[Users] SSO and SAML in Zimbra

Barry de Graaff info at barrydegraaff.nl
Sat Jun 19 20:46:33 CEST 2021


One way for open-source SAML in Zimbra is using Zimbra pre-auth, 
combined with SimpleSAMLphp, using their _autoload.php, this means your 
pre-auth php implementation needs to be on the IDP:

<?php

require_once('/var/www/html/simplesamlphp/lib/_autoload.php');

$as = new SimpleSAML_Auth_Simple('your-phpsimplesaml-configured-auth-source-here');
$as->requireAuth();
$attributes = $as->getAttributes();

//do a print_r attributes in case you want to add more logic for groups and access rights,
//or in case you just want ANY user to be able to log-in to Zimbra that is logged into SAML,
//just check if $attributes is set, like so:

if(!$attributes)
{
    die("Access denied");
}
else
{
// do zimbra pre-auth here
//https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Preaut
}

Check the logs to see if you are receiving the originating IP, if I 
remember correctly, you have to use the SOAP version of preauth if you 
do not get the originating IP in the logs.


Regards, Barry


On 6/19/21 8:28 PM, Randy Leiker wrote:
> Hi Tuan,
>
> I appreciate your feedback and am glad to hear the weekly call 
> summaries are helpful.  On the most recent call, Mark Stone was asking 
> about a SAML integration in Zimbra for one of his clients.  I know 
> that Mark is on the Zeta Alliance mailing list, so I will leave it up 
> to him to reach out to you directly, if he would like, to do some code 
> sharing.
>
> If you have integrations for Zimbra you would be open to sharing with 
> the community, you could also upload them to Github as an open source 
> project, or add them to the zimbra.org site, then send a note to this 
> mailing list to let everyone know of their availability.
>
>
> Randy Leiker (randy at skywaynetworks.com )
> Skyway Networks, LLC
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *tuanta at iwayvietnam.com
> *To: *"users" <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
> *Sent: *Friday, June 18, 2021 1:27:26 AM
> *Subject: *Re: [Users] June 15, 2021 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary
>
> Hi Randy Leiker et al,
>
> Thank you for your continual efforts. I often read your weekly summary 
> carefully :)
> (just can not join the live meeting since it about 1-2 AM here)
>
> As a Zextras partner and providing Zimbra professional services in 
> Vietnam for over ten years, we have many clients and some of them also 
> use SSO with SAML.
> We have already developed a module for Zimbra open source (support 
> Zimbra 8.8 as well) to integrate to SSO with SAML, CAS, OIDC, etc.
> And as many other contributions on OpenPGP & other modules, we are 
> willing to share this to all of you.
> Please tell me if I can do anything.
>
> Thanks again and see you around.
>
> -----
> Rgds,
> Tuan
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *"Randy Leiker" <randy at skywaynetworks.com>
> *To: *"users" <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
> *Sent: *Friday, June 18, 2021 12:27:54 PM
> *Subject: *[Users] June 15, 2021 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary
>
> Hello Zeta Alliance Community,
>
> Here is a summary of this week’s conference call.  A few brief reminders:
>
>   * Conference calls are every Tuesday and open to all using either
>     the FreeConferenceCall.com VoIP app or via a dial-in number:
>     https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/zetalliance
>     <https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/zetalliance>
>   * Each week’s call agenda can be found at:
>     _https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xDyBJFjnfZYxuXJHiDzsXjjMuGGtIl7J
>     <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xDyBJFjnfZYxuXJHiDzsXjjMuGGtIl7J>_
>   * A copy of each week’s summary is also posted to the Zimbra Forums:
>       o All Prior Months: https://forums.zimbra.org/viewforum.php?f=9
>         <https://forums.zimbra.org/viewforum.php?f=9>
>       o May 2021: https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=69570
>         <https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=69570>
>       o June 2021: https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=69677
>         <https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=69677>
>   * Constructive feedback on these call summaries is always welcome.
>
>
> June 15, 2021
>
> *Administrator Tip: Changing Disk IOPS In AWS With Zimbra*
> Matthew F. shared a tip and said that he recently changed the disk 
