traffic to and from the Teleport Auth Service. Update 443 to `3025` if you are contacting the Auth Service directly with `tctl`: ``` $ tctl status --auth-server=teleport.example.com:443 ``` For `tsh` commands that read an identity file, you must pass the `--proxy` flag, which points `tsh` to the address of the Teleport Proxy Service: ``` $ tsh status --proxy=teleport.example.com ``` Ensure client commands can access your identity file. Replace path/to/identity/file with the path to your identity file: ``` $ export TELEPORT_IDENTITY_FILE="${TELEPORT_IDENTITY_FILE:-path/to/identity/file}" ``` Add the `--auth-server` or `--proxy` flags to all subsequent `tctl` and `tsh` commands. If you can connect to the cluster and run the `tctl status` command, you can use your current credentials to run subsequent `tctl` commands from your workstation. If you host your own Teleport cluster, you can also run `tctl` commands on the computer that hosts the Teleport Auth Service for full permissions. * If you're new to SAML, consider reviewing our [SAML Identity Provider Reference](https://goteleport.com/docs/reference/access-controls/saml-idp.md) before proceeding. * SAML application (also known as a SAML service provider or SP) for testing. For this guide, we'll be using [RSA Simple Test Service Provider](https://sptest.iamshowcase.com/) - a free service that lets us test the Teleport SAML IdP. The test service has a protected page, which can be accessed only after a user is federated to the site with a valid SAML assertion flow. Below in this guide, we will refer to this application as the "IAMShowcase" app. ![iamshowcase protected page](/docs/assets/images/rsa-simplesp-protected-page-e8b6ecb8a92c66b4060f0028631f211b.png) ## Step 1/4. Create a role As a first step, we will create a role which will grant permissions to manage a `saml_idp_service_provider` resource for the IAMShowcase app. The role will also grant permission to log in to this application by authenticating with Teleport. We will name this role as `saml-admin`. In the Teleport Web UI, from the side the navigation menu, select **Zero Trust Access > Roles** menu. From the **Roles** UI, click `Create New Role` button. Enter "saml-admin" as a role name and then click the `Next: Resources` button to move to the "Resources" tab. In the **Resources** tab, open the dropdown menu by clicking on the `+ Add Teleport Resource Access` button, then select **Application Access**. Enter "env" as the label key and "saml-test" as the label value. In the Step 3 of this guide below, we will create a SAML service provider resource with this matching label value `env: saml-test`, limiting scope of the permissions granted by this role. ![Configure app label](/docs/assets/images/step-1-create-role-app-label-671c00a90d8c8212d11ca7842d8e9c77.png) Click `Next: Admin Rules` button to move to the **Admin Rules** tab. In the **Admin Rules** tab, click `+ Add New` button. In the **Teleport Resources** input box, search and select the `saml_idp_service_provider` resource. And then in the **Permissions** section, check `read, list, create, update, delete` permissions. ![Configure service provider rule verbs](/docs/assets/images/step-1-create-role-saml-resource-8ec0b7393f5250e691d8ce5ea4b49c09.png) Click `Next: Options` button to move to next step and then click `Create Role` button to create a new role. Reference YAML spec for the `saml-admin` role. ``` kind: role metadata: name: saml-admin spec: allow: app_labels: env: saml-test rules: - resources: - saml_idp_service_provider verbs: - read - list - create - update - delete version: v8 ``` Assign the `saml-admin` role to your Teleport user. The commands to run depend on how you authenticate to Teleport, that is, whether you have a local Teleport user, a single sign-on authentication connector, or a non-interactive user: **Local User** 1. Retrieve your local user's roles as a comma-separated list: ``` $ ROLES=$(tsh status -f json | jq -r '.active.roles | join(",")') ``` 2. Edit your local user to add the new role: ``` $ tctl users update $(tsh status -f json | jq -r '.active.username') \ --set-roles "${ROLES?},saml-admin" ``` 3. Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role. **GitHub** 1. Open your `github` authentication connector in a text editor: ``` $ tctl edit github/github ``` 2. Edit the `github` connector, adding `saml-admin` to the `teams_to_roles` section. The team you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the team must include your user account and should be the smallest team possible within your organization. Here is an example: ``` teams_to_roles: - organization: octocats team: admins roles: - access + - saml-admin ``` 3. Apply your changes by saving and closing the file in your editor. 4. Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role. **SAML** 1. Retrieve your `saml` configuration resource: ``` $ tctl get --with-secrets saml/mysaml > saml.yaml ``` Note that the `--with-secrets` flag adds the value of `spec.signing_key_pair.private_key` to the `saml.yaml` file. Because this key contains a sensitive value, you should remove the saml.yaml file immediately after updating the resource. 2. Edit `saml.yaml`, adding `saml-admin` to the `attributes_to_roles` section. The attribute you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the group must include your user account and should be the smallest group possible within your organization. Here is an example: ``` attributes_to_roles: - name: "groups" value: "my-group" roles: - access + - saml-admin ``` 3. Apply your changes: ``` $ tctl create -f saml.yaml ``` 4. Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role. **OIDC** 1. Retrieve your `oidc` configuration resource: ``` $ tctl get oidc/myoidc --with-secrets > oidc.yaml ``` Note that the `--with-secrets` flag adds the value of `spec.signing_key_pair.private_key` to the `oidc.yaml` file. Because this key contains a sensitive value, you should remove the oidc.yaml file immediately after updating the resource. 2. Edit `oidc.yaml`, adding `saml-admin` to the `claims_to_roles` section. The claim you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the group must include your user account and should be the smallest group possible within your organization. Here is an example: ``` claims_to_roles: - name: "groups" value: "my-group" roles: - access + - saml-admin ``` 3. Apply your changes: ``` $ tctl create -f oidc.yaml ``` 4. Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role. **Non-Interactive** For non-interactive users such as AI agents and CI/CD runners, follow these steps. If you are using Machine ID to issue identity files to your user: 1. Add the new role to your bot. Assign mybot to the name of the Machine ID bot that issues your certificate: ``` $ tctl bots update mybot --add-roles saml-admin ``` 2. Force `tbot` to regenerate the certificate: ``` $ pkill -HUP tbot ``` The bot will also generate a certificate with the new role on its next renewal. Otherwise, update your user and regenerate your identity file: 1. Retrieve your local user's roles as a comma-separated list. Make sure username is the Teleport user you want to assign the new role to. ``` $ ROLES=$(tctl get user/username --format=json | jq -r '.[].spec.roles | join(",")') ``` 2. Edit your local user to add the new role: ``` $ tctl users update username \ --set-roles "${ROLES?},saml-admin" ``` 3. Regenerate the identity file. Make sure path/to/identity/file corresponds to the correct output path: ``` $ tctl auth sign \ --user=username \ --out=path/to/identity/file \ --overwrite ``` ## Step 2/4. Configure the service provider This step involves configuring the SAML service provider with the Teleport SAML IdP metadata. You can obtain the Teleport SAML IdP metadata values from the SAML application setup wizard, which is available in the Teleport Web UI. In the Teleport Web UI, select **Add New > Resource** menu, and search for "saml application". Choose the "SAML Application (Generic)" tile. ![Enroll SAML app](/docs/assets/images/step-2-find-saml-discover-tile-d15f2e1305ca135d29875b842e65f52e.png) As a first step of the SAML Application setup wizard, the Teleport Web UI displays the Teleport SAML IdP metadata values. The process of SAML service provider configuration varies from service provider to service provider. Some service providers may ask to provide Teleport SAML IdP's entity ID, SSO URL and X.509 certificate explicitly. Others may ask to upload the Teleport SAML IdP metadata (SAML entity descriptor) file . ![Teleport IdP metadata](/docs/assets/images/step-2-copy-metadata-1413a403c38703b842be2b2f70caace6.png) In the case of IAMShowcase app, which this guide is based on, it is designed to grant access to the protected page for any well formatted IdP federated SAML assertion data. As such, we will move to the next step in the setup wizard to add the IAMShowcase app to Teleport. ## Step 3/4. Add a service provider to Teleport To add a service provider to Teleport, you must configure a service provider metadata. This can be configured by either providing an entity ID and ACS URL values of the service provider or by providing an entity descriptor value (also known as metadata file, which is an XML file) of the service provider. Below we'll show both of the configuration options. ### Option 1: Configure with entity ID and ACS URL With this configuration method, Teleport first tries to fetch an entity descriptor by querying the entity ID endpoint. If an entity descriptor is not found at that endpoint, Teleport will generate a new entity descriptor with the given entity ID and ACS URL values. To configure the IAMShowcase app, the values you need to provide are the following: - **App Name:** `IAMShowcase`. - **SP Entity ID / Audience URI:** `IAMShowcase`. The SAML metadata value or an endpoint of the service provider. - **ACS URL / SP SSO URL:** `https://sptest.iamshowcase.com/acs`. The endpoint where users will be redirected after SAML authentication. ACS URL is also referred to as SAML SSO URL. - **Label:** `env: saml-test`. Label will be used in RBAC. ![add service provider](/docs/assets/images/step-3-add-service-provider-43167eb1cb32b9681bbb5e0f0ce6ce6a.png) Click `Finish` button. The "IAMShowcase" app is now added to Teleport. ### Option 2: Configure with Entity Descriptor file With this option, you provide the service provider entity descriptor file, which has all the details required to configure service provider metadata. If the service provider provides an option to download its entity descriptor file or you need more control over the entity descriptor, this is the recommended option to add a service provider to Teleport. To configure the IAMShowcase app, the values you need to provide are the following: - **App Name:** `IAMShowcase`. - **Entity Descriptor:** Entity descriptor for the IAMShowcase app which is available in this URL: `https://sptest.iamshowcase.com/testsp_metadata.xml`. - **Label:** `env: saml-test`. ![add service provider with entity descriptor](/docs/assets/images/step-3-add-service-provider-ed-34b6c673cbbcf8af03b4953496d51755.png) Click `Finish` button. The "IAMShowcase" app is now added to Teleport. --- IMPORTANT If an entity descriptor is provided, its content takes preference over values provided for entity ID and ACS URL. --- ## Step 4/4. Verify access to the protected page To verify everything works, navigate to the **Resources** page in the Teleport Web UI and search for the "IAMShowcase" app. ![Access app](/docs/assets/images/step-4-login-55a1e7e66d43beefca33b68e7f17fc8d.png) From the "IAMShowcase" app tile, click the `Log in` button, which will forward you to the IAMShowcase app's protected page with a SAML assertion data signed by the Teleport SAML IdP. ![Protected page access](/docs/assets/images/step-4-service-provider-authenticated-page-cef061f31af6e369de7390320adbcc46.png) This page shows Teleport user details along with other attributes such as role names that are federated by the Teleport SAML IdP, confirming a successful SAML service provider configuration in Teleport. ## Manage SAML IdP service provider resource using `tctl` Examples of managing a `saml_idp_service_provider` resource using `tctl`. ### Create a `saml_idp_service_provider` resource First, create a Teleport resource spec file with the following `saml_idp_service_provider` resource spec: ``` cat > iamshowcase.yaml << EOF kind: saml_idp_service_provider metadata: labels: env: saml-test # The resource name of the service provider. name: IAMShowcase spec: acs_url: https://sptest.iamshowcase.com/acs entity_id: IAMShowcase version: v1 EOF ``` Next, create a Teleport resource using the `tctl create` command: ``` $ tctl create iamshowcase.yaml SAML IdP service provider 'IAMShowcase' has been created. ``` ### Update a `saml_idp_service_provider` resource To update the resource, first, get the latest copy of the resource spec from the Teleport cluster. ``` $ tctl get saml_idp_service_provider/IAMShowcase > iamshowcase.yaml ``` Then modify the spec by updating the `iamshowcase.yaml`, save it, and then update the Teleport resource by using the `tctl create -f` command: ``` $ tctl create -f iamshowcase.yaml ``` ### List `saml_idp_service_provider` resources To list a specific service provider: ``` $ tctl get saml_idp_service_provider/IAMShowcase ``` To list all the service providers: ``` $ tctl get saml_idp_service_provider ``` ### Delete a `saml_idp_service_provider` resource ``` $ tctl rm saml_idp_service_provider/IAMShowcase ``` ## Next steps - Learn how to [control access](https://goteleport.com/docs/identity-governance/idps/saml-idp-rbac.md) to the SAML IdP service provider resource. - Configure [SAML Attribute Mapping](https://goteleport.com/docs/identity-governance/idps/saml-attribute-mapping.md).