Configure MongoDB with Workload Identity Federation to authenticate services across different platforms. This enhances security and simplifies service identity management.
Important
OpenID Connect (OIDC) is only supported on Linux.
Before you Begin
Ensure that you are on MongoDB Enterprise.
To verify that you are using MongoDB Enterprise, pass the
--versioncommand line option to themongodormongos:mongod --version In the output from this command, look for the string
modules: subscriptionormodules: enterpriseto confirm you are using the MongoDB Enterprise binaries.Configure your external IdP. For more details, see Configure Workload Identity Federation.
Steps
Configure the MongoDB server with OpenID Connect (OIDC)
To configure the MongoDB server, enable the MONGODB-OIDC authentication mechanism and use the oidcIdentityProviders to specify IdP configurations.
Note
When configuring MongoDB for Workload Identity Federation, set the supportsHumanFlows field in oidcIdentityProviders to false.
You can configure the MongoDB server using your configuration file or command line.
To use your configuration file, specify these parameters in the file:
setParameter: authenticationMechanisms: "MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256" oidcIdentityProviders: | [ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]
To specify multiple IdPs, add additional objects to the oidcIdentityProviders array. For example:
setParameter: authenticationMechanisms: "MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256" oidcIdentityProviders: | [ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false }, { "issuer": "https://azure-test.azure.com", "audience": "example2@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "azure-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]
To use the command line, specify the following startup options:
mongod --auth --setParameter authenticationMechanisms=MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256 --setParameter \ 'oidcIdentityProviders=[ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]'
To specify multiple IdPs, add additional objects to the oidcIdentityProviders array. For example:
mongod --auth --setParameter authenticationMechanisms=MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256 --setParameter \ 'oidcIdentityProviders=[ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false }, { "issuer": "https://azure-test.azure.com", "audience": "example2@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "azure-issuer", "authorizationClaim": "groups", "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]'
(Optional) Enable internal authorization
To enable internal authorization, set the useAuthorizationClaim field of the oidcIdentityProviders parameter to false. This setting enables more flexible user management by relying on user documents rather than authorization claims from the IdP.
Important
If useAuthorizationClaim is set to false, do not include the authorizationClaim field.
setParameter: authenticationMechanisms: "MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256" oidcIdentityProviders: | [ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]
To specify multiple IdPs, add additional objects to the oidcIdentityProviders array. For example:
setParameter: authenticationMechanisms: "MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256" oidcIdentityProviders: | [ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false }, { "issuer": "https://azure-test.azure.com", "audience": "example2@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "azure-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]
mongod --auth --setParameter authenticationMechanisms=MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256 --setParameter \ 'oidcIdentityProviders=[ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]'
To specify multiple IdPs, add additional objects to the oidcIdentityProviders array. For example:
mongod --auth --setParameter authenticationMechanisms=MONGODB-OIDC,SCRAM-SHA-256 --setParameter \ 'oidcIdentityProviders=[ { "issuer": "https://okta-test.okta.com", "audience": "example@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "okta-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false }, { "issuer": "https://azure-test.azure.com", "audience": "example2@kernel.mongodb.com", "authNamePrefix": "azure-issuer", "useAuthorizationClaim": false, "supportsHumanFlows": false } ]'
When you set useAuthorizationClaim to false, users who authenticate with the MONGODB-OIDC mechanism obtain their authorization rights from a user document in $external. The server searches for a user document with an _id matching the value of the authNamePrefix/principalName claim for every OIDC based authentication attempt for a user of your IdP.
(Conditional) CA Certificates for Internal X509 TLS
For environments using X509 TLS certificates signed by an internal Certificate Authority (CA), you must add the CA certificate to the system CA certificate bundle so that mongod can communicate with the identity provider. This applies to user authentication and to workload authentication when using the callback method. Omitting this step might result in OIDC SSL Certificate or JWT Key Verification errors.