credentials-fetcher is a Linux daemon that retrieves gMSA credentials from Active Directory over LDAP. It creates and refreshes kerberos tickets from gMSA credentials. Kerberos tickets can be used by containers to run apps/services that authenticate using Active Directory.
This daemon works in a similar way as ccg.exe and the gMSA plugin in Windows as described in - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/manage-containers/manage-serviceaccounts#gmsa-architecture-and-improvements
On Fedora 36 and similar distributions, the binary RPM can be installed as
sudo dnf install credentials-fetcher.
You can also use yum if dnf is not present.
The daemon can be started using sudo systemctl start credentials-fetcher.
On Enterprise Linux 9 ( RHEL | CentOS | AlmaLinux ), the binary can be installed from EPEL. To add EPEL, see the EPEL Quickstart.
Once EPEL is enabled, install credentials-fetcher with
sudo dnf install credentials-fetcher.
For other linux distributions, the daemon binary needs to be built from source code.
- Active Directory server ( Windows Server )
- Linux instances or hosts that are domain-joined to Active Directory
- gMSA account(s) in Active Directory - Follow instructions provided to create service accounts - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/manage-containers/manage-serviceaccounts
- Required packages as mentioned in RPM spec file.
- Create username ec2-user or modify the systemd unit file.
- Create a domain joined windows instance
- Install powershell module - "Install-Module CredentialSpec"
- New-CredentialSpec -AccountName WebApp01 // Replace 'WebApp01' with your own gMSA
- You will find the credentialspec in the directory 'C:\Program Data\Docker\Credentialspecs\WebApp01_CredSpec.json'
To start a local dev environment from scratch:
* Clone the Git repository.
* cd credentials-fetcher && mkdir build
* cd build && cmake ../ && make -j
* ./credentials-fetcher to start the program in non-daemon mode.
To communicate with the daemon over gRPC, install grpc-cli. For example
sudo yum install grpc-cli
Note: APIs use unix domain socket
Invoke the AddkerberosLease API with the credentialsspec input as shown:
grpc_cli call {unix_domain_socket} AddKerberosLease "credspec_contents: '{credentialspec}'"
Sample:
grpc_cli call unix:/var/credentials-fetcher/socket/credentials_fetcher.sock
AddKerberosLease "credspec_contents: '{\"CmsPlugins\":[\"ActiveDirectory\"],\"DomainJoinConfig\":{\"Sid\":\"S-1-5-21-4217655605-3681839426-3493040985\",
\"MachineAccountName\":\"WebApp01\",\"Guid\":\"af602f85-d754-4eea-9fa8-fd76810485f1\",\"DnsTreeName\":\"contoso.com\",
\"DnsName\":\"contoso.com\",\"NetBiosName\":\"contoso\"},\"ActiveDirectoryConfig\":{\"GroupManagedServiceAccounts\":[{\"Name\":\"WebApp01\",\"Scope\":\"contoso.com\"}
,{\"Name\":\"WebApp01\",\"Scope\":\"contoso\"}]}}'"
* Response:
lease_id - unique identifier associated to the request
created_kerberos_file_paths - Paths associated to the Kerberos tickets created corresponding to the gMSA accounts
Invoke the Delete kerberosLease API with lease id input as shown:
grpc_cli call {unix_domain_socket} DeleteKerberosLease "lease_id: '{lease_id}'"
Sample:
grpc_cli call unix:/var/credentials-fetcher/socket/credentials_fetcher.sock DeleteKerberosLease "lease_id: '${response_lease_id_from_add_kerberos_lease}'"
* Response:
lease_id - unique identifier associated to the request
deleted_kerberos_file_paths - Paths associated to the Kerberos tickets deleted corresponding to the gMSA accounts
Logs about request/response to the daemon and any failures.
journalctl -u credentials-fetcher
| Environment Key | Examples values | Description |
|---|---|---|
CF_KRB_DIR |
'/var/credentials-fetcher/krbdir' | (Default) Dir path for storing the kerberos tickets |
CF_UNIX_DOMAIN_SOCKET_DIR |
'/var/credentials-fetcher/socket' | (Default) Dir path for the domain socker for gRPC communication 'credentials_fetcher.sock' |
CF_LOGGING_DIR |
'/var/credentials-fetcher/logging' | (Default) Dir Path for log |
CF_TEST_DOMAIN_NAME |
'contoso.com' | Test domain name |
CF_TEST_GMSA_ACCOUNT |
'webapp01' | Test gMSA account name |
| Environment Variable | Examples values | Description |
|---|---|---|
CF_CRED_SPEC_FILE |
'/var/credentials-fetcher/my-credspec.json' | Path to a credential spec file used as input. (Lease id default: credspec) |
| '/var/credentials-fetcher/my-credspec.json:myLeaseId' | An optional lease id specified after a colon |
Running the Credentials-fetcher outside of Linux distributions is not supported.
Contributions and feedback are welcome! Proposals and pull requests will be considered and responded to. For more information, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file. If you have a bug/and issue around the behavior of the credentials-fetcher, please open it here.
Amazon Web Services does not currently provide support for modified copies of this software.
If you think you’ve found a potential security issue, please do not post it in the Issues. Instead, please follow the instructions here or email AWS security directly.
The Credentials Fetcher is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. See LICENSE and NOTICE for more information.