@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend

Keycloak backend plugin for Backstage

The Keycloak backend plugin integrates Keycloak into Backstage.

Capabilities

The Keycloak backend plugin has the following capabilities:

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

For administrators

Installation

Install the Backstage package into the backend. When not integrating with a published package, clone the repository locally and add the Backstage as follows:

yarn workspace backend add @janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend

Configuration

Legacy Backend Configuration

• Add the following configuration to the app-config.yaml file:

  catalog:
    providers:
      keycloakOrg:
        default:
          baseUrl: https://<keycloak_host>/auth
          loginRealm: ${KEYCLOAK_REALM}
          realm: ${KEYCLOAK_REALM}
          clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENTID}
          clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENTSECRET}
  

• Register the plugin in the packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts file. You can also configure a schedule in this step. However, there are possible ways of configuration, such as:

  • Configure a schedule inside the app-config.yaml file:

    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: 30 }
              # supports ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
              timeout: { minutes: 3 }
              initialDelay: { seconds: 15 }
              # highlight-add-end
    

    Then use the configured scheduler by adding the following to the packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts:

    /* highlight-add-start */
    import { KeycloakOrgEntityProvider } from '@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend';
    
    /* highlight-add-end */
    
    export default async function createPlugin(
      env: PluginEnvironment,
    ): Promise<Router> {
      const builder = await CatalogBuilder.create(env);
    
      /* ... other processors and/or providers ... */
      /* highlight-add-start */
      builder.addEntityProvider(
        KeycloakOrgEntityProvider.fromConfig(env.config, {
          id: 'development',
          logger: env.logger,
          scheduler: env.scheduler,
        }),
      );
      /* highlight-add-end */
    
      const { processingEngine, router } = await builder.build();
      await processingEngine.start();
      return router;
    }
    

    NOTE

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

  • Add a schedule directly inside the packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts file as follows:

    /* highlight-add-start */
    import { KeycloakOrgEntityProvider } from '@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend';
    
    /* highlight-add-end */
    
    export default async function createPlugin(
      env: PluginEnvironment,
    ): Promise<Router> {
      const builder = await CatalogBuilder.create(env);
    
      /* ... other processors and/or providers ... */
      builder.addEntityProvider(
        KeycloakOrgEntityProvider.fromConfig(env.config, {
          id: 'development',
          logger: env.logger,
          /* highlight-add-start */
          schedule: env.scheduler.createScheduledTaskRunner({
            frequency: { minutes: 30 },
            timeout: { minutes: 3 },
            initialDelay: { seconds: 15 },
          }),
          /* highlight-add-end */
        }),
      );
    
      const { processingEngine, router } = await builder.build();
      await processingEngine.start();
      return router;
    }
    

  NOTE

  If both the schedule (hard-coded schedule) and scheduler (app-config.yaml schedule) option are provided in the packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts, the scheduler option takes precedence. However, if the schedule inside the app-config.yaml file is not configured, then the schedule option is used.

• Optional: override the default Keycloak query parameters. Configure the parameters inside the app-config.yaml file:

  catalog:
    providers:
      keycloakOrg:
        default:
          # ...
          # highlight-add-start
          userQuerySize: 500 # Optional
          groupQuerySize: 250 # Optional
          # highlight-add-end
  

• Optional: provide a transformer function for user/group to mutate the entity before their ingestion into catalog. Extend packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts with custom userTransformer and groupTransformer functions:

  /* highlight-add-start */
  import {
    GroupTransformer,
    UserTransformer,
  } from '@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend';
  
  /* highlight-add-end */
  
  /* highlight-add-start */
  // Suffix user entity name with realm name
  const userTransformer: UserTransformer = async (
    entity,
    user,
    realm,
    groups,
  ) => {
    entity.metadata.name = `${entity.metadata.name}_${realm}`;
    return entity;
  };
  /* highlight-add-end */
  
  export default async function createPlugin(
    env: PluginEnvironment,
  ): Promise<Router> {
    const builder = await CatalogBuilder.create(env);
  
    /* ... other processors and/or providers ... */
    builder.addEntityProvider(
      KeycloakOrgEntityProvider.fromConfig(env.config, {
        id: 'development',
        logger: env.logger,
        /* highlight-add-start */
        userTransformer,
        /* highlight-add-end */
      }),
    );
  
    const { processingEngine, router } = await builder.build();
    await processingEngine.start();
    return router;
  }
  

  userTransformer is an async function that is expected to resolve to UserEntity object or undefined (if you want to reject the entity) and accepts following parameters:

  • entity: The output of the default parser
  • user: Keycloak user representation
  • realm: Realm name
  • groups: Data about available groups

  groupTransformer is an async function that is expected to resolve to GroupEntity object or undefined (if you want to reject the entity) and accepts following parameters:

  • entity: The output of the default parser
  • group: Keycloak group representation
  • realm: Realm name

New Backend Configuration

• Add the following configuration to the app-config.yaml file, and customize the schedule to fit your needs:

  catalog:
    providers:
      keycloakOrg:
        default:
          baseUrl: https://<keycloak_host>/auth
          loginRealm: ${KEYCLOAK_REALM}
          realm: ${KEYCLOAK_REALM}
          clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENTID}
          clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENTSECRET}
          schedule: # Mandatory; same options as in TaskScheduleDefinition
            # supports cron, ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
            frequency: { minutes: 30 } # Customize this to fit your needs
            # supports ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
            timeout: { minutes: 3 } # Customize this to fit your needs
            initialDelay: { seconds: 15 } # Customize this to fit your needs
  

• Register the plugin in the packages/backend/src/index.ts file:

  const backend = createBackend();
  
  /* highlight-add-next-line */
  backend.add(import('@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-keycloak-backend/alpha'));
  
  backend.start();
  

NOTE

Currently the new backend installation method does not support transformer functions for users and groups.

Communication between Backstage and Keycloak is enabled by using the Keycloak API. Username/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:

Name	Description	Default Value	Required
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

Limitations

If you have self-signed or corporate certificate issues, you can set the following environment variable before starting Backstage:

NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

NOTE The solution of setting the environment variable is not recommended.

For users

Imported users and groups in Backstage using Keycloak plugin

After configuring the plugin successfully, the plugin imports the users and groups each time when started.

After the first import is complete, you can select User to list the users from the catalog page:

You can see the list of users on the page:

When you select a user, you can see the information imported from Keycloak:

You can also select a group, view the list, and select or view the information imported from Keycloak for a group: