Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-25 Thread Tomasz Onyszko

Ramon Linan wrote:

It looks like this guys that are building the app are using LDAP to find
the username and Kerberos to create the token, do that make sense?

Also, it looks like this application add 2 classes to the AD, I wonder
when is worthy to use ADAM , should it be use for any custom app that
expands the schema or only depending on how "big" the changes are to the
schema?


Extending the schema is not the end of the world and it is standard 
operation in AD, but it has to be done with knowledge and caution.


They have to get proper OIDs for their extensions and they should have 
unique names for their  classes and attributes.


Extending the schema is not a reason to use ADAM instead of extending AD 
schema. Using ADAM can bu justified by other reasons but we don't know 
many things about your organization and this application to make 
statement use or not to use ADAM\AD.






--
Tomasz Onyszko
http://www.w2k.pl/ - (PL)
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/ - (EN)
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
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RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-25 Thread Ramon Linan
It looks like this guys that are building the app are using LDAP to find
the username and Kerberos to create the token, do that make sense?

Also, it looks like this application add 2 classes to the AD, I wonder
when is worthy to use ADAM , should it be use for any custom app that
expands the schema or only depending on how "big" the changes are to the
schema?

Any recommendation?


Thanks

Rezuma

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tomasz Onyszko
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 10:20 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Ramon Linan wrote:
> You guys are amazing, in terms of AD knowledge, way out of league.
> Anyway, I was the one asking about this application, I have more 
> questions.
> 
> First I must said, that I am waiting to hear from the vendor about 
> whether the app modifies the Schema or not, I got 2 emails from them, 
> one saying yes and the other saying no, it does not change it!!! :( I 
> am panicking already.
> 
> Here goes my question:
> We have 2 offices, only 4 people in the HQ are going to be using this 
> app, so if the app changes the schema of AD it would be better to use 
> ADAM, is this right? Especially because I don't know how good if the 
> application going to be about cleaning AD if we don't use it anymore.

If we are talking about "cleaning" as about "cleaning" schema this can't
be done - You can't remove classes or attributes from schema, You can
only defunct them in Windows 2003.

> 
> The first vendor tech who replied to me said that the application 
> changes the schema, and he was saying that it has already changed the 
> schema in the submain, where all the current users for this 
> application are, is that possible? If I have domain.com and 
> child.domain.com, can I


You should really consider using their application as obviously they
don't have basic AD knowledge or they are missing some concepts. Schema
is common for all domains in the forest, so If You will alter the schema
on schema master all domains in the forest will get this changes.
BTW to alter the schema You have to have really high privileges so:
1. Somebody let them to do something with schema admin privileges 2.
They don't know what they are talking about.


> change the schema of AD for a subdomain and not for the main domain?? 
> I though It was only one LDAP for the whole forest?, this does not 
> make sense considering the schema owner is the same for both child and

> main domain. Can I say to the vendor how wrong he is or are there 
> exception to that situation?

You should ask them:
1. If their application is extending AD schema 2. If answer to 1 is Yes:
do they have their specific OIDs numbers registered and they are unique.
3. They should present You these changes as LDIFs and You should test it
in the lab.

> 
> If there a tool I can use that will compare the out of the box schema 
> for windows 2003+exchange with the current schema? Or do I have to use

> adsiedit and try to figure out what is part of the app?

Schema Analyzer which comes with ADAM SP1 can do this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9688F8B9-1034-4
EF6-A3E5-2A2A57B5C8E4&displaylang=en

> I am still waiting to receive an answer about the way these dudes 
> authenticate, simple bind, secure bind, Kerberos, or whatever.



--
Tomasz Onyszko
http://www.w2k.pl/ - (PL)
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/ - (EN)
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
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RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-25 Thread Ramon Linan
I see, thanks for the info, especially about not being able to delete
classes or properties, this actually make even more useful using ADAM,
since there are app that will not longer use in a few years, cool stuff
all this. 
Good point, I just checked, and only the administrator user is part of
the schema group , they don't have the administrator user or password so
probably they aren't change the schema at all.

Thanks for the info again.

Rezuma
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tomasz Onyszko
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 10:20 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Ramon Linan wrote:
> You guys are amazing, in terms of AD knowledge, way out of league.
> Anyway, I was the one asking about this application, I have more 
> questions.
> 
> First I must said, that I am waiting to hear from the vendor about 
> whether the app modifies the Schema or not, I got 2 emails from them, 
> one saying yes and the other saying no, it does not change it!!! :( I 
> am panicking already.
> 
> Here goes my question:
> We have 2 offices, only 4 people in the HQ are going to be using this 
> app, so if the app changes the schema of AD it would be better to use 
> ADAM, is this right? Especially because I don't know how good if the 
> application going to be about cleaning AD if we don't use it anymore.

If we are talking about "cleaning" as about "cleaning" schema this can't
be done - You can't remove classes or attributes from schema, You can
only defunct them in Windows 2003.

> 
> The first vendor tech who replied to me said that the application 
> changes the schema, and he was saying that it has already changed the 
> schema in the submain, where all the current users for this 
> application are, is that possible? If I have domain.com and 
> child.domain.com, can I


You should really consider using their application as obviously they
don't have basic AD knowledge or they are missing some concepts. Schema
is common for all domains in the forest, so If You will alter the schema
on schema master all domains in the forest will get this changes.
BTW to alter the schema You have to have really high privileges so:
1. Somebody let them to do something with schema admin privileges 2.
They don't know what they are talking about.


> change the schema of AD for a subdomain and not for the main domain?? 
> I though It was only one LDAP for the whole forest?, this does not 
> make sense considering the schema owner is the same for both child and

> main domain. Can I say to the vendor how wrong he is or are there 
> exception to that situation?

You should ask them:
1. If their application is extending AD schema 2. If answer to 1 is Yes:
do they have their specific OIDs numbers registered and they are unique.
3. They should present You these changes as LDIFs and You should test it
in the lab.

> 
> If there a tool I can use that will compare the out of the box schema 
> for windows 2003+exchange with the current schema? Or do I have to use

> adsiedit and try to figure out what is part of the app?

Schema Analyzer which comes with ADAM SP1 can do this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9688F8B9-1034-4
EF6-A3E5-2A2A57B5C8E4&displaylang=en

> I am still waiting to receive an answer about the way these dudes 
> authenticate, simple bind, secure bind, Kerberos, or whatever.



--
Tomasz Onyszko
http://www.w2k.pl/ - (PL)
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/ - (EN)
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
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Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-25 Thread Tomasz Onyszko

Ramon Linan wrote:

You guys are amazing, in terms of AD knowledge, way out of league.
Anyway, I was the one asking about this application, I have more
questions.

First I must said, that I am waiting to hear from the vendor about
whether the app modifies the Schema or not, I got 2 emails from them,
one saying yes and the other saying no, it does not change it!!! :( I am
panicking already.

Here goes my question:
We have 2 offices, only 4 people in the HQ are going to be using this
app, so if the app changes the schema of AD it would be better to use
ADAM, is this right? Especially because I don't know how good if the
application going to be about cleaning AD if we don't use it anymore.


