SSSD Manual pages
sssd.conf
5
File Formats and Conventions
sssd.conf
the configuration file for SSSD
FILE FORMAT
The file has an ini-style syntax and consists of sections and
parameters. A section begins with the name of the section in
square brackets and continues until the next section begins. An
example of section with single and multi-valued parameters:
[section]
key = value
key2 = value2,value3
The data types used are string (no quotes needed), integer
and bool (with values of TRUE/FALSE
).
A line comment starts with a hash sign (#
) or a
semicolon (;
)
All sections can have an optional
description parameter. Its function
is only as a label for the section.
sssd.conf must be a regular file, owned by
root and only root may read from or write to the file.
SPECIAL SECTIONS
The [sssd] section
Individual pieces of SSSD functionality are provided by special
SSSD services that are started and stopped together with SSSD.
The services are managed by a special service frequently called
monitor
. The [sssd]
section is used
to configure the monitor as well as some other important options
like the identity domains.
Section parameters
config_file_version (integer)
Indicates what is the syntax of the config
file. SSSD 0.6.0 and later use version 2.
services
Comma separated list of services that are
started when sssd itself starts.
Supported services: nss, pam
, sudo
reconnection_retries (integer)
Number of times services should attempt to
reconnect in the event of a Data Provider
crash or restart before they give up
Default: 3
domains
A domain is a database containing user
information. SSSD can use more domains
at the same time, but at least one
must be configured or SSSD won't start.
This parameter described the list of domains
in the order you want them to be queried.
re_expression (string)
Regular expression that describes how to parse the string
containing user name and domain into these components.
Default: (?P<name>[^@]+)@?(?P<domain>[^@]*$)
which translates to "the name is everything up to the
@
sign, the domain everything after that"
PLEASE NOTE: the support for non-unique named
subpatterns is not available on all platforms
(e.g. RHEL5 and SLES10). Only platforms with
libpcre version 7 or higher can support non-unique
named subpatterns.
PLEASE NOTE ALSO: older version of libpcre only
support the Python syntax (?P<name>) to label
subpatterns.
full_name_format (string)
A
printf
3
-compatible format that describes how to
translate a (name, domain) tuple into a fully qualified
name.
Default: %1$s@%2$s
.
try_inotify (boolean)
SSSD monitors the state of resolv.conf to
identify when it needs to update its internal
DNS resolver. By default, we will attempt to
use inotify for this, and will fall back to
polling resolv.conf every five seconds if
inotify cannot be used.
There are some limited situations where it is
preferred that we should skip even trying to
use inotify. In these rare cases, this option
should be set to 'false'
Default: true on platforms where inotify is
supported. False on other platforms.
Note: this option will have no effect on
platforms where inotify is unavailable. On
these platforms, polling will always be used.
krb5_rcache_dir (string)
Directory on the filesystem where SSSD should
store Kerberos replay cache files.
This option accepts a special value
__LIBKRB5_DEFAULTS__ that will instruct SSSD
to let libkrb5 decide the appropriate
location for the replay cache.
Default: Distribution-specific and specified
at build-time. (__LIBKRB5_DEFAULTS__ if not
configured)
SERVICES SECTIONS
Settings that can be used to configure different services
are described in this section. They should reside in the
[$NAME] section, for example,
for NSS service, the section would be [nss]
General service configuration options
These options can be used to configure any service.
debug_level (integer)
debug_timestamps (bool)
Add a timestamp to the debug messages
Default: true
debug_microseconds (bool)
Add microseconds to the timestamp in debug messages
Default: false
reconnection_retries (integer)
Number of times services should attempt to
reconnect in the event of a Data Provider
crash or restart before they give up
Default: 3
fd_limit
This option specifies the maximum number of file
descriptors that may be opened at one time by this
SSSD process. On systems where SSSD is granted the
CAP_SYS_RESOURCE capability, this will be an
absolute setting. On systems without this
capability, the resulting value will be the lower
value of this or the limits.conf "hard" limit.
Default: 8192 (or limits.conf "hard" limit)
command (string)
By default, the executable
representing this service is called
sssd_${service_name}.
This directive allows to change the executable
name for the service. In the vast majority of
configurations, the default values should suffice.