> IOPS setting for his Zimbra servers hosted at AWS from 3,000 to 6,000 
> on a Monday morning to increase performance.  The AWS documentation 
> says that when doing so, you should receive IOPS performance between 
> the old and new IOPS values while the disk re-configuration is taking 
> place, but in practice Matthew found it dropped drastically to about 
> 30-50 IOPS during the change, leading to an outage of his Zimbra 
> servers for about 2 hours.  The disk volume this change was applied to 
> was 750 GB in size. Matthew said he found that since the Zimbra 
> mailboxd service was unusable by users at such a low IOPS performance 
> level, that stopping the mailboxd service slightly decreased the time 
> that AWS required to re-configure the IOPS setting.
>
> *2-Factor Authentication and SAML Support in Zimbra*
> Mark S. said that he noticed in the recent Zextras 3.2.0 release notes 
> ( 
> https://docs.zextras.com/zextras-suite-documentation/latest/changelog.html 
> ), there was mention of improvements around 2-factor authentication 
> (2FA).  He asked how these changes relate to Synacor’s road map plans 
> recently shared with Zimbra Partners, such as if Zimbra will introduce 
> the capability to choose the 2FA engine that can be used within a 
> Zimbra installation.  John E. said that no information about this 
> topic was publicly available at this time.
>
> Mark S. also mentioned that the Zextras release notes discuss some 
> changes relating to SAML ( 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Assertion_Markup_Language ) 
> extension in Zimbra.  He said that one of his customers is trying to 
> get Zimbra to work with a user identity management product from Okta ( 
> https://www.okta.com/ ) and they have been encountering some 
> challenges.  John E. asked if Mark’s customer is using the built-in 
> SAML extension in Zimbra ( 
> https://zimbra.github.io/zimbra-9/adminguide.html#_zimbra_single_sign_on_using_saml_with_simplesamlphp 
> )?  Mark confirmed that the customer is using this feature.  John said 
> that the SAML implementation has been designed to be very simple and 
> that Synacor has done many customer implementations with it.  He 
> suggested that it is straightforward to modify the SAML extension for 
> the desired integration, but noted that it is impossible for Synacor 
> to distribute a single implementation that works for all use cases. He 
> added that one perk of Zimbra is that its authentication chain is very 
> pluggable, so if you can dream it, it can likely be built.  John said 
> the SAML extension was significantly revamped between Zimbra 8.8.15 and 9.
>
> When Zimbra 9 was first released, it was highly similar to 8.8.15, but 
> has diverged greatly since, and John E. encouraged everyone to upgrade 
> to Zimbra 9, if they have the means.  As far as he is aware, the 
> improvements to the SAML extension in 9 were not backported to 
> 8.8.15.  Additionally, the 2FA and self-service user password reset 
> feature (reset forgotten passwords) were fixed a long time ago in 
> Zimbra 9, but those fixes have not yet been backported to 8.8.15.  
> John said he has been pushing internally at Synacor to backport these 
> fixes to 8.8.15, but the developers have pushed back explaining that 
> there would be significant changes required in 8.8.15 to make these 
> backports possible.  He said he is going to keep pushing for these 
> backports, but it is not clear if this will ever occur, as the 
> challenge is in deciding where to invest developer resources – either 
> in backporting fixes, or focusing on newer Zimbra versions.  John said 
> that if coming from a Zimbra version earlier than 8.8.15, it is 
> important to do a stepped upgrade, by upgrading to 8.8.15 first, then 
> to Zimbra 9 or later, rather than attempting to directly upgrade from 
> a version prior to 8.8.15 to 9.
>
> *Upcoming Changes In Zimbra Version Designation and Packaging*
> John E. shared that Synacor is likely to move away in the near future 
> from identifying Zimbra versions in its product marketing with numbers 
> like Zimbra 9 and instead change to a continuous release model, where 
> the product simply becomes known as Zimbra.  Packaging systems (Yum 
> and Apt) will become the norm for distributing all updates, as 
> compared to the current practice of downloading and running an 
> installer script for major version changes.  Mark S. asked if it will 
> still be possible to upgrade to specific Zimbra versions by using a 
> packaging system.  John E. said he believes it will be possible to do 