If we are talking about "cleaning" as about "cleaning" schema this can't 
be done - You can't remove classes or attributes from schema, You can 
only defunct them in Windows 2003.




The first vendor tech who replied to me said that the application
changes the schema, and he was saying that it has already changed the
schema in the submain, where all the current users for this application
are, is that possible? If I have domain.com and child.domain.com, can I



You should really consider using their application as obviously they 
don't have basic AD knowledge or they are missing some concepts. Schema 
is common for all domains in the forest, so If You will alter the schema 
on schema master all domains in the forest will get this changes.

BTW to alter the schema You have to have really high privileges so:
1. Somebody let them to do something with schema admin privileges
2. They don't know what they are talking about.



change the schema of AD for a subdomain and not for the main domain?? I
though It was only one LDAP for the whole forest?, this does not make
sense considering the schema owner is the same for both child and main
domain. Can I say to the vendor how wrong he is or are there exception
to that situation?


You should ask them:
1. If their application is extending AD schema
2. If answer to 1 is Yes: do they have their specific OIDs numbers 
registered and they are unique.
3. They should present You these changes as LDIFs and You should test it 
in the lab.




If there a tool I can use that will compare the out of the box schema
for windows 2003+exchange with the current schema? Or do I have to use
adsiedit and try to figure out what is part of the app?


Schema Analyzer which comes with ADAM SP1 can do this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9688F8B9-1034-4EF6-A3E5-2A2A57B5C8E4&displaylang=en


I am still waiting to receive an answer about the way these dudes
authenticate, simple bind, secure bind, Kerberos, or whatever.




--
Tomasz Onyszko
http://www.w2k.pl/ - (PL)
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/ - (EN)
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx


RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-25 Thread Ramon Linan
You guys are amazing, in terms of AD knowledge, way out of league.
Anyway, I was the one asking about this application, I have more
questions.

First I must said, that I am waiting to hear from the vendor about
whether the app modifies the Schema or not, I got 2 emails from them,
one saying yes and the other saying no, it does not change it!!! :( I am
panicking already.

Here goes my question:
We have 2 offices, only 4 people in the HQ are going to be using this
app, so if the app changes the schema of AD it would be better to use
ADAM, is this right? Especially because I don't know how good if the
application going to be about cleaning AD if we don't use it anymore.

The first vendor tech who replied to me said that the application
changes the schema, and he was saying that it has already changed the
schema in the submain, where all the current users for this application
are, is that possible? If I have domain.com and child.domain.com, can I
change the schema of AD for a subdomain and not for the main domain?? I
though It was only one LDAP for the whole forest?, this does not make
sense considering the schema owner is the same for both child and main
domain. Can I say to the vendor how wrong he is or are there exception
to that situation?

If there a tool I can use that will compare the out of the box schema
for windows 2003+exchange with the current schema? Or do I have to use
adsiedit and try to figure out what is part of the app?

I am still waiting to receive an answer about the way these dudes
authenticate, simple bind, secure bind, Kerberos, or whatever.

Thanks all

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eric Fleischman
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:34 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

In my own mind I've wrestled a lot with whether or not I like auth via
LDAP. I've come to the conclusion that it's ok, and that we should build
mechanisms to facilitate it. Things like tokenGroups on RootDSE speak to
this, but we should do more.

LDAP is easy. Anyone can write an LDAP-based application. On the flip
side, Kerb is hard (a-la ADFS). Windows-level integration (LogonUser()
like APIs) is likely what I like best, but there are problems, such as
lack of x-platform story and the need to be within trust's reach. ADFS
is a pretty good answer, but it's new, and people aren't yet comfy with
the APIs (assuming they are easy to use, like LDAP) as well as lack of a
consistent, reliable infrastructure you find everywhere. LDAP is the
defector choice considering these complications.

So, you can like LDAP or not, but it's here to stay and people are using
it. :) And I'm not sure this is a bad thing.

On some specific points

> Far too many times that I have looked at LDAP traces I see passwords 
> and IDs just flowing across the wire like there was no tomorrow.

To be fair, you need to be clear as to where you are seeing this. For
example, two servers talking to one another in the clear might be
acceptable depending upon your security model. SSL does not raise the
bar out of the gate like people seem to want to believe. You need to
look at a threat model to really know.
In fact, I'd assert that most people who turn on SSL do so straight out
of the gate and take the perf hit w/o ever having looked at a threat
model! This is sad to me, it means they didn't threat model generally
(and consequently don't know where the real gaps are) but also are
paying a perf penalty w/o really knowing if it is required.

> Is your thought that those protocols are headed in the direction to be

> more universal and used even when Web access isn't even
involved?

I don't know what Joe was thinking, but I'm certainly willing to assert
this. As these technologies become easier to use and empower more
scenarios, it is reasonable to assume that people may use them
internally as well as externally. As this happens, it is rolled out even
within an organization. I can name a few major organizations off hand
which are using these as a unifying infrastructure among desperate
systems within their enterprise. It is likely going to happen more and
more, and I think it's already happening quite a bit today.

That said, this is not to say you will see 100% coverageI don't
know. If we make ADFS a Kerberos-like piece of the infrastructure
(automagically installed and configured out of the box), that becomes a
more realistic perspective to consider.

~Eric


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 8:10 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Yeah I understand, lots of vendors use LDAP for auth, but it doesn't
make it good/right. Just like lots of vendors requiring admin access or
always passing NULL for LPSECURITY_

RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Eric Fleischman
In my own mind I've wrestled a lot with whether or not I like auth via
LDAP. I've come to the conclusion that it's ok, and that we should build
mechanisms to facilitate it. Things like tokenGroups on RootDSE speak to
this, but we should do more.

LDAP is easy. Anyone can write an LDAP-based application. On the flip
side, Kerb is hard (a-la ADFS). Windows-level integration (LogonUser()
like APIs) is likely what I like best, but there are problems, such as
lack of x-platform story and the need to be within trust's reach. ADFS
is a pretty good answer, but it's new, and people aren't yet comfy with
the APIs (assuming they are easy to use, like LDAP) as well as lack of a
consistent, reliable infrastructure you find everywhere. LDAP is the
defector choice considering these complications.

So, you can like LDAP or not, but it's here to stay and people are using
it. :) And I'm not sure this is a bad thing.

On some specific points

> Far too many times that I have looked at LDAP traces I see passwords
> and IDs just flowing across the wire like there was no tomorrow.

To be fair, you need to be clear as to where you are seeing this. For
example, two servers talking to one another in the clear might be
acceptable depending upon your security model. SSL does not raise the
bar out of the gate like people seem to want to believe. You need to
look at a threat model to really know.
In fact, I'd assert that most people who turn on SSL do so straight out
of the gate and take the perf hit w/o ever having looked at a threat
model! This is sad to me, it means they didn't threat model generally
(and consequently don't know where the real gaps are) but also are
paying a perf penalty w/o really knowing if it is required.

> Is your thought that those protocols are headed in the direction
> to be more universal and used even when Web access isn't even
involved?