Default: sssd_${service_name}
NSS configuration options
These options can be used to configure the
Name Service Switch (NSS) service.
enum_cache_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss cache enumerations
(requests for info about all users)
Default: 120
entry_cache_nowait_percentage (integer)
The entry cache can be set to automatically update
entries in the background if they are requested
beyond a percentage of the entry_cache_timeout
value for the domain.
For example, if the domain's entry_cache_timeout
is set to 30s and entry_cache_nowait_percentage is
set to 50 (percent), entries that come in after 15
seconds past the last cache update will be
returned immediately, but the SSSD will go and
update the cache on its own, so that future
requests will not need to block waiting for a
cache update.
Valid values for this option are 0-99 and
represent a percentage of the entry_cache_timeout
for each domain. For performance reasons, this
percentage will never reduce the nowait timeout to
less than 10 seconds.
(0 disables this feature)
Default: 50
entry_negative_timeout (integer)
Specifies for how many seconds nss_sss should cache
negative cache hits (that is, queries for
invalid database entries, like nonexistent ones)
before asking the back end again.
Default: 15
filter_users, filter_groups (string)
Exclude certain users from being fetched from the sss
NSS database. This is particularly useful for system
accounts. This option can also be set per-domain or
include fully-qualified names to filter only users from
the particular domain.
Default: root
filter_users_in_groups (bool)
If you want filtered user still be group members
set this option to false.
Default: true
override_homedir (string)
Override the user's home directory. You
can either provide an absolute value or a
template. In the template, the following
sequences are substituted:
%u
login name
%U
UID number
%d
domain name
%f
fully qualified user name (user@domain)
%%
a literal '%'
This option can also be set per-domain.
allowed_shells (string)
Restrict user shell to one of the listed values. The order of evaluation is:
1. If the shell is present in
/etc/shells
, it is used.
2. If the shell is in the allowed_shells list but
not in /etc/shells
, use the
value of the shell_fallback parameter.
3. If the shell is not in the allowed_shells list and
not in /etc/shells
, a nologin shell
is used.
An empty string for shell is passed as-is to libc.
The /etc/shells
is only read on SSSD start up, which means that
a restart of the SSSD is required in case a new shell is installed.
Default: Not set. The user shell is automatically used.
vetoed_shells (string)
Replace any instance of these shells with the shell_fallback
shell_fallback (string)
The default shell to use if an allowed shell is not
installed on the machine.
Default: /bin/sh
PAM configuration options
These options can be used to configure the
Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) service.
offline_credentials_expiration (integer)
If the authentication provider is offline, how
long should we allow cached logins (in days since
the last successful online login).
Default: 0 (No limit)
offline_failed_login_attempts (integer)
If the authentication provider is offline, how
many failed login attempts are allowed.
Default: 0 (No limit)
offline_failed_login_delay (integer)
The time in minutes which has to pass after
offline_failed_login_attempts has been reached
before a new login attempt is possible.
If set to 0 the user cannot authenticate offline if
offline_failed_login_attempts has been reached. Only
a successful online authentication can enable
offline authentication again.
Default: 5
pam_verbosity (integer)
Controls what kind of messages are shown to the user
during authentication. The higher the number to more
messages are displayed.
Currently sssd supports the following values:
0: do not show any message
1: show only important
messages
2: show informational messages
3: show all messages and debug
information
Default: 1
pam_id_timeout (integer)
For any PAM request while SSSD is online, the SSSD will
attempt to immediately update the cached identity
information for the user in order to ensure that
authentication takes place with the latest information.
A complete PAM conversation may perform multiple PAM
requests, such as account management and session
opening. This option controls (on a
per-client-application basis) how long (in seconds) we
can cache the identity information to avoid excessive
round-trips to the identity provider.
Default: 5
pam_pwd_expiration_warning (integer)
Display a warning N days before the password expires.
Please note that the backend server has to provide
information about the expiration time of the password.
If this information is missing, sssd cannot display a
warning.
Default: 7
SUDO configuration options
These options can be used to configure the sudo service.
sudo_cache_timeout (integer)
For any sudo request that comes while SSSD is
online, the SSSD will attempt to update the cached
rules in order to ensure that sudo has the latest
ruleset.
The user may, however, run a couple of sudo commands
successively, which would trigger multiple LDAP requests.
In order to speed up this use-case, the sudo service
maintains an in-memory cache that would be used for
performing fast replies.
