Enable SSO and Granular Access Control For A Header-Based Web App with Okta SAML

Preview

In this tutorial, we will use the Datawiza Access Proxy (DAP) to enable SSO and granular access control for a header-based web App. The IdP we will use is Okta SAML. We will use DAP's sidecar deployment mode, which means DAP and this app are running on the same server.

• The application will run on localhost:3001.
• The DAP will run on localhost:9772, which means the traffic to the app will reach DAP (running on port 9772) first and then be proxied to the application (running on port 3001).
• We will provide the docker images for the DAP and this header-based application.

Part I: Okta SAML Configuration

You will need to register a SAML application on Okta developer console and get the following value for this application:

• Metadata Url

This value will later be used to set up Datawiza Access Proxy in Datawiza Cloud Management Console. Please follow IdP Configuration Guide: Okta SAML instructions on how to get this key/value.

Part II: Create Application on Datawiza Cloud Management Console (DCMC)

You need to create an application and generate a keypair of (PROVISIONING_KEY, PROVISIONING_SECRET) for this app on the DCMC.

Please follow Step2 : Datawiza Cloud Management Console to configure.

Part III: Run DAP With a Header-Based Application

You can use either Docker or Kubernetes to run DAP. The following is an example docker-compose.yml file. You may need to login to our container registry to download the images of DAP and the header-based app. See Step3 : Configure DAP and SSO Integration for more details or Deploy DAP with Kubernetes for Kubernetes-specific instructions.

version: '3'

services:
  datawiza-access-proxy:
    image: registry.gitlab.com/datawiza/access-proxy
    container_name: datawiza-access-proxy
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "9772:9772"
    environment:
      PROVISIONING_KEY: #############################
      PROVISIONING_SECRET: #############################

  header-based-app:
    image: registry.gitlab.com/datawiza/header-based-app
    container_name: ab-demo-header-app
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"

After executing docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up, the header-based app should have SSO enabled with Okta SAML. Open a browser and type in http://localhost:9772/. You should see the Okta SAML login page as follows. Note that if you are already logged into Okta in your browser, you may need to logout to see the login page.

Part IV: Pass User Attributes to the Header-Based App

DAP gets user attributes from IdP and can pass the user attributes to the application via header or cookie.

Please follow the instructions of Step4 : Pass User Attributes to pass the user attributes to the header-based app, which is expecting:

• email
• firstname
• lastname
• groups

After successfully configuring the user attributes, you should see the green check sign for each of the user attributes as follows.

Part V: Achieve Granular Access Control

You can configure access control to an application based on user's attributes (e.g., groups, department) and other metadata of a request (e.g., URL, IP, http method, access time).

Please reference Step5 : Achieve Granular Access Control for detailed instructions on how to set up access rules. You can practice the rule configuration using the following example.