I don't know what Joe was thinking, but I'm certainly willing to assert
this. As these technologies become easier to use and empower more
scenarios, it is reasonable to assume that people may use them
internally as well as externally. As this happens, it is rolled out even
within an organization. I can name a few major organizations off hand
which are using these as a unifying infrastructure among desperate
systems within their enterprise. It is likely going to happen more and
more, and I think it's already happening quite a bit today.

That said, this is not to say you will see 100% coverageI don't
know. If we make ADFS a Kerberos-like piece of the infrastructure
(automagically installed and configured out of the box), that becomes a
more realistic perspective to consider.

~Eric


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 8:10 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Yeah I understand, lots of vendors use LDAP for auth, but it doesn't
make it
good/right. Just like lots of vendors requiring admin access or always
passing NULL for LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES when working with securable
objects. 

ADAM is another story, if you need to use ADAM principals you are stuck
with
using LDAP for the auth. I still don't like it though. :)

Of course you are correct on the using SSL can help beef up the security
but
that seems to be done in the minority of the cases. Far too many times
that
I have looked at LDAP traces I see passwords and IDs just flowing across
the
wire like there was no tomorrow. The thing is most of the users I expect
have no clue that they are being exposed in such a way because they
trust
that the Administrators and vendors actually know what they are doing.
Course this is the case with many web based apps as well, but folks have
started to learn to mistrust these automatically as time goes by. The
little
"key" on the browser helps a little but it tells you nothing about the
backend and how insecure it is. 

I guess a possible configuration to help with this would be to configure
IPSEC to only allow port 389/3268 to be used by replication partners.
This
would probably just break a ton of other stuff including anything using
say
kerberos/ntlm LDAP packet encryption or TSL as well as all of the
non-secured stuff. 

As for the WS-* stuff, this is obviously more prevalent than just Web
related techs. I admit to being completely uninformed on those
protocols. Is
your thought that those protocols are headed in the direction to be more
universal and used even when Web access isn't even involved?

 joe


--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Kaplan
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 12:15 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Although a do tend

Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Tomasz Onyszko

Eric Fleischman wrote:

(...)
I will jump here a little


On the SSL front, it's interesting that you see this as a strength of
ADFS. I would argue the opposite. Cert infrastructures are non-trivial


AFAIK ADFS at current stage doesn't full implement WS-Security and thus 
we have to use SSL for all communication between ADFS parties. Element 
we are missing in this puzzle from WS-Security is SOAP messages encryption.


But this is only from transport security point of view.



to configure or maintain, I always saw it as a downside to ADFS that it
requires one to get a PhD is certology and make this work not only for
you but across organizations, assuming you use it in this way.
Of course, the real solution to all of this is making a cert
infrastructure as easy to run as, say, the key infrastructure that makes
Kerberos "just work" for you.


Yes, Eric You are right that configuring ADFS and all this cert stuff is 
a pain in ... for most of people, but with only basic understanding of 
PKI and good documentation reading this can be configured for ADFS in 
few minutes (of course if you have proper certs). I think that making it 
more "usable", maybe through enabling auto enrollment for ADFS servers 
will make it better.



--
Tomasz Onyszko
http://www.w2k.pl/ - (PL)
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/ - (EN)
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
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RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Eric Fleischman
Yes, we should file a bug for AD. I'll take this offline with you.

On the SSL front, it's interesting that you see this as a strength of
ADFS. I would argue the opposite. Cert infrastructures are non-trivial
to configure or maintain, I always saw it as a downside to ADFS that it
requires one to get a PhD is certology and make this work not only for
you but across organizations, assuming you use it in this way.
Of course, the real solution to all of this is making a cert
infrastructure as easy to run as, say, the key infrastructure that makes
Kerberos "just work" for you.

~Eric



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Kaplan
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:49 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

That's very cool, Eric.  I had no idea that setting existed in ADAM.
Any 
change of sneaking that into the AD stack?

I agree that it only solves half the problem, but at least by preventing

this from working at all, it keeps people from setting up apps that will
do 
unsecure simple binds thousands of times per day for years.  There is
only 
so much you can do.

I also agree that SSL just isn't that easy and can't be, just because of
the 
way it works.  That doesn't stop me from wishing it was.  :) One thing I

like about ADFS is that you have to use SSL to play, so you can't even
get 
yourself in trouble.

I'll definitely file a bug on the audit thing.  I think that would be
nice, 
even with ADAM in the mode to reject insecure simple binds, because you 
could find out which clients are attempting it.

Joe K.

- Original Message - 
From: "Eric Fleischman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 11:48 AM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


> I'd love to see an AD and ADAM option that would allow the DS to
> reject simple bind operations on non-SSL ports

We agree. That's why we built it in to the product. :) Well, in to ADAM
that is.
See object CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows
NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,CN={}. Check out the attribute
msds-other-settings, value named RequireSecureSimpleBind=0. Change that
0 to a 1, then you have enabled the protection.

I would point out, this does not prevent a client from *presenting* a
password via simple bind w/o connection security, only from the
operation succeeding. So you could still present a password (thereby
showing it to an attacker), it's just that it won't work. This is
training with the stick, not the carrot.
It's akin to saying, I can protect your SSN from working when you scream
it to me in a room full of people (ie, require you write it on a piece
of paper and pass it over), but I can't stop you from screaming, only
punish you when you make this bad choice.

> Another thing that would be helpful would be an unencrypted simple
bind
> audit event that could be configured, so that you could find the IP
> address  of any client issuing these operations and track them down.

This is a good idea. Can you file a bug for this? I have thought of
doing this before but never thought anyone would appreciate things like
this. :)


> Now, if it was only easy to force all DCs and ADAM
> instances to have valid server certs, we'd be in business.  :)

I think it goes w/o saying, but this is impossible. The definition of
"valid" is in the eye of the beholder. For example, to some a
self-signed cert, trusted by no one, is invalid for the DS. However, to
the person that explicitly trusted that cert on their LDAP clients, it's
perfectly fine. That's just one example, the same could be said for
nearly every wonky cert config you think of, especially when you
consider ADAM in the mix.

~Eric




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Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Joe Kaplan
That's very cool, Eric.  I had no idea that setting existed in ADAM.  Any 
change of sneaking that into the AD stack?


I agree that it only solves half the problem, but at least by preventing 
this from working at all, it keeps people from setting up apps that will do 
unsecure simple binds thousands of times per day for years.  There is only 
so much you can do.


I also agree that SSL just isn't that easy and can't be, just because of the 
way it works.  That doesn't stop me from wishing it was.  :) One thing I 
like about ADFS is that you have to use SSL to play, so you can't even get 
yourself in trouble.


I'll definitely file a bug on the audit thing.  I think that would be nice, 
even with ADAM in the mode to reject insecure simple binds, because you 
could find out which clients are attempting it.


Joe K.

- Original Message - 
From: "Eric Fleischman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 11:48 AM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP



I'd love to see an AD and ADAM option that would allow the DS to
reject simple bind operations on non-SSL ports


We agree. That's why we built it in to the product. :) Well, in to ADAM
that is.
See object CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows
NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,CN={}. Check out the attribute
msds-other-settings, value named RequireSecureSimpleBind=0. Change that
0 to a 1, then you have enabled the protection.