This option controls how long (in seconds) can the sudo
service cache rules for a user.
Default: 180
sudo_timed (bool)
Whether or not to evaluate the sudoNotBefore
and sudoNotAfter attributes that implement
time-dependent sudoers entries.
Default: false
AUTOFS configuration options
These options can be used to configure the autofs service.
autofs_negative_timeout (integer)
Specifies for how many seconds should the
autofs responder negative cache hits
(that is, queries for invalid map entries,
like nonexistent ones) before asking the back
end again.
Default: 15
DOMAIN SECTIONS
These configuration options can be present in a domain
configuration section, that is, in a section called
[domain/NAME]
min_id,max_id (integer)
UID and GID limits for the domain. If a domain
contains an entry that is outside these limits, it
is ignored.
For users, this affects the primary GID limit. The
user will not be returned to NSS if either the
UID or the primary GID is outside the range. For
non-primary group memberships, those that are in
range will be reported as expected.
Default: 1 for min_id, 0 (no limit) for max_id
timeout (integer)
Timeout in seconds between heartbeats for this domain.
This is used to ensure that the backend process is
alive and capable of answering requests.
Default: 10
enumerate (bool)
Determines if a domain can be enumerated. This
parameter can have one of the following values:
TRUE = Users and groups are enumerated
FALSE = No enumerations for this domain
Default: FALSE
Note: Enabling enumeration has a moderate
performance impact on SSSD while enumeration
is running. It may take up to several minutes
after SSSD startup to fully complete enumerations.
During this time, individual requests for
information will go directly to LDAP, though it
may be slow, due to the heavy enumeration
processing.
While the first enumeration is running, requests
for the complete user or group lists may return
no results until it completes.
Further, enabling enumeration may increase the time
necessary to detect network disconnection, as
longer timeouts are required to ensure that
enumeration lookups are completed successfully.
For more information, refer to the man pages for
the specific id_provider in use.
entry_cache_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss consider
entries valid before asking the backend again
Default: 5400
entry_cache_user_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss consider
user entries valid before asking the backend again
Default: entry_cache_timeout
entry_cache_group_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss consider
group entries valid before asking the backend again
Default: entry_cache_timeout
entry_cache_netgroup_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss consider
netgroup entries valid before asking the backend again
Default: entry_cache_timeout
entry_cache_service_timeout (integer)
How many seconds should nss_sss consider
service entries valid before asking the backend again
Default: entry_cache_timeout
cache_credentials (bool)
Determines if user credentials are also cached
in the local LDB cache
User credentials are stored in a SHA512 hash, not
in plaintext
Default: FALSE
account_cache_expiration (integer)
Number of days entries are left in cache after
last successful login before being removed during
a cleanup of the cache. 0 means keep forever.
The value of this parameter must be greater than or
equal to offline_credentials_expiration.
Default: 0 (unlimited)
id_provider (string)
The Data Provider identity backend to use for this
domain.
Supported backends:
proxy: Support a legacy NSS provider
local: SSSD internal local provider
ldap: LDAP provider
use_fully_qualified_names (bool)
If set to TRUE, all requests to this domain
must use fully qualified names. For example,
if used in LOCAL domain that contains a "test"
user, getent passwd test
wouldn't find the user while getent
passwd test@LOCAL would.
Default: FALSE
auth_provider (string)
The authentication provider used for the domain.
Supported auth providers are:
ldap
for native LDAP authentication. See
sssd-ldap
5
for more information on configuring LDAP.
krb5
for Kerberos authentication. See
sssd-krb5
5
for more information on configuring Kerberos.
proxy
for relaying authentication to some other PAM target.
none
disables authentication explicitly.
Default: id_provider
is used if it
is set and can handle authentication requests.
access_provider (string)
The access control provider used for the domain.
There are two built-in access providers (in
addition to any included in installed backends)
Internal special providers are:
permit
always allow access.
deny
always deny access.
simple
access control based on access
or deny lists. See
sssd-simple
5 for more
information on configuring the simple access module.
Default: permit
chpass_provider (string)
The provider which should handle change password
operations for the domain.
Supported change password providers are:
ipa
to change a password stored
in an IPA server. See
sssd-ipa
5
for more information on configuring IPA.
ldap
to change a password stored
in a LDAP server. See
sssd-ldap
5
for more information on configuring LDAP.
krb5
to change the Kerberos
password. See
sssd-krb5
5
for more information on configuring Kerberos.
proxy
for relaying password changes
to some other PAM target.
none
disallows password changes explicitly.
