14.9. SSSD communication patterns
The System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) is a system service to access remote directories and authentication mechanisms. If configured on an Identity Management IdM client, it connects to the IdM server, which provides authentication, authorization and other identity and policy information. If the IdM server is in a trust relationships with Active Directory (AD), SSSD also connects to AD to perform authentication for AD users using the Kerberos protocol. By default, SSSD uses Kerberos to authenticate any non-local user. In special situations, SSSD might be configured to use the LDAP protocol instead.
The SSSD can be configured to communicate with multiple servers. The tables below show common communication patterns for SSSD in IdM.
| Operation | Protocol used | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| DNS resolution against the DNS resolvers configured on the client system | DNS | To discover the IP addresses of IdM servers |
| Requests to ports 88 (TCP/TCP6 and UDP/UDP6), 464 (TCP/TCP6 and UDP/UDP6), and 749 (TCP/TCP6) on an Identity Management replica and Active Directory domain controllers | Kerberos | To obtain a Kerberos ticket; to change a Kerberos password |
| Requests over TCP/TCP6 to ports 389 on IdM servers, using SASL GSSAPI authentication, plain LDAP, or both | LDAP | To obtain information about IdM users and hosts, download HBAC and sudo rules, automount maps, the SELinux user context, public SSH keys, and other information stored in IdM LDAP |
| (optionally) In case of smart-card authentication, requests to the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder, if it is configured. This often is done via port 80, but it depends on the actual value of the OCSP responder URL in a client certificate. | HTTP | To obtain information about the status of the certificate installed in the smart card |
| Operation | Protocol used | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| DNS resolution against the DNS resolvers configured on the client system | DNS | To discover the IP addresses of IdM servers |
| Requests to ports 88 (TCP/TCP6 and UDP/UDP6), 464 (TCP/TCP6 and UDP/UDP6), and 749 (TCP/TCP6) on an Identity Management replica and Active Directory domain controllers | Kerberos | To obtain a Kerberos ticket; change a Kerberos password; administer Kerberos remotely |
| Requests to ports 389 (TCP/TCP6 and UDP/UDP6) and 3268 (TCP/TCP6) | LDAP | To query Active Directory user and group information; to discover Active Directory domain controllers |
| (optionally) In case of smart-card authentication, requests to the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder, if it is configured. This often is done via port 80, but it depends on the actual value of the OCSP responder URL in a client certificate. | HTTP | To obtain information about the status of the certificate installed in the smart card |