I would point out, this does not prevent a client from *presenting* a
password via simple bind w/o connection security, only from the
operation succeeding. So you could still present a password (thereby
showing it to an attacker), it's just that it won't work. This is
training with the stick, not the carrot.
It's akin to saying, I can protect your SSN from working when you scream
it to me in a room full of people (ie, require you write it on a piece
of paper and pass it over), but I can't stop you from screaming, only
punish you when you make this bad choice.


Another thing that would be helpful would be an unencrypted simple

bind

audit event that could be configured, so that you could find the IP
address  of any client issuing these operations and track them down.


This is a good idea. Can you file a bug for this? I have thought of
doing this before but never thought anyone would appreciate things like
this. :)



Now, if it was only easy to force all DCs and ADAM
instances to have valid server certs, we'd be in business.  :)


I think it goes w/o saying, but this is impossible. The definition of
"valid" is in the eye of the beholder. For example, to some a
self-signed cert, trusted by no one, is invalid for the DS. However, to
the person that explicitly trusted that cert on their LDAP clients, it's
perfectly fine. That's just one example, the same could be said for
nearly every wonky cert config you think of, especially when you
consider ADAM in the mix.

~Eric




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RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Eric Fleischman
> I'd love to see an AD and ADAM option that would allow the DS to
> reject simple bind operations on non-SSL ports

We agree. That's why we built it in to the product. :) Well, in to ADAM
that is.
See object CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows
NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,CN={}. Check out the attribute
msds-other-settings, value named RequireSecureSimpleBind=0. Change that
0 to a 1, then you have enabled the protection.

I would point out, this does not prevent a client from *presenting* a
password via simple bind w/o connection security, only from the
operation succeeding. So you could still present a password (thereby
showing it to an attacker), it's just that it won't work. This is
training with the stick, not the carrot.
It's akin to saying, I can protect your SSN from working when you scream
it to me in a room full of people (ie, require you write it on a piece
of paper and pass it over), but I can't stop you from screaming, only
punish you when you make this bad choice.

> Another thing that would be helpful would be an unencrypted simple
bind 
> audit event that could be configured, so that you could find the IP
> address  of any client issuing these operations and track them down.

This is a good idea. Can you file a bug for this? I have thought of
doing this before but never thought anyone would appreciate things like
this. :)


> Now, if it was only easy to force all DCs and ADAM 
> instances to have valid server certs, we'd be in business.  :)

I think it goes w/o saying, but this is impossible. The definition of
"valid" is in the eye of the beholder. For example, to some a
self-signed cert, trusted by no one, is invalid for the DS. However, to
the person that explicitly trusted that cert on their LDAP clients, it's
perfectly fine. That's just one example, the same could be said for
nearly every wonky cert config you think of, especially when you
consider ADAM in the mix.

~Eric



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Kaplan
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 9:16 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

I think the bottom line of my argument boils down to "simple bind
without 
SSL is evil, but simple bind with SSL is acceptable".  Secure bind is 
generally acceptable, with or without SSL.

As such, I'd love to see an AD and ADAM option that would allow the DS
to 
reject simple bind operations on non-SSL ports.  I think this would go a

long way towards helping enforce my mantra and would likely only have a 
negative impact on non-MS apps using simple bind.  The vast majority of
code 
from the MS world uses secure bind by default and actually requires the 
developer to go out of their way to get a simple bind.  For example, the

basic vbscript:

Set obj = GetObject("LDAP://DC=domain,DC=com")

results in a secure bind with GSS-SPNEGO (hopefully negotiating to
Kerberos 
:)).  The same goes in .NET:

DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://DC=domain,DC=com")

To get a simple bind, you must use OpenDSObject in script and pass in
the 
appropriate flags to NOT have Secure bind set, or set the appropriate 
AuthenticationTypes.  In general, ADSI does the right thing.

Another thing that would be helpful would be an unencrypted simple bind 
audit event that could be configured, so that you could find the IP
address 
of any client issuing these operations and track them down.

I think one of the reasons why simple bind is used by many vendors is
that 
it is the only common denominator between other directories and a lot of

LDAP protocol libraries don't support Microsoft auth mechanisms.
However, 
the good news is that just about every LDAP library does have some sort
of 
support for SSL.  Now, if it was only easy to force all DCs and ADAM 
instances to have valid server certs, we'd be in business.  :)

Regarding the evolution of authentication protocols with some of the
stuff 
in WS-*, I have to say that I like the vision.  WS-Trust is the plumbing

under not only ADFS, but also CardSpace and the security framework for 
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).  The vision is pretty appealing,

because the notion of how a user can be authenticated (via a security
token 
service) is more abstract and based on open and fairly simple web
protocols 
(HTTP, XML, PKI).  The notion of a security token is now more abstract
and 
flexible than a Windows token too, in that a token describing an 
authenticated user now just contains "claims", not just SIDs.  Claims
can be 
anything (including their group SIDs), so this makes it easier to
provide 
all the information an app needs to authorize a user without having to 
resort to post authentication lookups to go back and get their first
name or 
their email address.  It also allows you to address privacy concerns, in

that each app can 

Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread Joe Kaplan
I think the bottom line of my argument boils down to "simple bind without 
SSL is evil, but simple bind with SSL is acceptable".  Secure bind is 
generally acceptable, with or without SSL.


As such, I'd love to see an AD and ADAM option that would allow the DS to 
reject simple bind operations on non-SSL ports.  I think this would go a 
long way towards helping enforce my mantra and would likely only have a 
negative impact on non-MS apps using simple bind.  The vast majority of code 
from the MS world uses secure bind by default and actually requires the 
developer to go out of their way to get a simple bind.  For example, the 
basic vbscript:


Set obj = GetObject("LDAP://DC=domain,DC=com")

results in a secure bind with GSS-SPNEGO (hopefully negotiating to Kerberos 
:)).  The same goes in .NET:


DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://DC=domain,DC=com")

To get a simple bind, you must use OpenDSObject in script and pass in the 
appropriate flags to NOT have Secure bind set, or set the appropriate 
AuthenticationTypes.  In general, ADSI does the right thing.


Another thing that would be helpful would be an unencrypted simple bind 
audit event that could be configured, so that you could find the IP address 
of any client issuing these operations and track them down.


I think one of the reasons why simple bind is used by many vendors is that 
it is the only common denominator between other directories and a lot of 
LDAP protocol libraries don't support Microsoft auth mechanisms.  However, 
the good news is that just about every LDAP library does have some sort of 
support for SSL.  Now, if it was only easy to force all DCs and ADAM 
instances to have valid server certs, we'd be in business.  :)


Regarding the evolution of authentication protocols with some of the stuff 
in WS-*, I have to say that I like the vision.  WS-Trust is the plumbing 
under not only ADFS, but also CardSpace and the security framework for 
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).  The vision is pretty appealing, 
because the notion of how a user can be authenticated (via a security token 
service) is more abstract and based on open and fairly simple web protocols 
(HTTP, XML, PKI).  The notion of a security token is now more abstract and 
flexible than a Windows token too, in that a token describing an 
authenticated user now just contains "claims", not just SIDs.  Claims can be 
anything (including their group SIDs), so this makes it easier to provide 
all the information an app needs to authorize a user without having to 
resort to post authentication lookups to go back and get their first name or 
their email address.  It also allows you to address privacy concerns, in 
that each app can be configured to just get the info it needs and none that 
it doesn't.  Users can be given the right to control what information is 
provided about them (which is very explicit in CardSpace, but is more of a 
corporate policy thing with ADFS).