Default: auth_provider
is used if it
is set and can handle change password requests.
sudo_provider (string)
The SUDO provider used for the domain.
Supported SUDO providers are:
ldap
for rules stored in LDAP. See
sssd-ldap
5
for more information on configuring LDAP.
none
disables SUDO explicitly.
Default: The value of id_provider
is used if it
is set.
session_provider (string)
The provider which should handle loading of session
settings.
Supported session providers are:
ipa
to load session settings
from an IPA server. See
sssd-ipa
5
for more information on configuring IPA.
none
disallows fetching session settings explicitly.
Default: id_provider
is used if it
is set and can handle session loading requests.
lookup_family_order (string)
Provides the ability to select preferred address family
to use when performing DNS lookups.
Supported values:
ipv4_first: Try looking up IPv4 address, if that fails, try IPv6
ipv4_only: Only attempt to resolve hostnames to IPv4 addresses.
ipv6_first: Try looking up IPv6 address, if that fails, try IPv4
ipv6_only: Only attempt to resolve hostnames to IPv6 addresses.
Default: ipv4_first
dns_resolver_timeout (integer)
Defines the amount of time (in seconds) to wait for a reply from
the DNS resolver before assuming that it is unreachable. If this
timeout is reached, the domain will continue to operate in
offline mode.
Default: 5
dns_discovery_domain (string)
If service discovery is used in the back end, specifies
the domain part of the service discovery DNS query.
Default: Use the domain part of machine's hostname
override_gid (integer)
Override the primary GID value with the one specified.
case_sensitive (boolean)
Treat user and group names as case sensitive. At
the moment, this option is not supported in
the local provider.
Default: True
Options valid for proxy domains.
proxy_pam_target (string)
The proxy target PAM proxies to.
Default: not set by default, you have to take an
existing pam configuration or create a new one and
add the service name here.
proxy_lib_name (string)
The name of the NSS library to use in proxy
domains. The NSS functions searched for in the
library are in the form of
_nss_$(libName)_$(function), for example
_nss_files_getpwent.
The local domain section
This section contains settings for domain that stores users and
groups in SSSD native database, that is, a domain that uses
id_provider=local.
Section parameters
default_shell (string)
The default shell for users created
with SSSD userspace tools.
Default: /bin/bash
base_directory (string)
The tools append the login name to
base_directory and
use that as the home directory.
Default: /home
create_homedir (bool)
Indicate if a home directory should be created by default for new users.
Can be overridden on command line.
Default: TRUE
remove_homedir (bool)
Indicate if a home directory should be removed by default for deleted users.
Can be overridden on command line.
Default: TRUE
homedir_umask (integer)
Used by
sss_useradd
8
to specify the default permissions on a newly created
home directory.
Default: 077
skel_dir (string)
The skeleton directory, which contains files
and directories to be copied in the user's
home directory, when the home directory is
created by
sss_useradd
8
Default: /etc/skel
mail_dir (string)
The mail spool directory. This is needed to
manipulate the mailbox when its corresponding
user account is modified or deleted.
If not specified, a default
value is used.
Default: /var/mail
userdel_cmd (string)
The command that is run after a user is removed.
The command us passed the username of the user being
removed as the first and only parameter. The return
code of the command is not taken into account.
Default: None, no command is run
EXAMPLE
The following example shows a typical SSSD config. It does
not describe configuration of the domains themselves - refer to
documentation on configuring domains for more details.
[sssd]
domains = LDAP
services = nss, pam
config_file_version = 2
[nss]
filter_groups = root
filter_users = root
[pam]
[domain/LDAP]
id_provider = ldap
ldap_uri = ldap://ldap.example.com
ldap_search_base = dc=example,dc=com
auth_provider = krb5
krb5_server = kerberos.example.com
krb5_realm = EXAMPLE.COM
cache_credentials = true
min_id = 10000
max_id = 20000
enumerate = False
SEE ALSO
sssd-ldap5
,
sssd-krb55
,
sss_groupadd8
,
sss_groupdel8
,
sss_groupmod8
,
sss_useradd8
,
sss_userdel8
,
sss_usermod8
,
pam_sss8
.