= Group authorization

A very common requirement is to restrict access to particular groups within
LDAP, or to return different authorizational attributes based on a user's group
memberships.

How groups are managed by different directories can differ significantly.

Other sections in this tutorial have assigned variant numbers to the different
group mappings.  The definitions of these variants is repeated below for easy
referencing:

- _variant 1_ - User objects contain membership attributes referencing group objects by DN.
- _variant 2_ - User objects contain membership attributes referencing group objects by name.
- _variant 3_ - Group objects contain membership attributes referencing user objects by DN.
- _variant 4_ - Group objects contain membership attributes referencing user objects by name.

== Configuring group lookups

=== Editing mods-available/ldap to configure _variant 1_ group checks

[source,config]
----
ldap {
	group {
		# example - "ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com"
		base_dn = "<group_base_dn>"             <1>

		# example - '(objectClass=groupOfNames)'
		filter = '<group_object_class_filter>'  <2>

		# example - 'cn'
		name_attribute = '<group_name_attribute>'  <3>

		# example - 'memberOf'
		membership_attribute = '<group_membership_attribute>'  <4>
	}
}
----
<1> Where in the directory to begin the search for group objects.
<2> Filter matching the objectClass(es) of all relevant group objects.
<3> Attribute within the group object containing its name.
<4> Attribute within the user object referencing groups by their DNs.

=== Editing mods-available/ldap to configure _variant 2_ group checks

[source,config]
----
ldap {
	group {
		# example - "ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com"
		base_dn = "<group_base_dn>"             <1>

		# example - '(objectClass=groupOfNames)'
		filter = '<group_object_class_filter>'  <2>

		# example - 'cn'
		name_attribute = '<group_name_attribute>'  <3>

		# example - 'memberOf'
		membership_attribute = '<group_membership_attribute>'  <4>
	}
}
----
<1> Where in the directory to begin the search for group objects.
<2> Filter matching the objectClass(es) of all relevant group objects.
<3> Attribute within the group object containing its name.
<4> Attribute within the user object referencing groups by their name.

=== Editing mods-available/ldap to configure _variant 3_ group checks

[source,config]
----
ldap {
	group {
		# example - "ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com"
		base_dn = "<group_base_dn>"             <1>

		# example - '(objectClass=groupOfNames)'
		filter = '<group_object_class_filter>'  <2>

		# example - 'cn'
		name_attribute = '<group_name_attribute>'  <3>

		# example - "(member=%{control.Ldap-UserDn})"
		membership_filter = "(<group_membership_dn_attribute>=%{control.Ldap-UserDn})"  <4>
	}
}
----
<1> Where in the directory to begin the search for group objects.
<2> Filter matching the objectClass(es) of all relevant group objects.
<3> Attribute within the group object containing its name.
<4> Attribute within the group object referencing users by their DN.

=== Editing mods-available/ldap to configure _variant 4_ group checks

[source,config]
----
ldap {
	group {
		# example - "ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com"
		base_dn = "<group_base_dn>"             <1>

		# example - '(objectClass=groupOfNames)'
		filter = '<group_object_class_filter>'  <2>

		# example - 'cn'
		name_attribute = '<group_name_attribute>'  <3>

		# example - "(memberUid=%{control.Ldap-UserDn})"
		membership_filter = "(<group_membership_uid_attribute>=%{control.Ldap-UserDn})"  <4>
	}
}
----
<1> Where in the directory to begin the search for group objects.
<2> Filter matching the objectClass(es) of all relevant group objects.
<3> Attribute within the group object containing its name.
<4> Attribute within the group object referencing users by their name (uid).

== "Live" group lookups

[TIP]
====
For _variant 1_ and _variant 2_, when checking group memberships, it is most
efficient to specify the group in the same format as the reference.

For example, if the directory implements _variant 1_, then the group would be
specified as a DN, and if the directory implements _variant 2_, then the group
would be specified by name.
====

Group checks can be performed using the xlat `%ldap.memberof()`.
Using this xlat, will, (if group caching is not enabled or the
ldap module has not already been called) result in one or more
queries being sent to the LDAP Directory to determine if the
user is a member of the specified group.

When performing group checks LDAP module abstracts away the differences between
group membership _variants [1-4]_ so long as it has been configured
appropriately.

=== Group membership check by DN

[source,unlang]
----
if (%ldap.memberof(cn=foo,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com) == true) {
	&reply.Reply-Message := "Welcome member of group 'foo'"
}
----

=== Group membership check by name

[source,unlang]
----
if (%ldap.memberof(foo) == true) {
	&reply.Reply-Message := "Welcome member of group 'foo'"
}
----

== Cached group lookups

In some instances it's useful to retrieve complete group listings for users.
The most common reasons for this are:
- To maintain a local cache in case connectivity to the LDAP directory is lost.
- To perform group checks in ways not supported by the LDAP module.  One example
  of this is checking for membership in nested groups.

When caching group membership information the LDAP module abstracts away the
differences between group membership _variants [1-4]_ so long as it has been
configured appropriately.

Two configuration items control group caching:

- `group.cacheable_name` - If set to 'yes', the names of groups the user is a member of will be cached.
- `group.cacheable_dn` - If set to 'yes', the DNs of the groups the user is a member of will be cached.

The type of caching should match the format of the group check values. For
example, when checking for group memberships using DNs `group.cacheable_dn`
should be set, and when checking for group memberships using group names
`group.cacheable_name` should be set.

One exception to this, is if nested group checks are being performed.
In this case `group.cacheable_dn` must be set, as the full path of the group
objects is required.