All in all, I'm digging the vision.  I do think it has a long way to go 
before it can become ubiquitous, but I do think it is a better model than 
what we have now and the implementation is really simple and open enough 
that everyone can play.  Some would argue, probably rightly, that MS and IBM 
have the keys to the kingdom and the stack is pretty complex with all the 
layers of XML protocols.  However, Kim Cameron has successfully demonstrated 
CardSpace login to his blog running on the LAMP stack, so I'm convinced that 
it is pretty doable.


When will we see the Security Token Service and WS-Trust displace the KDC 
and SSPI in Windows?  I think that will be a while.  :)


And I love ADFS.  It rocks.  Bring on the Active Requester Profile (and a 
better GUI)!


Joe K.

- Original Message - 
From: "joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:10 AM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


Yeah I understand, lots of vendors use LDAP for auth, but it doesn't make 
it

good/right. Just like lots of vendors requiring admin access or always
passing NULL for LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES when working with securable 
objects.


ADAM is another story, if you need to use ADAM principals you are stuck 
with

using LDAP for the auth. I still don't like it though. :)

Of course you are correct on the using SSL can help beef up the security 
but
that seems to be done in the minority of the cases. Far too many times 
that
I have looked at LDAP traces I see passwords and IDs just flowing across 
the

wire like there was no tomorrow. The thing is most of the users I expect
have no clue that they are being exposed in such a way because they trust
that the Administrators and vendors actually know what they are doing.
Course this is the case with many web based apps as well, but folks have
started to learn to mistrust these automatically as time goes by. The 
little

"key" o

RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-24 Thread joe
Yeah I understand, lots of vendors use LDAP for auth, but it doesn't make it
good/right. Just like lots of vendors requiring admin access or always
passing NULL for LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES when working with securable objects. 

ADAM is another story, if you need to use ADAM principals you are stuck with
using LDAP for the auth. I still don't like it though. :)

Of course you are correct on the using SSL can help beef up the security but
that seems to be done in the minority of the cases. Far too many times that
I have looked at LDAP traces I see passwords and IDs just flowing across the
wire like there was no tomorrow. The thing is most of the users I expect
have no clue that they are being exposed in such a way because they trust
that the Administrators and vendors actually know what they are doing.
Course this is the case with many web based apps as well, but folks have
started to learn to mistrust these automatically as time goes by. The little
"key" on the browser helps a little but it tells you nothing about the
backend and how insecure it is. 

I guess a possible configuration to help with this would be to configure
IPSEC to only allow port 389/3268 to be used by replication partners. This
would probably just break a ton of other stuff including anything using say
kerberos/ntlm LDAP packet encryption or TSL as well as all of the
non-secured stuff. 

As for the WS-* stuff, this is obviously more prevalent than just Web
related techs. I admit to being completely uninformed on those protocols. Is
your thought that those protocols are headed in the direction to be more
universal and used even when Web access isn't even involved?

 joe


--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Kaplan
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 12:15 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

Although a do tend to agree that LDAP does not define a good authentication 
protocol at all, it is definitely the case that LDAP is used as an 
authentication mechanism all over the place.  I also don't thing there is 
really anything wrong with using it for that per say, as long as it is used 
correctly.

Specifically, it is the LDAP bind operation that is typically used for 
authentication.  The only real problem with using LDAP bind to authenticate 
a user is that the only binding mechanism defined directly by the LDAP V3 
spec is the simple bind.  Simple bind is not secure by itself because it 
passes the user's plaintext credentials over the wire.  That is ultra bad, 
as any snooper can easily recover the user's password.  However, when LDAP 
simple bind is combined with channel level encryption such as SSL, it really

isn't that bad.  :)  Sure, I'd rather use Kerberos, but that isn't always an

option.

I've heard a few security experts suggest that you are actually safer using 
HTTP basic authentication with SSL over using NTLM auth over HTTP with no 
SSL.  NTLM is actually that easy to hack.  And NTLM actually IS an 
authentication protocol (albeit a dated, deprecated protocol that we still 
can't seem to get rid of in Windows over 6 years after it fell out of favor 
over Kerberos).

When using ADAM as an identity store, the primary means you have available 
to you to authenticate your ADAM users is LDAP simple bind (although digest 
auth is available if the client knows how to speak it; most don't).  If you 
want to use the fast concurrent bind feature of ADAM or AD, simple bind is 
the only supported authentication mechanism.

The real key is to ensure that simple bind is always combined with SSL (or 
some other transport layer security like IPSEC).  I'd actually love to see 
an option in AD and ADAM that would only allow simple bind on a secure 
channel.  I think that would be a good product feature, although it would 
probably have to be off by default.

I don't expect to see lots of third party apps moving away from LDAP bind as

an authentication mechanism until something else more universal rises up to 
replace it.  I'm hoping that's WS-Federation/WS-Trust, but somehow I doubt 
we'll see that very soon.  :)

Joe K.

- Original Message - 
From: "joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:07 PM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


> The first thing I would say and I am shocked Al didn't say is
>
>
> LDAP IS NOT AN AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL
>
> For the the managers and vendors let me repeat ;o)
>
> LDAP
> IS
> NOT
> AN
> AUTHENTICATION
> PROTOCOL
> 
>
>
> LDAP has to authenticate as a part of giving secure access to data but 
> that
> doesn't make it an authentication protocol. A file server has to
> authenticate you in some way

RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-23 Thread Crawford, Scott
"I agree that a vendor should have a minimum qualification to meet to be able 
to call it AD Integrated.  "
 
Aye, something like the wildly successful XP Logo program that ensures all the 
apps we use are written well and don't need administrative rights to run. 




From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Al Mulnick
Sent: Sat 9/23/2006 7:31 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


Sorry Sir!  

(I see you hit the other reasons quite well.  The DN is such a PITA to begin 
with if you're trying to use LDAP to authenticate and authorize a user).

That's often the biggest complaint I have when somebody tries to integrate with 
AD via LDAP. That and you end up having to dumb it down so the app will talk to 
AD.  

I agree that a vendor should have a minimum qualification to meet to be able to 
call it AD Integrated.  Otherwise, it's just ldap and they should call it that. 

I'll try to be quicker on the draw sir!  :)


On 9/22/06, joe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 

LOL. You should have sent this before I started typing. ;o)
 
Why wasn't it in your first answer, you always take that one right out 
in the first paragraph and when I read your response I was like hey who the 
heck are you?

 
--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - 
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 
 



From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al 
Mulnick
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:55 PM 

    To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP



I won't put words in his mouth either, but I'll certainly say the same 
thing.  I had to hold back a shudder when I responded earlier 'cause ldap and 
authentication might be ok in the same paragraph, but never in the same 
sentence (except to point out that it should not be in the same sentence :) 
 
Would it work if you used the parent domain in a contiguous namespace 
design? Depends on how they wrote the code.  If it won't follow referrals then 
likely it will fail.  
 
