Installing Kerberos on Redhat 7

This installation is going to require 2 servers one acts as kerberos KDC server and the other machine is going to be client. Lets assume the FQDN's are (here cw.com is the domain name, make a note of the domain name here):

• Kerberos KDC Server: kdc.cw.com
• Kerberos Client: kclient.cw.com

Important: Make sure that both systems have their hostnames properly set and both systems have the hostnames and IP addresses of both systems in /etc/hosts. Your server and client must be able to know the IP and hostname of the other system as well as themselves. Also replace domain in your system with your domain

Pre-Requisites:

Setup and install NTP

yum -y install ntp
ntpdate 0.rhel.pool.ntp.org
systemctl start  ntpd.service
systemctl enable ntpd.service

RHEL 7 comes with systemd as the default service manager. Here is a handy guide for mapping service and chkconfig command here

Packages required:

• KDC server package: krb5-server
• Admin package: krb5-libs
• Client package: krb5-workstation

Configuration Files:

• /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kdc.conf
• /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kadm5.acl
• /etc/krb5.conf

Important Paths:

• KDC path: /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/

Installing & Configuring KDC Server:

yum -y install krb5-server krb5-libs

Primary configuration file is 'krb5.conf':

• Ensure the default realm is set your domain name in capital case

Sample '/etc/krb5.conf'

[libdefaults]
    default_realm = CW.COM
    dns_lookup_realm = false
    dns_lookup_kdc = false
    ticket_lifetime = 24h
    forwardable = true
    udp_preference_limit = 1000000
    default_tkt_enctypes = des-cbc-md5 des-cbc-crc des3-cbc-sha1
    default_tgs_enctypes = des-cbc-md5 des-cbc-crc des3-cbc-sha1
    permitted_enctypes = des-cbc-md5 des-cbc-crc des3-cbc-sha1

[realms]
    CW.COM = {
        kdc = kdc.cw.com:88
        admin_server = kdc.cw.com:749
        default_domain = cw.com
    }

[domain_realm]
    .cw.com = CW.COM
     cw.com = CW.COM

[logging]
    kdc = FILE:/var/log/krb5kdc.log
    admin_server = FILE:/var/log/kadmin.log
    default = FILE:/var/log/krb5lib.log

Adjust /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kdc.conf on the KDC:

default_realm = CW.COM

[kdcdefaults]
    v4_mode = nopreauth
    kdc_ports = 0

[realms]
    CW.COM = {
        kdc_ports = 88
        admin_keytab = /etc/kadm5.keytab
        database_name = /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/principal
        acl_file = /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kadm5.acl
        key_stash_file = /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/stash
        max_life = 10h 0m 0s
        max_renewable_life = 7d 0h 0m 0s
        master_key_type = des3-hmac-sha1
        supported_enctypes = arcfour-hmac:normal des3-hmac-sha1:normal des-cbc-crc:normal des:normal des:v4 des:norealm des:onlyrealm des:afs3
        default_principal_flags = +preauth
    }

Adjust /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kadm5.acl on KDC:

*/[email protected]      *

Creating KDC database to hold our sensitive Kerberos data

Create the database and set a good password which you can remember. This command also stashes your password on the KDC so you don’t have to enter it each time you start the KDC:

kdb5_util create -r CW.COM -s

This command may take a while to complete based on the CPU power

Now on the KDC create a admin principal and also a test user (user1):

[root@kdc ~]# kadmin.local
kadmin.local:  addprinc root/admin
kadmin.local:  addprinc user1
kadmin.local:  ktadd -k /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kadm5.keytab kadmin/admin
kadmin.local:  ktadd -k /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kadm5.keytab kadmin/changepw
kadmin.local:  exit

Let’s start the Kerberos KDC and kadmin daemons:

systemctl start krb5kdc.service
systemctl start kadmin.service
systemctl enable krb5kdc.service
systemctl enable kadmin.service

Now, let’s create a principal for our KDC server and stick it in it’s keytab:

[root@kdc ~]# kadmin.local
kadmin.local:  addprinc -randkey host/kdc.cw.com
kadmin.local:  ktadd host/kdc.cw.com

Setup kerberos client

yum -y install krb5-workstation

Transfer your /etc/krb5.conf (which got created from above command) from the KDC server to the client. Hop onto the client server, install the Kerberos client package and add some host principals:

[root@client ~]# yum install krb5-workstation
[root@client ~]# kadmin -p root/admin
kadmin:  addprinc --randkey host/client.example.com
kadmin:  ktadd host/kdc.example.com