> a targeted update using only the packaging systems.  Noah P. pointed 
> out that for other software companies using the continuous release 
> model, there are certain breakpoints where compatibility is broken 
> with older versions, and asked how Synacor will handle this scenario, 
> as he would not want to see Synacor in a position of needing to 
> balloon their quality assurance process to support esoteric operating 
> systems and very old Zimbra releases.  John E. said that updates will 
> still have package version numbers, while Zimbra will not be marketed 
> with a specific release number, but could not comment further.  Randy 
> L. asked if Synacor plans to continue to integrate security fixes with 
> new Zimbra builds in the packaging systems as they do now, or if a 
> separate repo will be introduced containing security fixes only.  John 
> E. said he anticipates security patches will continue to be released 
> with the same approach, as they are currently.  Randy also asked if 
> Zimbra will continue to maintain separate repos for each major release 
> train, allowing Zimbra administrators a choice of the major release 
> train they wish to subscribe to, or if only a single release repo will 
> be used.  John E. said he was not sure how this will be structured in 
> the future.  Mark S. asked how this future versioning and packaging 
> change might affect anyone wanting to build Zimbra from source code.  
> John E. said that this change should not impose any problems for those 
> wanting to build from source, and that if problems do arise, it should 
> be raised with Zimbra Support as a defect issue.  He added that the 
> build system for Zimbra can be complicated and finicky, but if you 
> follow the documented instructions carefully, it always works.  He 
> also commented that Synacor continues to be very committed to 
> releasing Zimbra source code, and if confidence in this statement is 
> needed, consider the large number of on-premise customers that rely on 
> Zimbra’s open source commitment, especially those in Asia and the EU, 
> where they have mandates for using open source products. These are 
> some of Synacor’s larger customers in those regions.  Noah P. added 
> that, even for Zimbra Partners who do not rely on the open source 
> commitment, due to the availability of commercial support, he still 
> uses the open source commitment as a marketing benefit to draw 
> customers away from proprietary, closed platforms, like Microsoft or 
> Google’s products.  John E. said that the only reason that features 
> like Exchange ActiveSync and Exchange Web Services, that are 
> integrated in Zimbra, are not open sourced as well, is that those 
> features have associated licensing by the patent holder (Microsoft) 
> that needs to be paid as royalties.
>
> *Update For Zimbra Support Of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS*
> Randy L. recalled that it was discussed in an earlier Zeta Alliance 
> call that Ubuntu 20.04 LTS support in Zimbra was projected for June 
> 2021, and asked if any status updates were available, as he was 
> waiting to do some Zimbra 9 upgrades pending its availability.  John 
> H. said that this was the original projection, but with COVID-19 
> significantly impacting the region where the Zimbra development team 
> is located, Ubuntu 20.04 support has been pushed back to later this 
> Summer.
>
> *Simultaneously Updating Zimbra Mailbox Servers*
> Matthew F. asked if anyone on the call patches multiple Zimbra mailbox 
> servers simultaneously, or if they patch mailbox servers sequentially, 
> one-at-a-time.  Randy L. said that he routinely does simultaneous 
> patching of his mailbox servers in a cluster, as he takes a snapshot 
> of each before upgrading, allowing for quick and easy roll backs if 
> anything goes wrong.  He also added that this is frequently necessary 
> to hit his maintenance window targets with customers.  Mark S. said 
> that he used to patch mailbox servers simultaneously, but no longer 
> does so as he has had problems with this approach in the past.  He 
> added that multiple Zimbra versions should be able to co-exist within 
> the same cluster as a rolling upgrade, so sequential roll out should 
> not present a problem.  Matthew F. said that his only concern in doing 
> simultaneous updates is that he sees the patches undeploying and 
> redeploying Zimlets, so he is unsure if he needs the other mailbox 
> servers online while running an update.  Randy L. said that this has 
> been of concern to him too, but he has yet to see this present a 
> problem post-update after installing countless patches in the past, 
> perhaps because each mailbox server update process may be redundantly 
> undeploying and redeploying Zimlets on each local mailbox server.  
> Matthew F. said he will open a support case with Zimbra to try and 
> obtain a more official answer on this topic.
>
> *Recommended Zimbra 8.8.15 to 9 Upgrade Procedure*
> Gary C. said that he will soon be doing a Zimbra 8.8.15 to 9 
> multi-server upgrade.  He asked if things are pretty smooth now with 
> the 8.8.15 to 9 upgrade process.  John H. said that Synacor has a 
> large number of customers that have made the upgrade without issue.  
> Gary said he is planning to upgrade his LDAP servers first, then the 
> proxies, followed by his MTA servers, and finally the mailbox 
> servers.  He asked, in terms of timing, if he does not upgrade all of 
> his mailbox servers within the same short period of time, how might 
> this affect the operation of the cluster and his Zimbra users?  Mark 
> S. said the official Zimbra rolling upgrade documentation says that 
> you should have at least one mailbox server running version 9, even if 
> the other mailbox servers have not yet been upgraded, so that the 
> Zimbra Administration Console can be run from that Zimbra 9 mailbox 
> server to manage the other 8.8.15 mailbox servers.  Gary said in that 
> case, he may roll out a new mailbox server with version 9 for this 
> purpose and upgrade his existing 8.8.15 mailbox servers to 9 later.  
> Noah P. said that, given the scenario Gary describes, he believes that 
> all of Gary’s Zimbra users should see the new Zimbra Web Client login 
> screen (Modern UI), but that users may see a mix of Classic and Modern 
> UI experiences post-login.  Mark S. said that Gary can also take 
> 8.8.15 mailbox servers out of his reverse proxy list, with the 
> appropriate zmprov command, so that those are not available for 
> clients to use.  Matthew F. added that Gary may need to do this for 
> the Zimbra Administration Console as well.  Noah P. asked if anyone 
> knew of issues encountered by having a Zimbra 9 login page logging in 
> to an 8.8.15 mailbox server. Mark S. said that he had a customer do an 
> extended rolling Zimbra upgrade over a number of months, and there did 
> not appear to be any problems with this approach.
>
> Gary asked for the thoughts of everyone on the call about the wisdom 
> of doing an in-place upgrade for Ubuntu with Zimbra installed.  Mark 
> S. said that if it is a single-server install of Zimbra, he finds that 
> it is much less risky to build a new Ubuntu server with the desired 
> version, then doing an incremental migration upgrade of Zimbra ( 
> https://zimbra.github.io/zimbra-9/adminguide.html#incremental-migration-with-backup 
> ) from the old to the new server.  Or, for multi-server Zimbra 
> installations, he suggested first building new Ubuntu servers with the 
> desired version, installing Zimbra LDAP, and promoting those new LDAP 
> servers to leaders, then demoting the old Ubuntu LDAP servers to 
> followers/replicas, and finally deleting those old LDAP servers from 
> the cluster.
>
> Gary C. asked, if he has HSM enabled on all of his mailbox servers 
> with the Centralized Storage feature in Zimbra, and he performs 
> mailbox moves ( 
> https://docs.zextras.com/zextras-suite-documentation/latest/powerstore.html#_moving_mailboxes_between_mailstores 
> ) from his 8.8.15 to 9 servers, would any issues be expected?  Mark S. 
> said Gary could encounter sporadic time out issues with moving 
> exceptionally large mailboxes, including a user’s mailbox that Gary 
> said is close to 1 TB in size.  Gary asked if moving mailboxes in this 
> manner would cause a mailbox in Zimbra’s Centralized Storage to revert 
> to using Zimbra’s primary storage volume instead?  Mark S. and Randy 
> L. commented that this should not be an issue if Gary uses the proper 
> options for the “zxsuite hsm doMailboxMove” command to respect the 
> current storage policy.  Randy added that he recalled a detailed 
> description provided by Cine on an earlier Zeta Alliance call of the 
> process the “zxsuite hsm doMailboxMove” command uses to check the 
> capabilities of the source and destination mailbox servers and how it 
> auto-negotiates which features of of the command are available based 
> on the supported Zimbra and Zextras versions of each server.
>
>
> Randy Leiker (randy at skywaynetworks.com )
> Skyway Networks, LLC
>
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