Try the GC (that is so lame a workaround, but it'll likely work) as Joe 
suggests and at the same push back on the vendor to get it right or give you 
your money back else give you a more solid workaround (ADAM?)
 
There. Nothing for joe to tell them about fixing their lame app. 
 
-ajm

 
On 9/22/06, Joe Kaplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 

You might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be 
able to
authenticate and find users from any domain via the GC. 

I think Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn 
what they are
doing and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim 
they can.
I'll bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too. 
 I won't put 
words in Joe's mouth though.  :)

Joe

- Original Message -
From: Ramon Linan
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
        Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM 
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


The application designer is telling me it can only be 
configured for one
source of authentication, so if the use the domain level 
authentication will
that allow to authenticate users in the subdomain? 

I.e.
domain.com <http://domain.com/> 
child.domain.com <http://child.domain.com/> 

If I point the application to use domain.com 
<http://domain.com/>  as authentication source will 
that also authenticate users from the child domain?

Thanks




From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick
        Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP 


sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=com
domain query base: dc=domain,dc=com

When the search is initiated, it will start looking at the 
query base and,
if so configured, everything below it (subtree search). 

In your case, that won't likely happen depen

Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-23 Thread Al Mulnick
Sorry Sir!  

(I see you hit the other reasons quite well.  The DN is such a
PITA to begin with if you're trying to use LDAP to authenticate and
authorize a user).

That's often the biggest complaint I have when somebody tries to
integrate with AD via LDAP. That and you end up having to dumb it down
so the app will talk to AD.  

I agree that a vendor should have a minimum qualification to meet to be
able to call it AD Integrated.  Otherwise, it's just ldap and they
should call it that. 

I'll try to be quicker on the draw sir!  :)On 9/22/06, joe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:





LOL. You should have sent this before I started typing. 
;o)
 
Why wasn't it in your first answer, you always take that 
one right out in the first paragraph and when I read your response I was like 
hey who the heck are you?
 

--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - 
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 
 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al 
MulnickSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:55 PMTo: 
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND 
LDAP

I won't put words in his mouth either, but I'll certainly say the same 
thing.  I had to hold back a shudder when I responded earlier 'cause ldap 
and authentication might be ok in the same paragraph, but never in the same 
sentence (except to point out that it should not be in the same sentence :) 

 
Would it work if you used the parent domain in a contiguous namespace 
design? Depends on how they wrote the code.  If it won't follow referrals 
then likely it will fail.  
 
Try the GC (that is so lame a workaround, but it'll likely work) as 
Joe suggests and at the same push back on the vendor to get it right or give you 
your money back else give you a more solid workaround (ADAM?)
 
There. Nothing for joe to tell them about fixing their lame app. 
 
-ajm 
On 9/22/06, Joe 
Kaplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote: 
You 
  might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be able 
  toauthenticate and find users from any domain via the GC. I think 
  Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn what they aredoing 
  and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim they can.I'll 
  bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too.  I won't 
  put words in Joe's mouth though.  :)Joe- 
  Original Message -From: Ramon LinanTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSent: 
  Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND 
  LDAPThe application designer is telling me it can only be 
  configured for onesource of authentication, so if the use the domain level 
  authentication willthat allow to authenticate users in the subdomain? 
  I.e.domain.com
child.domain.comIf I point the 
  application to use domain.com as 
  authentication source will that also authenticate users from the child 
  domain?ThanksFrom: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:
 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al MulnickSent: 
  Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PMTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: 
  Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP sub-domain query base: 
  dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=comdomain query base: 
  dc=domain,dc=comWhen the search is initiated, it will start looking at 
  the query base and,if so configured, everything below it (subtree search). 
  In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured 
  it.If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you 
  havea contiguous namespace) then you may get different results. 
  Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client 
  if your appdoesn't have that functionality built in.Since you're 
  security conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you'reusing 
  during your testing :) Permissions?  That depends on your 
  configuration and your versions.  Windows2000 is pretty much 
  open for searches while 2003 requires authenticatedusers by 
  default.AlOn 9/22/06, Ramon Linan < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
  wrote:Hi,I have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate 
  (authenticatesagainst AD).In my AD I have a domain and subdomain 
  or child domain. I assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same 
  LDAP, right?Also, if the application is using a user from the 
  subdomain to query theLDAP, what kind of access will that user have to 
  have to authenticate users at the main domain level.Basically, the 
  application is authenticating fine the users from thesubdomain but cant 
  fine the users from the main domain...Thanks for any 
  advice.Rezuma List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList 
  FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList 
  archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspxList 
  info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList 
  FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList 
  archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx





Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread Joe Kaplan
Although a do tend to agree that LDAP does not define a good authentication 
protocol at all, it is definitely the case that LDAP is used as an 
authentication mechanism all over the place.  I also don't thing there is 
really anything wrong with using it for that per say, as long as it is used 
correctly.


Specifically, it is the LDAP bind operation that is typically used for 
authentication.  The only real problem with using LDAP bind to authenticate 
a user is that the only binding mechanism defined directly by the LDAP V3 
spec is the simple bind.  Simple bind is not secure by itself because it 
passes the user's plaintext credentials over the wire.  That is ultra bad, 
as any snooper can easily recover the user's password.  However, when LDAP 
simple bind is combined with channel level encryption such as SSL, it really 
isn't that bad.  :)  Sure, I'd rather use Kerberos, but that isn't always an 
option.


I've heard a few security experts suggest that you are actually safer using 
HTTP basic authentication with SSL over using NTLM auth over HTTP with no 
SSL.  NTLM is actually that easy to hack.  And NTLM actually IS an 
authentication protocol (albeit a dated, deprecated protocol that we still 
can't seem to get rid of in Windows over 6 years after it fell out of favor 
over Kerberos).


When using ADAM as an identity store, the primary means you have available 
to you to authenticate your ADAM users is LDAP simple bind (although digest 
auth is available if the client knows how to speak it; most don't).  If you 
want to use the fast concurrent bind feature of ADAM or AD, simple bind is 
the only supported authentication mechanism.


The real key is to ensure that simple bind is always combined with SSL (or 
some other transport layer security like IPSEC).  I'd actually love to see 
an option in AD and ADAM that would only allow simple bind on a secure 
channel.  I think that would be a good product feature, although it would 
probably have to be off by default.


I don't expect to see lots of third party apps moving away from LDAP bind as 
an authentication mechanism until something else more universal rises up to 
replace it.  I'm hoping that's WS-Federation/WS-Trust, but somehow I doubt 
we'll see that very soon.  :)


Joe K.

- Original Message - 
From: "joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:07 PM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP



The first thing I would say and I am shocked Al didn't say is


LDAP IS NOT AN AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL

For the the managers and vendors let me repeat ;o)

LDAP
IS
NOT
AN
AUTHENTICATION
PROTOCOL



LDAP has to authenticate as a part of giving secure access to data but 
that

doesn't make it an authentication protocol. A file server has to
authenticate you in some way shape or form for you to safely access files
too; I don't see people stumbling over themselves to use that as an
authentication protocol. The only reason this comes in from the *NIX world
like this is because Kerberos can be a serious pain in the ass there. 
Tough,

use a real authentication protocol.

