Set up SSO with OpenID Connect

As an alternative to Kong Konnect’s native authentication, you can set up single sign-on (SSO) access to Konnect through an identity provider (IdP) with OpenID Connect. This authentication method allows your users to log in to Kong Konnect using their IdP credentials, without needing a separate login.

Prerequisites

• Konnect must be added to your IdP as an application
• Claims are set up in your IdP

Set up SSO in Konnect

1. In Kong Konnect, click Organization, and then Auth Settings.

2. Click Configure provider for OIDC.

3. Paste the issuer URI from your IdP in the Issuer URI box.

4. Paste the client ID from your IdP in the Client ID box.

5. Paste the client secret from your IdP in the Client Secret box.

6. In the Organization Login Path box, enter a unique string. For example: examplepath.

   Konnect uses this string to generate a custom login URL for your organization.

   Requirements:

   • The path must be unique across all Konnect organizations. If your desired path is already taken, you must to choose another one.
   • The path can be any alphanumeric string.
   • The path does not require a slash (/).

7. Click Save.

Test and apply the configuration

Important: Keep built-in authentication enabled while you are testing IdP authentication. Only disable built-in authentication after successfully testing IdP authentication.

You can test the SSO configuration by navigating to the login URI based on the organization login path you set earlier. For example: https://cloud.konghq.com/login/examplepath, where examplepath is the unique login path string set in the steps above.

If your configuration is set up correctly, you will see the IdP sign-in page.

You can now manage your organization’s user permissions entirely from the IdP application.

Advanced Settings

You can configure custom IdP-specific behaviors in the Advanced Settings of the OIDC configuration form. The following options are available:

1. Scopes: Specify the list of scopes Konnect requests from the IdP. By default, Konnect requests the openid, email, and profile scopes. The openid scope is required and cannot be removed.
2. Claim Mappings: Customize the mapping of required attributes to a different claim in the id_token Konnect receives from the IdP. By default, Konnect requires three attributes: Name, Email, and Groups. The values in these attributes are mapped as follows:
   • name: Used as the Konnect account’s full_name.
   • email: Used as the Konnect account’s email.
   • groups: Used to map users to teams defined in the team mappings upon login.

Troubleshooting

Authentication issues with large numbers of groups

If users are assigned a very large number of groups (over 150 in most cases), the IdP may send the groups claim in a non-standard manner, causing authentication issues.

To work around this limitation at the IdP, we recommend using group filtering functions provided by the IdP for this purpose. Here are some quick reference guides for common IdPs:

• Azure group filtering
• Okta group filtering

You may need to contact the support team of your identity provider in order to learn how to filter groups emitted for the application.