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Chapter 4. Installing and configuring Keycloak

The Keycloak backend plugin, which integrates Keycloak into Developer Hub, has the following capabilities:

  • Synchronization of Keycloak users in a realm.
  • Synchronization of Keycloak groups and their users in a realm.
Note

The supported Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK) version is 24.0.

4.1. Installation
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The Keycloak plugin is pre-loaded in Developer Hub with basic configuration properties. To enable it, set the disabled property to false as follows: 

global:
  dynamic:
    includes:
      - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
    plugins:
      - package: ./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-community-plugin-catalog-backend-module-keycloak-dynamic
        disabled: false
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4.2. Basic configuration
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To enable the Keycloak plugin, you must set the following environment variables:

  • KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL
  • KEYCLOAK_LOGIN_REALM
  • KEYCLOAK_REALM
  • KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID
  • KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET

4.3. Advanced configuration
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Schedule configuration

You can configure a schedule in the app-config.yaml file, as follows: 

     catalog:
       providers:
         keycloakOrg:
           default:
             # ...
             # highlight-add-start
             schedule: # optional; same options as in TaskScheduleDefinition
               # supports cron, ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
               frequency: { minutes: 1 }
               # supports ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
               timeout: { minutes: 1 }
               initialDelay: { seconds: 15 }
               # highlight-add-end
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Note

If you have made any changes to the schedule in the app-config.yaml file, then restart to apply the changes.

Keycloak query parameters

You can override the default Keycloak query parameters in the app-config.yaml file, as follows: 

   catalog:
     providers:
       keycloakOrg:
         default:
           # ...
           # highlight-add-start
           userQuerySize: 500 # Optional
           groupQuerySize: 250 # Optional
           # highlight-add-end
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Communication between Developer Hub and Keycloak is enabled by using the Keycloak API. Username and password, or client credentials are supported authentication methods.

The following table describes the parameters that you can configure to enable the plugin under catalog.providers.keycloakOrg.<ENVIRONMENT_NAME> object in the app-config.yaml file:

Expand
NameDescriptionDefault ValueRequired

baseUrl

Location of the Keycloak server, such as https://localhost:8443/auth. Note that the newer versions of Keycloak omit the /auth context path.

""

Yes

realm

Realm to synchronize

master

No

loginRealm

Realm used to authenticate

master

No

username

Username to authenticate

""

Yes if using password based authentication

password

Password to authenticate

""

Yes if using password based authentication

clientId

Client ID to authenticate

""

Yes if using client credentials based authentication

clientSecret

Client Secret to authenticate

""

Yes if using client credentials based authentication

userQuerySize

Number of users to query at a time

100

No

groupQuerySize

Number of groups to query at a time

100

No

When using client credentials, the access type must be set to confidential and service accounts must be enabled. You must also add the following roles from the realm-management client role:

  • query-groups
  • query-users
  • view-users

4.4. Limitations
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If you have self-signed or corporate certificate issues, you can set the following environment variable before starting Developer Hub:

NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

Note

The solution of setting the environment variable is not recommended.

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