If the vendor is using it to authenticate and that is all they are doing 
my

comment to them is get off your ass and use a real auth protocol and with
Windows the proper auth protocol is Kerberos. Most Windows folks don't 
even

have a clue to the technical depth and complexity of Kerberos because
Microsoft did such a bang up job of burying the details for most things
Windows. So if someone doesn't use it, that is their issue, not 
Microsoft's.




Following up of course with the things JoeK said which I fully concur 
with.


If using LDAP to authenticate though, where in the tree you poke doesn't
matter, as long as the user is a member of that forest, if you specify 
their

ID and their password, it will authenticate them by passing the traffic to
whatever DC is required. However, the app should be smart enough to ask 
the

proper DC out of the box.

And when you specify the ID, specify either UPN or Domain\UserID, do not 
use

DN. Why? Because DN's change and if you allow the apps to say, you have to
stick with a certain DN then you have lost a bunch of flexibility of AD.

Finally, if they don't do basic things like this right, I wonder what your
chances are that they do harder things like attribute ranging and paging
right.

AD is an extremely robust directory service and have tons of failover and
location services built into it. It has been out for 6 years in production
now, much longer in beta phases, etc and if apps still don't know what 
they

are doing with it I would greatly question the programmers and the vendor.
It is outright stupid to make your robust directory lower itself to the
standards of a poorly written app. If the app requires and of the 
following:


1. Fixed DNs
2. All users under a single bas

RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread joe



LOL. You should have sent this before I started typing. 
;o)
 
Why wasn't it in your first answer, you always take that 
one right out in the first paragraph and when I read your response I was like 
hey who the heck are you?
 

--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 
 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al 
MulnickSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:55 PMTo: 
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND 
LDAP

I won't put words in his mouth either, but I'll certainly say the same 
thing.  I had to hold back a shudder when I responded earlier 'cause ldap 
and authentication might be ok in the same paragraph, but never in the same 
sentence (except to point out that it should not be in the same sentence :) 

 
Would it work if you used the parent domain in a contiguous namespace 
design? Depends on how they wrote the code.  If it won't follow referrals 
then likely it will fail.  
 
Try the GC (that is so lame a workaround, but it'll likely work) as 
Joe suggests and at the same push back on the vendor to get it right or give you 
your money back else give you a more solid workaround (ADAM?)
 
There. Nothing for joe to tell them about fixing their lame app. 
 
-ajm 
On 9/22/06, Joe 
Kaplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote: 
You 
  might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be able 
  toauthenticate and find users from any domain via the GC. I think 
  Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn what they aredoing 
  and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim they can.I'll 
  bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too.  I won't 
  put words in Joe's mouth though.  :)Joe- 
  Original Message -From: Ramon LinanTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSent: 
  Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND 
  LDAPThe application designer is telling me it can only be 
  configured for onesource of authentication, so if the use the domain level 
  authentication willthat allow to authenticate users in the subdomain? 
  I.e.domain.comchild.domain.comIf I point the 
  application to use domain.com as 
  authentication source will that also authenticate users from the child 
  domain?ThanksFrom: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto: 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al MulnickSent: 
  Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PMTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: 
  Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP sub-domain query base: 
  dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=comdomain query base: 
  dc=domain,dc=comWhen the search is initiated, it will start looking at 
  the query base and,if so configured, everything below it (subtree search). 
  In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured 
  it.If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you 
  havea contiguous namespace) then you may get different results. 
  Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client 
  if your appdoesn't have that functionality built in.Since you're 
  security conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you'reusing 
  during your testing :) Permissions?  That depends on your 
  configuration and your versions.  Windows2000 is pretty much 
  open for searches while 2003 requires authenticatedusers by 
  default.AlOn 9/22/06, Ramon Linan < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
  wrote:Hi,I have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate 
  (authenticatesagainst AD).In my AD I have a domain and subdomain 
  or child domain. I assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same 
  LDAP, right?Also, if the application is using a user from the 
  subdomain to query theLDAP, what kind of access will that user have to 
  have to authenticate users at the main domain level.Basically, the 
  application is authenticating fine the users from thesubdomain but cant 
  fine the users from the main domain...Thanks for any 
  advice.Rezuma List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList 
  FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList 
  archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspxList 
  info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList 
  FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList 
  archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx


RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread joe
The first thing I would say and I am shocked Al didn't say is


LDAP IS NOT AN AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL

For the the managers and vendors let me repeat ;o)

LDAP 
IS 
NOT 
AN 
AUTHENTICATION 
PROTOCOL



LDAP has to authenticate as a part of giving secure access to data but that
doesn't make it an authentication protocol. A file server has to
authenticate you in some way shape or form for you to safely access files
too; I don't see people stumbling over themselves to use that as an
authentication protocol. The only reason this comes in from the *NIX world
like this is because Kerberos can be a serious pain in the ass there. Tough,
use a real authentication protocol.

If the vendor is using it to authenticate and that is all they are doing my
comment to them is get off your ass and use a real auth protocol and with
Windows the proper auth protocol is Kerberos. Most Windows folks don't even
have a clue to the technical depth and complexity of Kerberos because
Microsoft did such a bang up job of burying the details for most things
Windows. So if someone doesn't use it, that is their issue, not Microsoft's.



Following up of course with the things JoeK said which I fully concur with. 

If using LDAP to authenticate though, where in the tree you poke doesn't
matter, as long as the user is a member of that forest, if you specify their
ID and their password, it will authenticate them by passing the traffic to
whatever DC is required. However, the app should be smart enough to ask the
proper DC out of the box. 

And when you specify the ID, specify either UPN or Domain\UserID, do not use
DN. Why? Because DN's change and if you allow the apps to say, you have to
stick with a certain DN then you have lost a bunch of flexibility of AD. 

Finally, if they don't do basic things like this right, I wonder what your
chances are that they do harder things like attribute ranging and paging
right. 

AD is an extremely robust directory service and have tons of failover and
location services built into it. It has been out for 6 years in production
now, much longer in beta phases, etc and if apps still don't know what they
are doing with it I would greatly question the programmers and the vendor.
It is outright stupid to make your robust directory lower itself to the
standards of a poorly written app. If the app requires and of the following:

1. Fixed DNs
2. All users under a single base
3. someone to change the ranging values
4. someone to change the paging values
5. a fixed hostname
6. Non-nested groups
7. etc etc etc

Then really investigate that app because it is a pain in the ass. The only
time you should be talking fixed hostnames versus auto service location is
in the case of syncronization. That is the one case where it is a bit
difficult to bounce between DCs but I have seen apps that can pull this off,
though they are less efficient because they have to regather their bearings
every time they jump DCs. Most applications do not have this issue.
Especially apps doing basic auth/authz/data lookup.

   joe


--
O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition -
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm 
 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Kaplan
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 5:41 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

You might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be able to 
authenticate and find users from any domain via the GC.

I think Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn what they are 
doing and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim they can. 
I'll bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too.  I won't put

words in Joe's mouth though.  :)

Joe

- Original Message - 
From: Ramon Linan
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


The application designer is telling me it can only be configured for one 
source of authentication, so if the use the domain level authentication will

that allow to authenticate users in the subdomain?

I.e.
 domain.com
child.domain.com

If I point the application to use domain.com as authentication source will 
that also authenticate users from the child domain?

Thanks




From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=com
domain query base: dc=domain,dc=com

When the search is initiated, it will start looking at the query base and, 
if so configured, everything below it (subtree search).

In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured it. 
If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you have

a contiguous namespace) then you may get di

Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread Al Mulnick
I won't put words in his mouth either, but I'll certainly say the same thing.  I had to hold back a shudder when I responded earlier 'cause ldap and authentication might be ok in the same paragraph, but never in the same sentence (except to point out that it should not be in the same sentence :)

 
Would it work if you used the parent domain in a contiguous namespace design? Depends on how they wrote the code.  If it won't follow referrals then likely it will fail.  
 
Try the GC (that is so lame a workaround, but it'll likely work) as Joe suggests and at the same push back on the vendor to get it right or give you your money back else give you a more solid workaround (ADAM?)

 
There. Nothing for joe to tell them about fixing their lame app. 
 
-ajm 
On 9/22/06, Joe Kaplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
You might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be able toauthenticate and find users from any domain via the GC.
I think Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn what they aredoing and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim they can.I'll bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too.  I won't put
words in Joe's mouth though.  :)Joe- Original Message -From: Ramon LinanTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAPThe application designer is telling me it can only be configured for onesource of authentication, so if the use the domain level authentication willthat allow to authenticate users in the subdomain?
I.e.domain.comchild.domain.comIf I point the application to use domain.com as authentication source will
that also authenticate users from the child domain?ThanksFrom: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al MulnickSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PMTo: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP
sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=comdomain query base: dc=domain,dc=comWhen the search is initiated, it will start looking at the query base and,if so configured, everything below it (subtree search).
In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured it.If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you havea contiguous namespace) then you may get different results.
Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client if your appdoesn't have that functionality built in.Since you're security conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you'reusing during your testing :)
Permissions?  That depends on your configuration and your versions.  Windows2000 is pretty much open for searches while 2003 requires authenticatedusers by default.AlOn 9/22/06, Ramon Linan <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hi,I have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate (authenticatesagainst AD).In my AD I have a domain and subdomain or child domain.
I assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same LDAP, right?Also, if the application is using a user from the subdomain to query theLDAP, what kind of access will that user have to have to authenticate
users at the main domain level.Basically, the application is authenticating fine the users from thesubdomain but cant fine the users from the main domain...Thanks for any advice.Rezuma
List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList archive: 
http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspxList info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspxList FAQ: 
http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx


Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread Joe Kaplan
You might have them try to work with the GC.  You should be able to 
authenticate and find users from any domain via the GC.


I think Joe Richards might also suggest that the vendor learn what they are 
doing and either integrate with AD the right way or don't claim they can. 
I'll bet they need to talk to a specific domain controller too.  I won't put 
words in Joe's mouth though.  :)


Joe

- Original Message - 
From: Ramon Linan

To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 3:41 PM
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


The application designer is telling me it can only be configured for one 
source of authentication, so if the use the domain level authentication will 
that allow to authenticate users in the subdomain?


I.e.
domain.com
child.domain.com

If I point the application to use domain.com as authentication source will 
that also authenticate users from the child domain?


Thanks




From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick

Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP


sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=com
domain query base: dc=domain,dc=com

When the search is initiated, it will start looking at the query base and, 
if so configured, everything below it (subtree search).


In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured it. 
If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you have 
a contiguous namespace) then you may get different results.


Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client if your app 
doesn't have that functionality built in.


Since you're security conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you're 
using during your testing :)


Permissions?  That depends on your configuration and your versions.  Windows 
2000 is pretty much open for searches while 2003 requires authenticated 
users by default.


Al


On 9/22/06, Ramon Linan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,

I have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate (authenticates
against AD).

In my AD I have a domain and subdomain or child domain.

I assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same LDAP, right?

Also, if the application is using a user from the subdomain to query the
LDAP, what kind of access will that user have to have to authenticate
users at the main domain level.

Basically, the application is authenticating fine the users from the
subdomain but cant fine the users from the main domain...


Thanks for any advice.


Rezuma


List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx 


List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx


RE: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread Ramon Linan



The application designer is telling me it can only be 
configured for one source of authentication, so if the use the domain level 
authentication will that allow to authenticate users in the 
subdomain?
 
I.e.
 domain.com
child.domain.com
 
If I point the application to use domain.com as 
authentication source will that also authenticate users from the child 
domain?
 
Thanks



From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al 
MulnickSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:19 PMTo: 
ActiveDir@mail.activedir.orgSubject: Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND 
LDAP
sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=comdomain query 
base: dc=domain,dc=comWhen the search is initiated, it will start 
looking at the query base and, if so configured, everything below it (subtree 
search). In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you 
configured it.  If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com 
(assuming you have a contiguous namespace) then you may get different results. 
Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client if your 
app doesn't have that functionality built in. Since you're security 
conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you're using during your testing 
:) Permissions?  That depends on your configuration and your 
versions.  Windows 2000 is pretty much open for searches while 2003 
requires authenticated users by default. Al
On 9/22/06, Ramon 
Linan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
Hi,I 
  have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate (authenticatesagainst 
  AD).In my AD I have a domain and subdomain or child domain.I 
  assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same LDAP, right? Also, 
  if the application is using a user from the subdomain to query theLDAP, 
  what kind of access will that user have to have to authenticateusers at 
  the main domain level.Basically, the application is authenticating 
  fine the users from the subdomain but cant fine the users from the main 
  domain...Thanks for any advice.RezumaList 
  info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx 
  List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList 
  archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx


Re: [ActiveDir]SUBDOMAIN AND LDAP

2006-09-22 Thread Al Mulnick
sub-domain query base: dc=subdomain,dc=domain,dc=comdomain query base: dc=domain,dc=comWhen the search is initiated, it will start looking at the query base and, if so configured, everything below it (subtree search). 
In your case, that won't likely happen depending on how you configured it.  If you instead change your query base to dc=domain,dc=com (assuming you have a contiguous namespace) then you may get different results. 
Testing.  You can use ldp, adfind, or any other ldap client if your app doesn't have that functionality built in. Since you're security conscious, be mindful of the cert and the ports you're using during your testing :)
Permissions?  That depends on your configuration and your versions.  Windows 2000 is pretty much open for searches while 2003 requires authenticated users by default. Al
On 9/22/06, Ramon Linan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,I have an application that uses LDAP to authenticate (authenticatesagainst AD).In my AD I have a domain and subdomain or child domain.I assume that both domain and subdomain uses the same LDAP, right?
Also, if the application is using a user from the subdomain to query theLDAP, what kind of access will that user have to have to authenticateusers at the main domain level.Basically, the application is authenticating fine the users from the
subdomain but cant fine the users from the main domain...Thanks for any advice.RezumaList info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspxList archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx